Prof. Xile Hu

Xile Hu (胡喜乐) was born in 1978 in a small village in Putian, southeastern China. He studied chemistry at Peking University and obtained a B.S. degree in June 2000. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the United States and began his doctoral study under the guidance of Prof. Karsten Meyer at the University of California, San Diego. His dissertation research focused on the coordination chemistry of tripodal N-heterocyclic carbene ligands. After receiveing a Ph.D. degree in inorganic chemistry in December 2004, he became a postdoctoral scholar in the group of Prof. Jonas C. Peters at the California Institute of Technology in February 2005. At Caltech, he worked on the development of molecular hydrogen evolution catalysts.

In July 2007, he was appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor of chemistry in the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. He is the founder and director of the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis. His laboratory is developing catalysts made of  earth-abundant elements for chemical transformations pertinent to synthesis, energy, and sustainability. He was promoted to associate professor in January 2013 and full professor in June 2016.

Selected awards:
2010   European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant
2011   Werner Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society
2012   Extraordinary Young Scientist, World Economic Forum
2012   Member of the Young Academy of Europe
2013 Chemical Society Reviews Emerging Investigator Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry
2014   Rising Star, International Conference on Coordination Chemistry
2014 Organometallics Young Investigator Fellowship, American Chemical Society
2014   European Medal for Bio-Inorganic Chemistry (Eurobic Medal)
2014   Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK)
2015 Young Researcher Award, European Federation of Catalysis Societies
2015   European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant
2016   Bau Family Award in Inorganic Chemistry
2016, 2018   European Research Council (ERC) Proof-of-Concept Grants
2017   Organic Letters Outstanding Publication of the Year Lectureship Award, ACS
2017   Tajima Prize, International Society of Electrochemistry
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022  Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics)
2017   National Latsis Prize, (now called Swiss Science Prize Latsis), the Swiss National Science Foundation and the International Latsis Foundation
2018   Resonate Award for Sustainability Science, Caltech
2019   Homogeneous Catalysis Award, Royal Society of Chemistry
2019   Fellow, European Academy of Sciences
2020 International Catalysis Award, International Association of Catalysis Societies
2020  Member, Academia Europaea
2022  Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award
2023 Robert K. Grasselli Award for Catalysis (European Federation of Catalysis Societies)
2023 IUPAC-Zhejiang NH International Award for Green Chemistry Experienced Chemist Award (IUPAC)

Professional Information

Curriculum Vitae of Xile Hu (pdf)      A Shorter version of CV (2 pages)

Academic Family Tree of Xile Hu

Author Profile of Xile Hu in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (pdf)

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8335-1196 (link to ORCID page)

Google Scholar Profile of Xile Hu (bibliometric information by Google)

Author Evaluator of Xile Hu (bibliometric information by Scopus)

ResearcherID Profile of Xile Hu (bibliometric information by web of science)