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. In 2023, he co-founded a startup NovaMea to commercialize anion exchange membranes and electrocatalysts for water electrolysis.
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, 2023 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)