Prof. ZHANG Tao was born in Shaanxi Province in 1963. He is now the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS).

Prof. ZHANG received his PhD in 1989 from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), CAS.After one year in University of Birmingham as a post-doctoral fellow, he joined DICP again in 1990 where he was promoted to a full professor in 1995. He was the Director of DICP from 2007 to 2016. His research interests are mainly focused on catalysis, particularlly on nano-catalysis and the catalytic conversion of biomass.

Prof. ZHANG is the author or co-author of more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publicationsand 110 patents. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Journal of Catalysis, Editorial Board Members of Applied Catalysis B, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,ChemPhysChem and Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 

Prof. ZHANG has won many important awards, such as the National Invention Prize (for three times), Distinguished Award ofCAS, Excellent Scientist Award of Chinese Catalysis Society, and Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Science and Technology by Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. He was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013.