Rui Chen received her B.S. & M.S. in organic chemistry and engineering and Ph.D. in polymer chemistry and physics in China. She was a postdoc in the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) and in the University of Oregon for studying late transition metal complexes, catalytic polymerization, and photosensitive polymer photodegradation. Since 2004 she has been a conservation scientist first in the Art Conservation Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and then with the center transfer to Yale University joined the Aging Diagnostic Laboratory in the Institute for the Preservation for Cultural Heritage. She has done a variety of research projects related to cotton fibers under stress, paper with humidity control, off-gassing of iron gall ink drawing, acrylate coating and ink for labeling objects. She is focusing on development of metal nanoparticle-based gas sensors and their applications for art conservation.