Chen Guodong, male, Han nationality, was born in Shanghai. He graduated from the Beijing College of Geosciences and was head of the Lanzhou branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He worked as researcher in the Cold Area and Drought Zone Environmental Conditions and Engineering Institute and was elected academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1993.
Chen is an expert on frozen earth science and has researched and applied techniques in construction on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and also studied water resources in northwest China.