The American Physical Society has awarded UCI physics & astronomy professor Liu Chen the $10,000 James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics for outstanding contributions to the field. “I am truly honored to be recognized,” he said. “This award is especially meaningful to me as it caps my 40 years of professional life in the U.S.” Chen has long been committed to theoretical research in plasma physics and its applications in space science and fusion energy. He joins a prestigious list of prize recipients and plans to continue his work at UCI and at Zhejiang University in China.