Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, 2015
  • M.Phil., Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, 2013
  • B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, 2009
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Electrical, California, #22352
  • Coursera AI for Everyone Certification
Professional Honors
  • IEEE Region 1 Young Professional Award, 2018
  • IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference, Change Maker, 2015
  • University of California Berkeley Rising Stars in EECS, 2014
  • National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Integrated Access Networks, Student Leadership Council Scholarship 2014
  • Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science Grossman Scholars Program, 2014-2015
  • Wei Family Private Foundation Special Scholarship, 2014
  • National Science Foundation Diversity Fellowship, 2011-2014
Professional Affiliations
  • The International Society for Optics and Photonics — SPIE
  • Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (Young Professionals Chair, New York Section)
  • The Optical Society — OSA
  • Society of Women Engineers — SWE
  • Columbia Engineering Young Alumni (CEYA) - President
Languages
  • Mandarin Chinese
  • Cantonese Chinese

Dr. Cathy Chen assists clients with the design and execution of in-depth engineering analysis and rapid-response evaluations of electronic devices, communications networks, artificial intelligence (AI), Usability, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and computer systems. Dr. Chen provides clients with critical information for their day-to-day and strategic decisions. Her work has included failure analyses, reverse engineering, as well as infringement and prior art analyses for patent and trade secret matters.

Dr. Chen has a background in electrical and computer engineering, with a focus on computer architecture, embedded systems, consumer electronics, and optical networks. Her expertise includes: multicore systems, pipeline processors, optical interconnection networks (photonic networks), memory systems, artificial intelligence, usability studies, human computer interaction, machine learning, user study design, and the development of network interfaces on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). 

Dr. Chen completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University in the Lightwave Research Laboratory. Her research focused on the development of FPGA-based test-beds for analyzing photonic networks for applications including: telecommunications, data centers, and heterogeneous utility computing systems. This involved routing and switching in photonic networks, particularly transparent interfaces to electronic communications and designing switching nodes with minimal optical-electronic-optical conversions (OEO). During her time at Columbia University, Dr. Chen was also a teaching assistant for courses in Embedded Systems, Computer Hardware Design, and Fundamentals of Computer Systems. 

Prior to her Ph.D. studies, Dr. Chen received her B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University with a focus on computer architecture. During this time she worked in the Computer Systems Laboratory on simulations of cache coherence protocols in embedded systems. 

Dr. Chen was also a project management intern at the Microsoft Corporation where she developed diagnostic tools and ran usability studies for operating systems. During this time she also assisted in drafting technical documentation for use by outside software and hardware manufacturers in diagnosing issues when interfacing to computer operating systems.