Prof. Chen's areas of research are Internet security and network traffic control, particularly where security and traffic control intersect. Current interests include web filtering, web classification, traffic classification, smart grid security, privacy, cyber crime, and malware.

Prior to joining Swansea University in 2008, he was an Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He has several years of experience in industry research at GTE (now Verizon) Labs in Waltham, Massachusetts. He received BS and MS degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a PhD degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

He has served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Magazine (2006-2007), editor-in-chief of IEEE Network (2009-2010), founding editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Surveys (1996-1997), associate editor for International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics, and associate editor for Journal on Security and Communication Networks. He received the IEEE Communications Society's Fred W. Ellersick best paper award in 1996.