Chen Zhu is the 2006 recipient of the AGWSE John Hem Excellence in Science and Engineering Award from the National Ground Water Association in recognition of his significant advances to the topic of modeling the chemical evolution of water.

Zhu is an Associate Professor of Geological Sciences and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. He holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and a postdoctoral fellowship from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Zhu is a recipient of the H.V. Ellsworth Prize in Mineralogy from the University of Toronto, a Senior Associateship Award from the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, and a Guest Professorship from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2005. In recognition of his interest and achievement in teaching, he became a Lilly Freshmen Learning Project Fellow at Indiana University in 2006. Zhu has served on proposal review panels for the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy. He is currently an associate editor for Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and Journal of Contaminant Hydrology and was on the editorial board for Ground Water. Zhu is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and NGWA.
The award presentation was taken place at the AGWSE General Membership meeting in December 2006 NGWA Ground Water Expo, Las Vegas.