Chengliang Mao begun his independent career at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a tenure-track associate professor (2024), after a FA&S PDF at University of Toronto. He is known for the pioneer work in photothermal catalytic N2 reduction and urea synthesis, and the discovery and application of "photothermal local heating induced nonequilibrium chemistry". His current research interest focuses on turning waste plastic and biomass into value-added fuels, fine chemicals, and daily materials, by leveraging the cutting-edge photothermal catalysis, the versatility of material chemistry, and advanced opto-chemical-thermal engineering.