Dr. Kaiping Chen is an assistant professor in Computational Communication in the Department of Life Sciences Communications at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of Political Science, the Robert & Jean Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the Center for East Asian Studies, the African Study Program, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Dr. Chen received her PhD in communication from Stanford University, and her Master of Public Administration from Columbia University.

Dr. Chen's research focuses on the intersection of sustainability; computational communication; and diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. She employs data science and machine learning methods as well as interviews to examine how digital media and technologies affect political accountability to public well-being and how deliberative designs can improve the quality of public discourse on controversial and emerging technologies. Chen’s works have been published in flagship journals across disciplines such as the American Political Science Review, Journal of Communication, and PNAS. Dr. Chen has also helped local governments in U.S. and China implement civic engagement innovations in sustainability policymaking.