Chao was the first postdoc to join my group at Caltech, in 2004, and helped me set up my first IRMS. He worked extensively on compound-specific D/H measurements of sedimentary organic compounds from the Santa Barbara Basin, and we went on to collaborate on isotopic records of the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation. Chao is now a Professor of Geoscience at the China University of Geoscience in Wuhan.
