science

Jane Chen

Jane Chen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jane Chen rather than just read about it. In short: Jane Marie Chen is an American businesswoman. She is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise that invented and distributes a low-cost infant warmer, that gives premature and low-birth-weight infants a better chance at survival.

Key takeaways

Jane Chen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jane Chen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jane Chen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jane Marie Chen is an American businesswoman. She is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise that invented and distributes a low-cost infant warmer, that gives premature and low-birth-weight infants a better chance at survival. Chen served as the first CEO of Embrace, the non-profit arm of the organization, before becoming the chief executive officer (CEO) of Embrace Innovations, the for-profit social enterprise that was spun off in 2012.

Early life and education Chen was born to a Taiwanese American family. She earned a B.A in psychology and economics from Pomona College, a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Harvard University, and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Stanford University.

Career Prior to Embrace, Chen worked with nonprofit organizations on healthcare issues in developing countries. She spent several years as the program director of a startup HIV/AIDS nonprofit in China, and worked for the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative in Tanzania. She also worked at Monitor Group as a management consultant. In 2013, Chen and the other co-founders of Embrace, Linus Liang, Nag Murty, and Rahul Panicker were awarded the Economist Innovation Award, under the category of Social and Economic Innovation. In the same year, Chen and her co-founder Rahul Panicker were also recognized as Schwab Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by the World Economic Forum. In 2014, Chen was invited to the White House's first ever Maker Faire, where she presented Embrace's work to President Obama. In the same year, Beyoncé made a $125,000 contribution through Chime for Change which allowed Embrace to distribute its infant warmers to nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Embrace

While doing her MBA at Stanford, Chen and a few other fellow graduate students were assigned a class project to create a low-cost infant incubator that could be used in rural areas. In 2008, they co-founded Embrace, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to bring their project to life. In January 2012, Embrace moved into a hybrid structure. The non-profit entity, Embrace, donates infant warmers to the neediest areas through NGO partners, and provides educational programs on newborn health alongside the distribution of warmers. The for-profit social enterprise, Embrace Innovations, sells the warmers to paying entities, including governments and private clinics, all focusing on emerging markets. Embrace Innovations, the for-profit social enterprise, raised its Series A round of financing in 2012 from Vinod Khosla's Impact Fund and Capricorn Investment Group. The company raised a second round of investment capital from Marc Benioff in 2014. In 2016, Embrace Innovations launched a line of consumer baby products called Little Lotus Baby (temperature regulating swaddles and sleeping bags), which have a buy-one give-one model.

Awards and recognition Chen has been a TED speaker, and was selected as one of Forbes' Impact 30 in 2011. In 2019, Chen was featured in AOL/Verizon/Yahoo's "FUTURIST" Series, profiling industry leaders across all different disciplines who are advancing their fields with technology, innovation, and fearlessness. Chen has been recognized as the Inspirational Young Alumni of the Year by Pomona College, and selected as a "Woman of Distinction" by the American Association of University Women. Chen has spoken at numerous international conferences, including the Skoll World Forum, Bloomberg Design Conference, Forbes Women's Summit, and the World Economic Forum. In 2012, Chen was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and was featured in Dove's "Real Role Models" campaign for women and girls. She was also profiled in AOL's Makers campaign. Chen is a TED Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, and Rainer Arnhold Fellow. Chen's memoir, Like A Wave We Break, was published by Penguin Random House in October 2025. Like A Wave We Break has garnered praise from influential voices including Tony Robbins, Adam Grant, Bessel van der Kolk, Marc Benioff, Vicky Tsai, Vinod Khosla and many others. The book debuted as a USA Today National Bestseller.

References

External links Jane Chen Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America Jane Chen at TED

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jane Chen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jane Chen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jane Chen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jane Chen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jane Chen

In research: Jane Chen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jane Chen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jane Chen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1978 births, 21st-century American businesspeople, 21st-century American businesswomen, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jane Chen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jane Chen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jane Chen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jane Chen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jane Chen in simple terms?

Why does Jane Chen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jane Chen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jane Chen.