Tan joined
University of Reading, UK, as a research fellow after his Ph.D. In 1998, he returned to China. He joined
Chinese Academy of Sciences as a professor at the Institute of Automation. He was a vice president at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2013–2014). His research focuses on
biometrics and
pattern recognition. He was former President of the
IEEE Biometrics Council. He is also the editor-in-chief of the
International Journal on Automation and Computing. He is an adjunct professor at
University of Science and Technology of China. He was sanctioned by the US Government on 16 July 2021 under
Executive Order 13936. ==Awards==