Cheung is a professor in the Economics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a professor of the University of Hong Kong, a Research Fellow of the CESifo in Germany, a board member of the Methods in International Finance Network in Europe, and a Guest Professor of the Shandong University. Also, Cheung is enlisted in The America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals, the AcademicKeys Who's Who in Social Sciences Higher Education, Who’s Who in Economics, and Who’s Who in America. He obtained his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990.