Shih Choon Fong | |
---|---|
施春风 | |
1st President of the KAUST | |
In office December 2008 – June 2013 | |
Succeeded by | Jean-Lou Chameau |
1st President of the National University of Singapore | |
In office 2000–2008 | |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Tan Chorh Chuan |
Personal details | |
Born | 1945 (age 78–79) Singapore, Straits Settlements |
Spouse | Li Cheng |
Alma mater | Harvard University (MS, PhD) |
Website | nus |
Awards | Medal of Honor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2019) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Applied science |
Thesis | Elastic-plastic analysis of combined mode crack problems (1973) |
Doctoral advisor | John W. Hutchinson |
Shih Choon Fong (Chinese: 施春风; pinyin: Shī Chūnfēng; born 1945) is a Singaporean college administrator and fracture mechanics expert who served as the founding president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) between 2008 and 2013. Prior joining KAUST as its founding president, he was the president of the National University of Singapore (NUS) for nine years and has been widely acknowledged[1] for creating the university's research-intensive focus with an entrepreneurial dimension, as well as for NUS' elevated global reputation. Drawing from his experiences abroad, Shih institutionalised a performance- and market-based evaluation and compensation system for academics.
Shih was a key driver for the formation of the International Alliance of Research Universities, and led the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) for four years. He was the founding chair of the Governing Board of the APRU World Institute and served on national-level committees such as the Economic Review Committee, which crafted wide-ranging strategies for the re-making of Singapore.