NUS Management sees new appointees
The new appointments to NUS Management are (from left): Mr Yeo, Prof Liu and Prof Phoon
Some changes in management positions at NUS will take effect in August and September.
From 1 August 2015, Mr Don Yeo Yong Kiang, former Deputy CEO (Policy & Corporate Development) of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, will be Deputy President (Administration) Designate at the University. Mr Yeo, who was also Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer at the CPF Board, will succeed Mr Joseph Mullinix from 1 January 2016.
Mr Yeo served in several positions at the CPF Board from December 2005 to June 2015. His most recent appointment was Deputy CEO (Policy & Corporate Development), where he was responsible for policy, corporate development, human resources, organisational development, communications and risk management. He was also, concurrently, the Board's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said, "Don Yeo brings to NUS broad and deep leadership experience and expertise across many key administrative areas. We are delighted to welcome him on board to contribute towards advancing NUS' overall vision, goals and strategies.
Prior to joining the CPF Board, Mr Yeo had held appointments in the Institute of Public Administration Management at the Civil Service College, Ministry of Law, Shell, Ministry of Trade & Industry as well as the Prime Minister's Office (Public Service Division).
He is currently a Board Member with the Singapore Examinations & Assessment Board, and a member of the Public Sector Committee, Singapore Chapter, CPA Australia.
Mr Yeo welcomed the opportunity to join the leadership team at NUS. "I look forward to working with and supporting my talented and dynamic colleagues through excellence in administration to further burnish the reputation of NUS as one of the top global universities and the best in Asia, he said.
Professor Philip Li-Fan Liu will be Vice President (Research and Technology) effective from 31 August 2015. Prof Liu is currently the Class of 1912 Professor and Director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University, and the holder of the Kwoh-Ting Lee Chair Professorship at the National Central University, Taiwan.
As Vice President (Research and Technology), Prof Liu will assist Deputy President (Research and Technology) Professor Ho Teck Hua on NUS research and technology matters. Prof Liu will also be appointed as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Prof Liu is recognised as one of the world's foremost researchers in coastal engineering and well known for his work in the development of nonlinear and breaking wave theories, tsunami models, and sediment transport models. He has served on numerous leading editorial boards and received many academic awards, including the prestigious American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (1978) and the ASCE International Coastal Engineering Award (2004) among many others.
Professor Phoon Kok Kwang will assume the appointment of Vice Provost (Academic Personnel) on 1 September 2015. Prof Phoon is presently a Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A leader in his field internationally, Prof Phoon's expertise lies in risk and reliability in geotechnical engineering. His research on reliability-based design has also influenced recent codes and specifications, including the ISO International Standards' 4th edition of ISO 2394:2015.
Prof Phoon has won numerous awards during his academic career, including the Norman Medal (2005) ' the highest honour granted by ASCE for a technical paper that "makes a definitive contribution to engineering science, the John Booker Medal (2014) from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics as well as a number of awards from the University. He contributes actively to the professional communities, both locally and internationally and has also served on the editorial boards of the top three journals in geotechnical engineering.
At the university level, Prof Phoon has served in various capacities, including as a member of the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, NUS Senate Delegacy, Research Excellence Award Committee, University Research Benchmarking Consultative Committee, and University Awards Selection Committee.
