Two new Deans appointed
Prof Louis Phee
Dean, College of Engineering
Scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, Prof Louis Phee has distinguished himself in many roles. Following the unanimous recommendation of the international search advisory committee, Prof Phee is now appointed the Dean of NTU’s College of Engineering. He has been Interim Dean of Engineering since September 2017.
As the new Dean of Engineering, Prof Phee will provide leadership for the strategic, academic, intellectual and administrative activities of NTU’s largest College and its Schools. He will also oversee the recruitment of world-class faculty for the College to further enhance its momentum and growth. In the latest QS World University Rankings by fields, NTU is ranked first in Asia and fifth in the world in engineering and technology.
An accomplished academic leader, Prof Phee is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at NTU and an expert in medical robotics and mechatronics. He was Chair of NTU’s School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from 2014 to 2017. He is also the co-founder of EndoMaster Pte Ltd, an NTU spin-off established to commercialise surgical robotic systems.
Prof Phee enjoys the distinction of being awarded the Young Scientist Award in 2006, the Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award in 2007, the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2011, the President’s Technology Award in 2012, and the Nanyang Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2013. He has published more than 70 international journal papers and book chapters and has licensed many of his innovations.
Prof Phee received his Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Master of Engineering degrees from NTU in 1996 and 1999, respectively, and his PhD from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, in 2002 on a European Union Scholarship.
Prof K Jimmy Hsia
Dean, Graduate College
The rapid rise of NTU Singapore as one of the leading global research universities has been propelled to a significant extent by the phenomenal growth in the scale, scope, quality and impact of its graduate education and research. This will be further strengthened by the establishment of NTU’s new Graduate College which will foster greater coordination among Academic Schools and the Student and Academic Services units in career advancement, mentorship and research activities involving interdisciplinary, industry-connected and international collaborations.
The creation of the Graduate College follows the strong recommendations of a committee comprising faculty, university leaders and the trustees. The current Interdisciplinary Graduate School will be completely integrated into the new Graduate College.
Renowned academic, Prof K Jimmy Hsia will head NTU’s new Graduate College as its inaugural Dean. He has also been appointed as Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NTU. With extensive experience in building and managing strategic graduate education and research initiatives in the United States, Prof Hsia is well-placed to lead the Graduate College which will ensure consistency, quality and relevance of NTU’s graduate programmes.
During a career spanning several decades, Prof Hsia served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for New Initiatives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), coordinating and promoting campus-level, cross-college research including interdisciplinary research. Before that, he was Associate Dean of UIUC’s Graduate College. During the past three years, Prof Hsia has held the positions of Carnegie Mellon University’s Vice Provost for International Programmes and Strategy and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.
Prof Hsia is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a recipient of the Max-Planck Society Scholarship in Stuttgart and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship. He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University in Beijing and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on deformation and failure mechanisms of materials, micro- and nanomechanics of materials, and the mechanics of plants and biological materials.