FACULTY AND STAFF UPDATES
New Faculty and Staff
Associate Professor Tan Meng Hor Freddie
Associate Professor (Practice), Department of The Built Environment
Associate Professor Freddie Tan brings 27 years of experience in public-listed corporations and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to NUS. His expertise spans Industry 4.0 technologies, data-driven system thinking and interdisciplinary engineering within the built environment, encompassing integrated green building design, infrastructure and data security, asset and facilities management, and international business. He has received recognition for his contributions to green projects, committees and corporate initiatives. Associate Professor Tan’s background in teaching and mentoring managers and executives in senior corporate roles in the CapitaLand Group will be valuable in preparing NUS students for the built environment industry. He holds a PhD in Thermal Engineering from the University of Nottingham and an MPhil in Environmental Design in Architecture from the University of Cambridge. He earned his Master of Building Science and Bachelor's degrees from the then-Department of Building (now the Department of the Built Environment).
Dr Shi Fan
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr Shi Fan was a postdoctorate researcher at the AI Center at ETH Zurich. He received his MSc and PhD from the University of Tokyo and his BSc from Peking University. His research focuses on learning, control, and safety for robots in locomotion and manipulation.
Dr Song Junghwan
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr Song Junghwan received his BSc in Physics and PhD in Physics at KAIST and did his postdoctoral research at Stanford University. He was an Academic Staff Research Scientist at Stanford before joining NUS. He will study the light-matter interactions of emerging new materials (2D material, QDs, Perovskite, atomic defects, etc.) and utilise them to realise novel optical devices and systems that can bring societal benefits through the next-generation semiconductors, communication, and quantum technologies.
Dr Xu Yunbei
Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, Presidential Young Professor
Dr Xu Yunbei holds a BSc in Pure Mathematics from Peking University, earned his PhD from Columbia Business School, advised by Assaf Zeevi, and completed his postdoctoral training at the MIT College of Computing, advised by Alexander Rakhlin. His research interests include the mathematics of AI, complex systems, and physics. His contributions have been recognised with the ICML Outstanding Paper Award, First Place in the INFORMS George Nicholson Student Paper Competition, and twice as a Finalist for the Applied Probability Society Best Student Paper Award.
Dr Yin Tiantian
Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr Yin Tiantian was a Research Fellow in the Department. She received a BEng degree (first-class honours) in electrical and electronic engineering from Nanyang Technological University in 2016 and her PhD in electrical and computer engineering from NUS in 2021.
Mr Zhang Licheng
Teaching Assistant, Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management
Licheng graduated from NUS with a BEng in Industrial Systems Engineering & Management, a second major in Data Analytics, and a minor in Computer Science in 2024. During his undergraduate studies, he was a Teaching Assistant conducting tutorials and lab sessions for Systems Thinking, Dynamics, and Simulation courses. His experience and proficiency in Python, C#, FlexSim, and Stella Architect will support the relevant courses in ISEM.
Mr Lim Wai Sum, Marcus
Manager, Department of Architecture
Marcus graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Marketing. He began his career in the visual communication industry 26 years ago, specialising in campaign and event design, branding, marketing, retail design, and visual merchandising. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded a design agency and successfully managed a retail company in Singapore for over a decade. Leveraging his experience, he transitioned into academia and has spent the past seven years as a course manager and design educator. In the Department of Architecture, he will manage self-financing graduate programmes, scholarships, student grants and donors, branding and marketing/outreach efforts, events and networking sessions, and partnership development.
Mr Lee Wei Thung, Kingsley
Manager, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Kingsley has taken on the role of Manager in the Singapore Hybrid-Integrated Next-Generation µ-Electronics (SHINE) Centre. He has accumulated over a decade of experience supporting various STEM industries, specialising in driving sales and project management. He has worked extensively with private semiconductor organisations to accelerate their growth and remain competitive. His diverse experience equips him with the necessary skills to navigate change and collaborate effectively in the ever-dynamic semiconductor market. He will be supporting the development of local and overseas post-graduate programmes in semiconductors. This will include sourcing and managing internships and projects, reviewing and monitoring the execution, and leading all aspects of the communication with the industry partners involved.
Mr Andre Ng Ming Yi
Executive, Department of The Built Environment
After graduating from NUS, Andre worked as an intern handling medical-related equipment and devices and assisting in data processing projects. He will now assume the role of programme administrator for the MSc (Project Management) programme and support other department-related administrative duties.
Management Updates
New Head of the Division of Industrial Design
Professor Cornelis Joachim Petrus Maria de Bont has been appointed the Head of the Division of Industrial Design (DID). Prof de Bont was a Professor at Loughborough University and had been concurrently appointed the Dean of the School of Design and Creative Arts. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and School of Design at the Delft University of Technology and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, respectively. His leadership since 2005 allowed him to shape design education, foster collaboration within and outside design departments, and manage HR and finances. He successfully adapted schools to current industry trends. Aside from his academic experiences, Prof de Bont had at least eight years of industry experience in product design, service design, and consumer evaluation at Philips. This experience and subsequent collaboration with different industry partners in Europe and East Asia would help him to place NUS DID in the international realm in research and design practices.
Introducing CDE's Assistant Deans
CDE's current Assistant Deans are as follows:
| Area | Name |
| Dean's Office | Associate Professor Olivier Patrick Lefebvre |
| Dean's Office | Dr Chew Soon Hoe |
| Undergraduate Programmes | Associate Professor Satyen Gautam |
| Undergraduate Programmes | Dr Elliot Law |
| Graduate Programmes | Associate Professor Mohan Gurusamy |
| Graduate Programmes | Associate Professor Ivan Sin Siang-Meng |
| Graduate Programmes | Associate Professor Eddie Lau Siu-Kit |
| Research and Technology | Associate Professor Rudi Stouffs |
| Research and Technology | Professor Lim Yeow Kheng |
| Research and Technology | Associate Professor Khoo Eng Tat |
| Student Life | Dr Tan Danielle Sweimann |
| Alumni Relations | Dr Justin Yeoh Ker-Wei |
| Outreach and Special Projects | Associate Professor Lilian Chee |
| Outreach and Special Projects | Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang |
We thank the following who had served as Assistant Deans for their contributions to CDE:
- Assoc Prof Cheah Kok Ming (Undergraduate Programmes)
- Assoc Prof Song Kee Hong (Graduate Programmes)
- Prof Wang Qing (Research and Technology)
- Assoc Prof Goh Yang Miang (Research and Technology)
- Assoc Prof Thomas Kong (Development)