Associate Professor Darren Chian Siau Chen

Vice Dean
Student Life

Dr. Darren CHIAN is the Vice Dean (Student Life) of the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) and Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). He received his PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Architecture and Building Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology. 

Dr Chian’s core research expertise is in earthquake engineering and land reclamation. His contribution in earthquake engineering lies in the field of damage vulnerability of underground structures, landslides and catastrophe modelling. He was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to carry out reconnaissance missions at the 2009 Padang, 2011 Tohoku and 2016 Muisne earthquakes. Dr Chian is an enthusiast of recycling waste material to good use. He is actively involved in collaborative research projects with local government agencies to recycle unwanted and contaminated soils from underground construction projects and sea dredging as land reclamation fill materials. 

Dr Chian is the secretary of one and nominated member of two other International Technical Councils under the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). Dr Chian also chairs the Civil and Geotechnical Works Technical Committee of Enterprise Singapore to oversee and provide guidance on geotechnical engineering codes and practices in Singapore. He is the youngest elected Vice President of the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS). He is the recipient of both the Minister of Transport Innovation (Distinguished) Award and Land Transport Excellence Award in 2022, Singapore’s Promising Young Geotechnical Engineer award in 2018, and Asia’s Top 10 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2016. Other achievements include a 1st Prize in a National Technical Paper Competition and the Best Young Researcher Award at the 8th International Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering in 2013 and 2011 respectively.  

In his current administrative role as Assistant Dean (Student Life), he is primarily responsible for identity and venture initiatives such as college bonding events, career development and industry engagement.