Swee Ping obtained his PhD degree in microwave engineering from University of London after having completed his undergraduate studies in electrical sciences at University of Cambridge. After serving three years of military service at Singapore Armed Forces (where he held various appointments such as Battery Commander, Battalion Reconnoiter Officer and Deputy Logistics Officer), he embarked on his academic career at NUS where he joined ECE Dept.
Before assuming his appointment as ECE Dept Head in 2001, Swee Ping had served as Secretary of Curriculum Review Committee, Director of Center for Microwaves & RF, Engineering Sub-Dean and ECE Deputy Head. After his seven-year term as ECE Dept Head, he was appointed as Co-Director of the joint research laboratory (based in SUPELEC, Paris, France) that was established under the SUPELEC-ONERA-NUS-DSTA Research Alliance.
His research interests include microwave couplers, electromagnetic modeling and six-port reflectometry. Three of his papers were selected for best-paper awards by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (London, UK) – two for the Electronics Letters Premium in 1985 and another for the Ambrose Fleming Premium in 1988. In addition, a conference paper he co-authored with his collaborators at the National Physical Laboratory (Malvern, UK) was ranked among the top three papers by the delegates who attended the 19th annual meeting of the Automated RF & Microwave Measurement Society (held on 27-28 September 1993 in Leeds, UK). On top of these research prizes from international learned societies, he also received the Outstanding University Researcher Award from NUS in 1998.
Swee Ping had been invited to serve on various IEEE committees (including the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques). In addition, he was invited to sit on the international advisory panels of University of Wellington (New Zealand) and Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (South Korea).
Swee Ping retired on 30 June 2021 after a fulfilling university career that spanned more than 40 years. On 1 July 2021, NUS conferred upon him the title of Emeritus Professor in recognition of his sterling contributions in teaching, research as well as service.