Prof Yuan is an associate professor with tenure at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore (NUS). He was the recipient of the Presidential Young Professorship when he was an assistant professor and is also the founder and Principal Investigator of Urban Climate Design Lab in NUS. Being an architect, urban climate researcher, and educator, Prof Yuan’s teaching and research focus on climate-sensitive urban planning and design for sustainable, resilient cities. The topics cover urban wind environment, traffic-related and transboundary air pollution, anthropogenic heat, passive cooling technologies, and urban greenery. His goal is to support and develop practical planning and design in real life to build sustainability and resilience.
Prof. Yuan currently leads his research team – in collaboration with MIT and ETH Zurich – to conduct several studies on urban climate and future resilience for high density cities. Prof Yuan serves as Director of Research in NUS Cities, Associate Editor for Urban Climate (Elsevier), and Editorial Board Member at Landscape and Urban Planning (Elsevier). His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, book chapter, as well as a self-authored book, titled Urban Wind Environment – Integrated Climate-Sensitive Planning and Design, by Springer Nature.