Shih Choon Fong received his PhD from Harvard University in 1973. Thereafter, he led the Fracture Research Group at the GE Corporate Research Lab in the U.S. In 1981, he joined Brown University.
Prof Shih has made significant contributions in nonlinear fracture mechanics and computational methods for fracture analyses. He has about 150 publications in leading scientific journals to his credit. He is among the highly cited researchers in the world for the category of engineering compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Among his honors are the Swedlow Award and the George Irwin Medal, both by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).
Prof Shih is a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the inaugural recipient from Asia Pacific for the Chief Executive Leadership Award presented by the Council for Advancement and Support for Education. He has been awarded the French decoration “Chevalier” in the Order of the “Legion d’Honneur”. An honorary doctorate of Science was bestowed on Prof Shih by Brown University in recognition of his contributions to higher education and research.
Prof Shih has been a consultant to National Aeronautics Space Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, among others. Prof Shih is a member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
After spending thirty years in the US, Prof Shih returned to Singapore in 1996 as the founding Director of the Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering with concurrent appointment as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Singapore (NUS) in the following year. He is the founding President of the Materials Research Society of Singapore, affiliated to the International Union of Materials Research Societies.
In 2000, Prof Shih took the helm of NUS as President and Vice-Chancellor. In this capacity, Prof Shih has been actively promoting NUS’ global profile. He serves on the governing boards of several university consortiums, including Universitas 21 and the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU). He is also the Chairman Emeritus of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of 37 leading research universities along the Pacific Rim. APRU is modelled after the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). Prof Shih chairs the Governing Board of the APRU World Institute, an institute of advanced studies to address scientific, social and economic issues of global importance.
Prof Shih has also served on a number of national level committees in Singapore. He is the Chairman of the Singapore-MIT Alliance Governing Board as well as an Executive Committee member of the Economic Development Board. Prof Shih is a founding member of the Singapore International Foundation. He is also a Board member of the National Research Foundation chaired by the former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan. In 2002-2003, Prof Shih served on the Economic Review Committee, chaired by then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, that crafted wide-ranging strategies for re-making Singapore.
