Prof. Choon Fong Shih
President, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Professor, Mechanical Engineering, KAUST
Prof. Shih became founding president of KAUST after nine years as President and Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is chairman emeritus of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), and has chaired the Governing Board of the APRU World Institute. He is a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. As a researcher, Professor Shih has made significant contributions in nonlinear fracture mechanics and computational methods for fracture analyses. Professor Shih is listed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as among the world's most highly cited engineering researchers. Among his honors are the George Irwin Medal and the Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award, from the American Society for Testing and Materials and the American Society for Mechanical Engineers respectively, the inaugural Asia Pacific Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for Advancement and Support for Education, and the French decoration "Chevalier" in the Order of the "Legion d'Honneur". He is a member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.