New NUS, NTU presidents among 3 new board members for A*Star in 2018

(From left) Professor Tan Eng Chye, Professor Subra Suresh and Dr Josephine Kwa. PHOTO: MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY

SINGAPORE - The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) will see three new board members and the re-appointment of another in 2018.

Professor Tan Eng Chye, the National University of Singapore's incoming president and Professor Subra Suresh, his counterpart at Nanyang Technological University, will join A*Star's board on Jan 1, the same date of their university appointments, the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced on Friday (Dec 29).

The third new A*Star board member is Dr Josephine Kwa, director of Barghest Building Performance, who will begin her term of office on Feb 1.

They will replace outgoing NUS president Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, outgoing NTU president Professor Bertil Andersson and Mr Ong Boon Hwee, the chief executive of Stewardship Asia Centre Pte Ltd, all of whom have completed their term on the A*Star board.

Dr Tatsumi Yamazaki, distinguished adviser to Chugai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, has been re-appointed to the A*Star board with effect from Feb 1.

Prof Tan, who was NUS' provost for the past 10 years, joined the university as a senior tutor in the Department of Mathematics in 1985 and has held visiting positions at various universities overseas such as Rutgers University, University of Washington at Seattle, University of California at Berkeley. He also sits on the International Advisory Council of the Southern University of Science and Technology in China, and on the board of the Defence Science & Technology Agency.

Prof Suresh is an American scientist, engineer and entrepreneur who was president of Carnegie Mellon University from 2013 to 2017. He was also director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2010 to 2013, and dean of the School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering from 2007 to 2010 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a faculty member for two decades.

Dr Kwa was formerly the CEO of NSL Ltd and during her 23-year tenure there also served as chief operating officer and executive vice-president of technology, responsible for the group's R&D, IT, energy & environmental investments and strategies.

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