NUS University Awards 2024: Eight exemplary individuals honoured for their relentless drive toward excellence

NUS University Awards 2024: Eight exemplary individuals honoured for their relentless drive toward excellence

Eight outstanding educators, researchers and professionals were lauded for their contributions to the University, Singapore and the global community at the NUS University Awards 2024. The annual Awards pay tribute to members of the NUS community who, through their consistently high performance and resolute commitment, raised the bar in the areas of education, research and service.

Speaking at the awards ceremony held at Conrad Singapore Orchard on 30 August, NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye highlighted that excellence is an enduring core value at NUS. He hopes that this eye to excellence will continue to motivate members of the NUS community to think of how they as individuals can be quicker, better and more productive in their pursuits.

Noting how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming every industry with great velocity, and our graduates will be moving on to jobs and sectors being changed and challenged with AI, Prof Tan said that we too must position ourselves strongly for AI. He added that this has prompted NUS to do two things in relation to its education mission, "First, we need to take a hard look at how AI will impact jobs and the industry sectors that our graduates will move on to, and the skills and knowledge they need to thrive. Are our courses building skills that are relevant? Do our students need exposure and engagement with AI, to work competently in a future which is AI-driven? Second, AI is disrupting various sectors of the knowledge economy. AI can process information and produce content almost instantly. How can we leverage on AI to 'superpower' teaching and learning?"

Top accolade - Outstanding Service Award

This year, the prestigious Outstanding Service Award was conferred on Mr Bilahari Kausikan, Chairman of the Middle East Institute at NUS and former Singapore diplomat, and Dr Teh Kok Peng, Chairman of the East Asian Institute at NUSand a veteran in Singapore's finance and economic development, in recognition of their inspiring leadership and dedicated service. Both are accomplished leaders who have made sustained contributions in selflessly serving the University and society.

Mr Bilahari Kausikan

As Chairman of the Middle East Institute (MEI) at NUS - an appointment he has held since 2017, Mr Kausikan has leveraged on his decades of diplomatic service experience, and wide global and national recognition, to drive the institute's impactful research, and enhanced its stature and reputation.

He has guided MEI's focus and publications towards what was relevant to its primary stakeholders in the Singapore government and relatable to the general public, while maintaining the highest standards of academic rigour. MEI is now well-known in East Asia, the Middle East, the US and Europe. Mr Kausikan will be retiring as MEI Chairman in end-August 2024, but he will remain associated with the institute as an Honorary Fellow.

During his 37-year career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kausikan has contributed to steering Singapore's foreign relations in an increasingly complex and uncertain international environment. The veteran diplomat served in diverse appointments at home and abroad, including Ambassador to The Russian Federation and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. He was appointed Deputy Secretary for Southeast Asia in 1998 and Second Permanent Secretary (Foreign Affairs) in 2001. He served as Permanent Secretary (Foreign Affairs) from 2010, before retiring in 2013, whereupon he was appointed Ambassador-at-Large, a position he held until 2018.

Known for his pragmatic and candid views, Mr Kausikan has written and spoken extensively on the complexities of diplomacy, nation-states and international politics, particularly the role of ASEAN vis-à-vis the global powers.

Delivering the citation for Mr Kausikan's conferment, Ms Michelle Teo, Executive Director, MEI, noted that the institute has benefitted from his wide global and national recognition. "Under Bilahari's watch, the stature and reputation of our Institute has been enhanced. He has been a true leader for the MEI team, always available to everyone, honest and insightful in his many discussions with the research team, and clear and precise in his guidance to the Board and the administrative team," said Ms Teo.

Sharing his thoughts on receiving the Outstanding Service Award, Mr Kausikan said, "I have only done as most of us have done, and that's what we could ― for our families, for the organisations we belonged to, for our country. Some of us are fortunate in that what we did attracted greater attention, but no contribution could have been possible without the contributions of all, whether recognised or not."

Watch this inspiring videoon Mr Kausikan's dedicated contributions towards the University and society.

Dr Teh Kok Peng

Dr Teh Kok Peng has had a distinguished career in finance and economic development. He served as President of GIC Special Investments from April 1999 to June 2011, where he oversaw global investments in private equity, infrastructure and international venture funds. His early career at the World Bank and his roles as Deputy Managing Director of both the Monetary Authority of Singapore and GIC underscored his significant contributions to Singapore's financial and economic development.

In recognition of his service, Dr Teh has received numerous accolades, including the AVCJ (Asian Venture Capital Journal) Special Achievement Award in 2022 and the Public Administration Award (Gold) during Singapore's National Day Awards in 1992. His academic journey, with degrees from La Trobe University and the University of Oxford, laid the foundation for his lifelong pursuit of excellence.

Under his sterling stewardship as Chairman of EAI, the institute has undergone a strategic transformation that has significantly enhanced its capacity to conduct cutting-edge academic and policy-oriented research on East Asian development. Among his contributions are the initiation of a strategic review of the EAI Board. Following this, the Board was reconstituted to include members from the corporate sector, harnessing a more diverse range of relevant expertise in service of the institute's mission of promoting academic and policy-oriented research on East Asian development.

Dr Teh's contributions also encompassed the higher education sector, where he served on the boards of NUS, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and Institute of Policy Studies. Delivering the citation for Dr Teh's conferment, Professor Alfred Schipke, Director, EAI, said "The nation and many esteemed institutions have greatly benefitted from his visionary leadership and profound expertise in finance, economic development, and higher education."

On his motivation to serve, Dr Teh shared, "As far back as I can remember, and perhaps instinctively, I've had the urge to combine the life of the mind with a life of action, and for a purpose greater than myself. I hope that I have succeeded, in my limited ways."

Watch this inspiring video on Dr Teh's dedicated contributions towards the University and society.

Inaugural Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award

This new award honours faculty members who have excelled in graduate mentoring through their dedication in developing students holistically, commitment in producing research leaders who excel globally, and have been identified by their colleagues and students as deserving of special recognition.

Beyond sustained and positive impact on graduate mentoring, recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award will also strengthen graduate mentorship at the University by sharing their practice and providing guidance in this area. They will therefore be invited to give a public lecture and will further be called on to contribute to the University graduate community by advising initiatives aimed at enhancing graduate mentoring practice.

The University presented the inaugural Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award to Provost's Chair Professor Abhik Roychoudhury from the Department of Computer Scienceat NUS School of Computing.

Prof Roychoudhury has fostered a culture of holistic mentorship that emphasises collaboration and creativity over traditional supervision, encouraging imagination and original thought among his students. Through a distinct mentorship approach, he has opened the pathway for talent from around the world to become faculty members at highly ranked universities globally. He has nurtured research leaders who have excelled on the global stage, garnering international esteemed research awards and leadership recognition both during and beyond their PhD studies.

Trailblazers in education and research

NUS also honoured the achievements of five outstanding educators and researchers from the College of Design and Engineering(CDE), Duke-NUS Medical School, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences(FASS), NUS College, and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

University Research Recognition Award

Professor Wang Linfa from Duke-NUS Medical School, and Professor Brenda Yeoh Saw Ai from the Department of Geography, FASS, were both recognised for their groundbreaking research that has placed NUS at the forefront of their respective fields.

Internationally recognised for his stellar contributions to the field of emerging bat viruses and bat biology, Prof Wang has fuelled discoveries and biomedical innovations that have helped combat several viral outbreaks, from the Hendra virus in Australia to the global COVID-19 pandemic. He was featured in Clarivate's list of Highly Cited Researchers, which recognises researchers who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Holding a joint appointment as research leader of the Asian Migration Research Cluster at the Asia Research Institute at NUS, Prof Yeoh is known for her outstanding research record and reputation in the field of migration and transnationalism studies in the context of Asia. She was recognised by election as Fellow (International) of the British Academy in 2022, and accorded the Vautrin Lud Prize, one of the highest international awards for outstanding achievements in Geography, in 2021.

Young Researcher Award

Two promising researchers were commended for conducting groundbreaking research with the potential to extend the frontiers of knowledge in their respective fields:

1) Assistant Professor Jasper Tromp from NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

Asst Prof Tromp is a distinguished researcher who focuses on heart failure, artificial intelligence, and health systems research. His pioneering work in leveraging machine learning algorithms to enhance the detection and management of heart failure has profound implications for the field of cardiology.

2) Assistant Professor Wang Xinchao from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Design and Engineering at NUS

Asst Professor Wang is known internationally for his work on efficient and trustworthy machine learning for applications, including computer vision and natural language processing. He invented the world's most popular structural pruning approach, DepGraph, for pruning deep neural networks with one line of code in a fully automatic manner. The software has been downloaded over 125,000 times.

Outstanding Educator Award

Assoc Prof Peter Thomas Vail from NUS College was honoured for being an exemplary educator who has excelled in engaging and inspiring students in their quest for knowledge. He led the design, development and coordination of the compulsory Impact Experience (IEx) capstone course. One of NUS College's flagship programmes, IEx allows students to undertake community service and development projects in countries across Southeast Asia and Singapore. He also crafted and piloted the NUS College Global Experience course, GEx Bali - Lombok, which focuses on marine conservation and participatory development strategies.

Read more about the NUS University Awards recipients hereand the NUS press release here.