Su Guaning () is a Singaporean college administrator and academic who served as the president of

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various in ...

(NTU) between 2003 and 2011. He is currently President Emeritus of Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Education

President's Scholar A President's Scholar is a recipient of the academic scholarship awarded by the Government of Singapore annually, to pursue undergraduate education at a university, usually abroad. The scholarship is considered to be the most prestigious public ...

and

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

Scholar, Su graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in electrical engineering from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, and Stanford University respectively. He also holds a Master of Science in statistics from Stanford University, and attended post-graduate programmes in business administration and management development at the University of Singapore (now the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...

) and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

respectively.

Career

Su began his career in 1972 as one of the first research engineers in Singapore's

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

(MINDEF). He became Director of the Defence Science Organisation (DSO) in 1986, building it into Singapore's largest research and development institute. In 1997, he transformed DSO into a not-for-profit company, DSO National Laboratories, and became its first Chief Executive Officer. After serving as the Deputy Secretary (Technology) in MINDEF for two years, he set up the

Defence Science and Technology Agency Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Singapore. DSTA is responsible for performing acquisitions management, systems management, systems developme ...

(DSTA) and became its founding Chief Executive in 2000 until 2002. He was appointed as the President of

(NTU) on 1 January 2003.NTU Personalities: Leader of the Global Alliance of Technological Universities: Dr Su Guaning
Su became an Adjunct Associate Professor at the

(NUS)'s Department of Electrical Engineering in 1991 and taught

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

systems and

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing '' signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...

there. He was promoted to Adjunct Professor in 1995. He also taught management of technology at the

NUS Business School The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

from 1998–2000. Su serves on a number of boards, including the

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organ ...

of Institute Para Limes in the Netherlands, the boards of the Singapore National Research Foundation and Business China, Singapore,Business China Singapore
/ref> and the International Advisory Boards of

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) ( ar, جامعة الملك عبد العزيز) is a public university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With over 117,096 students in 2022, it is the largest university in the country. Located in south Jeddah, the uni ...

and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He also serves on the board of the

School of Science and Technology, Singapore The School of Science and Technology, Singapore (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: 新科技中學; pinyin: ''xīn kē jì zhōng xué'') ( abbreviation: SST) is a specialised independent secondary school in Singapore, offering a four-y ...

. He is also an international reviewer for the

Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan The Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT; {{zh, t=財團法人高等教育評鑑中心基金會) was founded in May 2005. HEEACT applied for ISO certification in July 2008 and received certification on 4 February ...

, a member of Singapore's Climate Change Network, and a director of Nanyang International Education (Holdings) Limited. Su is an Honorary Fellow and past President of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore, and founding Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology. NTU is a founding member of the Global Alliance of Technological Universities and Su is the founding Chairman. In 2010, he was re-elected Chairman of the Alliance for another two-year term. Prof. Su is a founding member and Board Member of the International IP Commercialization Council (IIPCC.org), a global NPO NGO.

Awards

Su was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 1989, the Public Service Medal in 1997, and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) and Long Service Medal in 1998 by the

President of Singapore The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the reserves and the integrity of the public service. The presidency is largely ceremonial, with the Cabinet led by the prim ...

. In 2005, he was conferred the title of

Chevalier of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

by the French government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Guaning Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean engineers Harvard Business School alumni University of Alberta alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Stanford University alumni Catholic High School, Singapore alumni Living people President's Scholars Nanyang Technological University faculty Presidents of Nanyang Technological University 1951 births Recipients of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam Recipients of the Long Service Medal (Military) (Singapore)