Prof Lui Pao Chuen
Advisor National Research Foundation
Prime Minister’s Office
Professor Lui Pao Chuen retired in 2008 after serving 41 years in MINDEF in
different appointments and as Chief Defence Scientist in his last 22 years
service. He was appointed Advisor, National Research Foundation, Prime
Minister’s Office.
He graduated from the University of Singapore in 1965 with a Bachelor of
Science degree, majoring in Physics. In 1966 he enlisted in the SAF as
Captain on a Short Service Commission. He served in the Logistics Division,
Ministry of Interior and Defence as the first Head Technical Department. In
1970 he was appointed Deputy to JYM Pillay, Head of Science Management
Group, Ministry of Defence. In 1971, he was awarded a postgraduate
fellowship by MINDEF. He elected to go to the US Naval Postgraduate
School and graduated with a Master degree in Operations Research and
Systems Analysis in 1973. On his return to Singapore he was promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant Colonel and served as acting Director Logistics Division in
1974.
In 1975, he was appointed to the newly created post of Special Projects
Director responsible for the planning, system engineering and implementation
of selected strategic systems for the SAF. He was promoted to the rank of
Colonel in 1978. In 1984, he was appointed acting Director, Joint Operations
and Plans Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, in addition to his
appointment as Director, Special Projects Organisation. In 1986, he was
appointed Senior Director to establish the Defence Material Organization. He
was also appointed to the newly created post of Chief Defence Scientist. He
retired from the SAF in the rank of Colonel in the same year.
Prof Lui was on the board of directors of various Government-linkedcompanies, Government agencies and universities. Currently, he is holding
several board appointments including Chairman of Singapore Technologies
Dynamics Pte Ltd, Chairman of Sembcorp Design and Construction Pte Ltd,
Director of Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd, and Director of Singapore
Technologies Kinetic. He is also a board member of several agencies and
institutes including the Tropical Marine Science Institute and CRISP in NUS,
NUS High School Board of Governors and Centre of Quantum Technologies.
He is a member of the Executive Committee for Environmental and Water
Technologies and a member of the Energy Research, Development and
Demonstration Executive Committee.
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Prof Lui is an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Engineering in NUS since
1990 and the College of Engineering in NTU since 2007. He is the Senior
Advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed Chairman Project
Evaluation Panel, Environment & Water Industry Development Council in
2006 and Chairman Technical Board, Environment Technology Research
Programme of NEA in 2009
He was elected to the Academic Council of INCOSE (International Council on
Systems Engineering) in 2007. He is Senior Advisor on Systems and
Technology to the President in NTU and a Special Advisor to the Office of the
President in NUS. He is a member the Board of Trustees, Singapore
University of Technology and Design. In 2010 he was appointed by the
Ministry of Finance to chair the Development Projects Advisory Panel and by
the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to co-chair the
evaluation panel for the Silver Community Test Bed Programme. He was
appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Singapore University of Technology
and Design to be Chairman of the Board’s Academic and Research
Committee.
Prof Lui received a number of awards in the public service sector. He
received the SAF Good Service Medal in 1975, the Public Administration
Silver Medal (Silver) in 1979, the Public Administration Gold Medal in 1992
and the Long Service Award in 1997 for his 30 years service in the SAF. He
was appointed The Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star in
Sweden in 1994. He was elected as Honorary Fellow Operations Research
Society of Singapore. In 2000 he was appointed Senior Fellow the United
States Naval Postgraduate School. He received the Distinguished Alumni
Award in 2002 and was the third alumni to be inducted into the United States
Naval Postgraduate School Hall of Fame. In 2002 Prof Lui received a
Teaching Excellence Award by Faculty of Engineering in NUS and the
National Science & Technology Medal. He also received the National
University of Singapore Distinguished Science Alumni Award in 2005. In 2007
he received the National University of Singapore Outstanding Service Award.
He was elected to be an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers,
Singapore in 2008. He received the rare Pioneer Award of International
Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) in 2009. The Pioneer Award
recognizes outstanding pioneer-applications of Systems Engineering in the
development of successful products or services of benefit to society. He was
made an Honorary Member of the International Honor Society for Systems
Engineering Omega Alpha Association in 2010.
In 2011 he was conferred an Honorary Fellow of the ASEAN Federation of
Engineering Organizations for his contributions to the engineering fields. He
was elected by the Institute of Physics of Singapore as the winner of the 2011
IPS President Medal for his contributions to the Physics community. He was
also one of the eleven professors elected to be a Fellow of the Singapore
National Academy of Sciences and one of the 75 Fellows of the Singapore
Academy of Engineering.
In 2012 he was appointed by the Ministry of National Development to be
Adviser of the Underground Master Plan Task Force, the Ministry of Transport
to be a member of the of Singapore Maritime Institute International Advisory
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Panel. In 2013 he was appointed by Ministry of Finance to be a member of the
eGov and Data Advisory Panel, by Changi Airport Group to be a member of
the Executive Committee for Airport Development and by Sembcorp
Industries Ltd to be a member of Technology Advisory Panel.
In 2014 he was appointed by the ministry of Transport to be a member of the
Changi 2036 Planning Committee by the Ministry of the Environment and
Water Resources to be Advisor to IWMF-TWRT Steering Committee (ITSC).
He was also appointed to the Land and Liveability International Advisory
Panel (L2 IAP) by the Ministry of National Development and the National
Research Foundation on 1st March 2014 for a term of three years.
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