Singapore - SUTD appoints US professors as "heads of pillars"

SINGAPORE: Singapore's fourth university, the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has appointed two US professors to head two of its pillars -- or focus areas -- of study.

They are professors Kristin Wood and Saif Benjaafar.

After 20 years at the University of Texas, professor Kristin Wood will head SUTD's Engineering Product Development pillar.

Prof Wood will focus on the design of high tech products with a hands-on approach to learning.

"We're going to have classrooms where we have cohorts of students not learning in traditional lecture style, but working together with faculty at tables, presentation rooms, reconfigurable classrooms, learning on the fly with their peers solving real design problems that are really about changing the world," prof Wood said.

Meanwhile, professor Saif Benjaafar, who was with the University of Minnesota, will head Engineering Systems and Design.

Prof Benjaafar's area looks at the management of large and complex systems like transport infrastructure and supply chains.

But prof Benjaafar said SUTD students will learn more than just the technology of it.

"Our focus on the broader social-economic context is what differentiates us," he said.

"Our students, in addition to getting the fundamentals in engineering, math, physics and the sciences, will also get a deep exposure to management, economics and public policy. That profile would be very unique."

SUTD is a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Zhejiang University.

Both professors said they are excited about the opportunity to work in an institution that transforms the way engineering is taught, and the way engineering research is carried out.

Prof Wood explained the idea is not simply transferring the MIT system to Singapore.

"The idea is a feedback system. As we create things here and make them work, they'll get fed back to MIT and they'll improve as well," he said.

Prof Benjaafar added: "If the Massachusetts Institute of Technology re-invents itself, SUTD is what it will look like."

The university offers four pillars of study that are inter-disciplinary, sharing, teaching and research resources.

The head of pillar provides vision and leadership, administers the pillar's academic programme and is responsible for the quality of its graduates.

The university said the two heads were identified after a rigorous year-long search.

The search goes on for the heads of the university's two other pillars, Architecture and Sustainable Design and Information Systems Technology and Design.

Applicants have been shortlisted, and the university expects the positions to be filled by the end of the year.

-CNA/wk


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