Professor Tony F Chan became the 3rd President of HKUST on 1 September 2009. President Chan’s scientific background is in Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. President Chan taught at Yale University before joining UCLA as Professor of Mathematics in 1986. He was appointed Chair of the Department of Mathematics in 1997 and served as Dean of Physical Sciences from 2001 to 2006. From 2006 to 2009, President Chan was Assistant Director of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at the US National Science Foundation (NSF). President Chan is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), an elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and an elected fellow of both the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was one of the world’s most cited mathematicians.

President Chan is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, President’s Advisory Council of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Scientific Advisory Board of the University of Vienna, International Advisory Board of Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Board of Trustees of Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Russia, RIKEN Advisory Council (RAC) of Japan, and the United States Committee of 100. President Chan is also a Founding Member and Board Director of The Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, the President of the Hong Kong Institution of Science, a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and a member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Re-industralisation of the Hong Kong Government. He was a member of the Selection Committee for the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences in 2012 and 2013, and a member of the Advisory Committee on Innovation and Technology of the Hong Kong Government for 2015 to 2017. President Chan is the Chair of Nevanlinna Prize Committee for the International Congress of Mathematicians 2018 (ICM 2018) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). He is an Honorary Doctor of the University of Strathclyde.