Biography

Professor CHAN WENG TAT graduated from the University of Singapore with BEng (1st class) in 1980 and MEng in 1981. He completed his graduate studies under a NUS scholarship at Stanford University where he obtained his MSc in Construction Management in 1982 and his PhD in 1986 with a dissertation on the application of constraint logic programming for managing design consistency.

Professor Chan, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, teaches construction management and infrastructure systems subjects. His research focus is on the use of artificial intelligence and information technology for project management. Working with his colleagues in the department, he pioneered and promoted the use of evolutionary search, artificial neural networks and constraint-based problem solving techniques for traditional civil engineering applications like project scheduling and resource allocation, catchment model calibration and prediction, pavement maintenance, pile driving prediction and calibration. Professor Chan was the Shimizu Visiting Professors in Stanford University where he further developed research in this area. His research centers on the application of Internet technologies, distributed computing and artificial intelligence in the civil engineering profession.

Professor Chan also heads the Marine IT Laboratory (MITL) in the Tropical Marine Science Institute. MITL conducts research in the application of marine information decision support systems using 3D web technology, GIS, GPS and data from satellite remote sensing. It's flagship MDIS project has resulted in an operational 3D marine database for Singapore with interactive map content creation, 3D content and application web services

Professor Chan is a core member of the Engineering Systems Initiative (ESI), an interdepartment task force of the Faculty of Engineering set up to formalize research and educational efforts in the understanding, designing and managing large-scale complex technological systems. One of the key activities of ESI is the launch of the MSc program in Systems Design & Management.

Qualifications

• PhD (1986), Stanford University, California
• MSc (1982), Construction Management, Stanford University, California
• MEng (1981), National University of Singapore
• BEng (1980), University of Singapore

Honours & Awards

• Public Service Commission Merit Scholarship, 1976.
• NUS-Overseas Graduate Scholarship, 1981.
• Visiting Scientist, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 1991.
• Katahara Award for Best Technical Paper: 7th Road Engineering Association for Asia and Australasia, 1992.
• Shimizu Visiting Professor, Stanford University, 1994.
• Most outstanding paper: Ninth Congress of the Asian and Pacific Division of the International Association for Hydraulic Research, 1994.
• The Enterprise Challenge (TEC) Award from the Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, 2002.
• Minister's Innovation Award from the Ministry of Transport, Singapore, 2003.
• Best Paper Award, 2nd Annual Asian Conference and Exhibition in GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing (Map Asia 2003), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2003.

Professional Activities

• Member, Institution of Engineers Singapore
• Invited speaker, National Construction Safety Promotion Campaign, representing Institution of Engineers Singapore, since 1997.
• Code of Practice Subcommittee, Graphics Interchange Working Group, 1993 - 1996.
• Integrated structural plan checking system (ISP) Task Force, 1997.
• Resource person, Construction 2000 Taskforce, 1998.
• National representative, IGBP-START Data and Information Systems (DIS) group.
• IT consultant, coastal management and environmental impact studies.
• Editorial Board Member, AI-CIVILCOMP conference, since 1991.
• Member, (evolutionary optimization track), 4th Asian-Pacific Conference on Computational Mechanics (APCOM '99), Singapore, 14-17 Dec 1999.
• Editorial Board Member, Genetic & Evolutionary Computing Conference (GECCO) since 1999.
• Editorial Board Member, GIS@Development, 2003-2005.

Teaching areas

• Construction management
• Information technology
• Engineering economics
• Infrastructure & the environment

Research Interests

• Construction management and site safety
• Resource allocation, planning and scheduling
• Soft sytems computing: evolutionary search & artificial neural networks
• Distributed computing & intelligence
• Constraint logic programming
• Spatial decision support systems

Selected Publications

1. Chan, W T and B C Jr Paulson, Constraint-based exploratory design. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design Analysis and Manufacturing, 1, no.1 (1987): 59-71.
2. Chan, W T and L C C Koe, A knowledge-based framework for diagnosis of the activated sludge process. Water Science and Technology, Part 2, 23, no.4-6 (1991): 847-856. (Special Issue on Water Pollution Research and Control).
3. Chan, W T, T F Fwa and C Y Tan, Road maintenance planning using genetic algorithms: Formulation. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 120, no.5 (1994): 693-709. (United States).
4. Chan, W T, Y K Chow and L F Liu, Neural network: An alternative to pile driving formulas. Computers and Geotechnics, 17, no.2 (1995): 135-156. (United Kingdom).
5. Chan, W T, D K H Chua and K Govindan, Construction resource scheduling with genetic algorithm. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 122, no. 2 (June 1996): 125-132. (United States).
6. Chan, W T, D K H Chua and L Xiong, Collaborative scheduling over the internet. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 14 (1998): 15-24. ( United States). (An invited paper).
7. Fwa, T F, W T Chan and K H Hogue, Multi-Objective Optimisation for Pavement Management Programming. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 126, 5 (2000): 367-374. (United States).
8. Chan, W T, T F Fwa and K Z Hoque, Constraint handling methods in pavement maintenance programming. Transportation Research Part C - Emerging Technologies, 9, No 3 (June 2001): 21-36. (United States).
9. Chan, W T and Hu Hao, An application of genetic algorithms to precast production scheduling. Computers & Structures, 79, No.17 (2001): 1605-1616. (United Kingdom).
10. Chan, W T and H Hu, Constraint programming approach to-precast production scheduling. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 128, 6 (2002): 513-521.
11. Chan, W T and H Hu, Production scheduling for precast plants using a flow shop sequencing model. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 16, 3 (2002): 165-174.
12. Fwa, T F, W T Chan and YP Sim, Optimal vertical alignment analysis for highway design. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 128, 5 (2002): 395-402.
13. Chan, W T and H Hu, Production scheduling for precast plants using a flow shop sequencing model. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 16, 3 (Nov/Dec 2002): 513-521. (United States).
14. Chan, W T, T F Fwa and J. Y. Tan, Optimal Fund-Allocation Analysis for Multi-District Highway Agencies. Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 9, 4 (December 2003): 167-175. (United States).
15. Chan, W T, C Chuan, J I Messner and D K H Chua, Interface Management for China's BOT Projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. Volume 131, Issue 6, pp. 645-655, May/June 2005.
16. Chan, W T, T F Fwa and J. Y. Tan, Benefits of Information Integration in Budget Planning for Pavement Management. Transportation Research Record, 1889 (2005): 3-12. (United States).
17. Huang, B, T F Fwa and W T Chan, Pavement Distress Data Collection System based on Mobile Geographic Information System. Transportation Research Record, 1889 (2005): 54-62. (United States).