Professor Chan assumed his role as the third president of KAUST in September 2018. He has led growing the faculty and students by close to 50%. He has expanded KAUST’s research emphasis from energy, water, food and environment to include digital and health, launching new initiatives in Artificial Intelligence and Smart Health. He is increasing investment and capacity in innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer to fulfill the second mission of the University. By positioning the University to leverage KSA’s ambitious Vision 2030 strategic plan, he is strengthening its engagement with the Nation. Finally, he is leading efforts to enhance the global and national visibility of KAUST.

He is on the Board of Trustees/Directors of Hong Kong Academy of Science; IPAM, UCLA; KACST, Future Investment Initiative (FII Institute), Saudi Arabia; Skolkovo, Russia and Yidan Prize Foundation, Hong Kong. He is also on the Advisory Board/Committee of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, China; KFUPM, Saudi Arabia; KAIST, Korea; KAPSARC, Saudi Arabia, NEOM, Saudi Arabia; Saudi Data and AI (SDAIA) Supervisory National Strategy Committee of Data and AI, Saudi Arabia, RIKEN, Japan; SUSTech, China.

He received his BS and MS degrees in Engineering from Caltech and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford. He is a member of US National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of IEEE, AAAS and SIAM. He was awarded the 2020 SIAM Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession. He has received Honorary Doctorates from University of Strathclyde and University of Waterloo.