Draft:Tan Thiam Soon

• Comment: Possibly notable individual, but requires more reliable secondary sources. BenTanXiaoMing (talk) 18:01, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

Tan Thiam Soon is a Singaporean civil engineer and academic specializing in geotechnical engineering.^[1] He is a board member and chairperson of Building and Construction Authority and Institute Professor of Singapore Institute of Technology.^[2] He was also the president of the institution from 2013 to 2021.^[1][2] He is recognized for his research in land reclamation and deep excavation.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Growing up as a kampung boy in Upper Jurong, Tan initially would have studied Mathematics, Law or Anthropology.^[3] As a scholar of the Public Service Commission Singapore during his teenage years, he had to abandon the idea to pursue civil engineering.^[3] So he went to obtain his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand and graduated with first class honours in 1978.^[1] He later completed a master's degree in 1982 and eventually get a scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, although the professor he initially wanted to work with to do a Ph.D. in earthquake engineering was retiring.^[4] He completed his doctoral degree in 1985 under the supervision of Professor Ronald F. Scott with the dissertation title,'Two-Phase Soil Study: A. Finite Strain Consolidation. B. Centrifuge Scaling Considerations.' which was published in 1986. ^[5]

Academic career and leadership

Tan was a professor at the National University of Singapore for 26 years before succeeding Tan Chin Tiong in becoming the President of Singapore Institute of Technology in 2013.^[1] In 2021, his role was passed on to Professor Chua Kee Chaing when he became Institute Professor.^[6][7]

Professor Tan joined the board of Building and Construction Authority in 2019 and appointed as deputy chairman in 2021.^[2] When Lim Sim Seng stepped down as chairman, he took over as the new chairman of the board on 1 April 2025 and his role as deputy chairman was succeeded by Max Loh Khum Whai.^[2][8]

Research and contributions

Professor Tan is known for his work on turning waste into resources, focusing on soil.^[3] When works start on Singapore's first fully underground North East Line and the closure of the island state's only landfill at Lorong Halus took place simultaneously at that time, large amounts of excavated soil from the construction work needs to be dealt with and sending them to the current landfill at Pulau Semakau would be a huge price.^[3] As a researcher at the National University of Singapore at that point who happen to be researching on both land reclamation and deep excavation, he successfully solved two problems of soil waste and costly importation of sand for reclaming land at once by optimising the use of unwanted soil for a land reclamation project at Pulau Tekong.^[3]

References