Ling San, Prof.

Professor Ling San is Deputy President and Provost at NTU Singapore. Currently President’s Chair in Mathematical Sciences, he joined NTU in April 2005 as the Founding Head of the Division of Mathematical Sciences in the School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences (SPMS). He was Chair of SPMS from April 2008 to December 2010, and Dean, College of Science, from August 2011 to December 2017, before being appointed Provost on 1 January 2018. Prior to joining NTU, he spent 13 years at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Between August 2022 and July 2024, Professor Ling also served concurrently as the Chief Scientific Advisor for the National Research Foundation, Singapore. He is also a member of the Committee of Government Scientific Advisors, Singapore.

Professor Ling’s research interests are in applications of algebra and number theory to combinatorial designs, coding theory, cryptography and sequences. He has published about 250 journal and conference papers and two textbooks, and edited several conference proceedings. His research has clinched more than S$25 million in funding.

A visiting scholar at institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, CNRS, ESSI Sophia Antipolis, INRIA, ENS Lyon, Macquarie University, the Technion, and Hanyang University, he is a recipient of the Singapore Youth Award (Science & Technology) in 2001, National Science Award (Team) in 2003, Service to Education Award from the Singapore Ministry of Education in 2010, Public Administration Medal (Silver) from the President of the Republic of Singapore in 2013, Fellowship of the Singapore National Academy of Science in 2014, and Public Administration Medal (Gold) from the President of the Republic of Singapore in 2024. A passionate educator, he has also won numerous teaching excellence awards at both NTU and NUS.

Active in serving the professional community, he has previously been a Vice President of the Singapore National Academy of Science, President of the Southeast Asian Mathematical Society and the Singapore Mathematical Society, and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Cryptologic Research. He currently serves on the Management Board of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at NUS and the International Board of Overseers of Sabancı University. Professor Ling has also served as a reviewer for research funding agencies in Singapore and abroad.

He obtained his BA and MA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and has a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.