Biography
Professor Ling San obtained his BA and MA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and has a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent 13 years at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a faculty member, before joining Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2005 as the Founding Head of the Division of Mathematical Sciences in the School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences (SPMS). He also served as Chair of SPMS and Dean, College of Science, before being appointed Provost and Vice President (Academic) on 1 January 2018. He became Deputy President & Provost on 1 January 2020, till 30 June 2025. Professor Ling was appointed Distinguished Nanyang Professor at NTU Singapore from 1 July 2025. Between August 2022 and July 2024, Professor Ling also served concurrently as the Chief Scientific Advisor for the National Research Foundation, Singapore. Professor Ling joined VinUniversity as Senior Deputy President in July 2025.
Professor Ling 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, Professor Ling 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, the Institutional Advisory Board of VinUniversity, the International Board of Overseers of Sabancı University (Türkiye), the International Advisory Council of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), and the Board of Trustees of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar).
- Applications of algebra and number theory to combinatorial designs, coding theory, cryptography and sequences
- Algebraic coding theory
- Quantum error-correcting codes
- Post-quantum cryptography
- Linear Algebra
- Modern Algebra
- Number Theory
- Coding Theory
- Cryptography
1. G. Luo, B. Chen, M.F. Ezerman & S. Ling, Bounds and constructions of quantum locally recoverable codes from quantum CSS codes, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 71, no. 3, 1794 – 1802 (2025)
2. M.F. Ezerman, M. Grassl, S. Ling, F. Özbudak & B. Özkaya, Characterization of nearly self-orthogonal quasi-twisted codes and related quantum codes, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 71, no. 1, 499 – 517 (2025)
3. G. Luo, M.F. Ezerman, C. Güneri, S. Ling & F. Özbudak, Griesmer bound and constructions of linear codes in b-symbol metric, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 70, no. 11, 7840 – 7847 (2024)
4. B. Libert, S. Ling, K. Nguyen & H. Wang, Zero-knowledge arguments for lattice-based accumulators: logarithmic-size ring signatures and group signatures without trapdoors, J Cryptology 23, no. 3, 23 pages (2023)
5. G. Luo, M.F. Ezerman & S. Ling, Three new constructions of optimal locally repairable codes from matrix-product codes, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 69, no. 1, 75 – 85 (2023)
6. B. Libert, S. Ling, K. Nguyen & H. Wang, Zero-knowledge arguments for lattice-based accumulators: logarithmic-size ring signatures and group signatures without trapdoors, In: Advances in Cryptology – Eurocrypt 2016 Part II, J.-S. Coron & M. Fischlin eds., Lecture Notes in Computer Science 9666, pp. 1 – 31 (2016)
7. B. Chen, S. Ling & G. Zhang, Application of constacyclic codes to quantum MDS codes, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 61, no. 3, 1474 – 1484 (2015)
8. A. Moradi, A. Poschmann, S. Ling, C. Paar & H. Wang, Pushing the limits: A very compact and a threshold implementation of AES, In: Advances in Cryptology – Eurocrypt 2011, K.G. Patterson ed., Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6632, Springer, pp. 69 – 88 (2011)
9. H. Chen, S. Ling & C. Xing, Quantum codes from concatenated algebraic-geometric codes. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 51, 2915 – 2920 (2005)
10. S. Ling & P. Solé, On the algebraic structure of quasi-cyclic codes I: finite fields. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 47, 2751 – 2760 (2001)
- 1990: PhD in Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- 1989: MA in Mathematics, University of Cambridge, UK
- 1985: BA in Mathematics, University of Cambridge, UK
- 2024 Public Administration Medal (Gold), Singapore
- 2024 Honorary Professor, Central China Normal University, China
- 2022 Honorary Professor, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China
- 2018 Honorary Professor, Hefei University of Technology, China
- 2014 Fellow, Singapore National Academy of Science, Singapore
- 2013 Public Administration Medal (Silver), Singapore
- 2003 National Science Award (Team), Singapore
- 2001 Singapore Youth Award (Science & Technology), Singapore
