About

Dr. Subra Suresh is the President and Distinguished University Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Suresh served as Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), a position to which he was nominated by the President of the United States, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He has also previously served as the President of Carnegie Mellon University and as the Dean of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor at MIT. He graduated from high school at the age of 15 and received his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from MIT within two years.

Suresh's research has focused on the properties of engineered and biological materials and their implications for human diseases and technologies across a broad spectrum of industries and applications. He has authored three books, more than 300 research articles and 35 patent applications, and has co-founded two technology start-ups.

The Innovation Corps (I-Corps) programme which he created while serving as NSF Director in 2011 is now regarded as one of the most impactful initiatives in translating scientific discoveries into commercial practice, and it has been replicated by many other research funding agencies and organizations in the US and abroad. The Global Research Council established at NSF by Suresh in 2012 has now become the key annual forum to connect and coordinate the activities of the heads of all the major research funding agencies from around the world.

Suresh is amongst a rare group of researchers, and the first and only university president to be elected to all three branches of the U.S. National Academies: National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine. He has also been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and to leading science and/or engineering academies in China, France, Germany, India, Spain, Singapore, and Sweden. He has been awarded 18 honorary doctorate degrees from institutions across the globe. His alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, awarded him an honorary doctorate degree during its Golden Jubilee Convocation in 2013 where he was the commencement speaker and guest of honor.

Suresh has received many prestigious awards for advancing science, technology, education, research, and innovation through his scholarship and leadership. They include: the 2020 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Medal, as well as the the 2012 Timoshenko Medal and the 2011 Nadai Medal from ASME for his pioneering research; an Honorary Fellowship of St. Hugh's College at the University of Oxford in 2017;