Shih Choon Fong is a world-famous academic leader, educator and a renowned fracture mechanics expert. He is a former president of the National University of Singapore and the Founding President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He is currently University Professor at the National University of Singapore. Shih was elected as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, US National Academy of Engineering, and serves as chairman of the Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alliance governing board. He was awarded the French decoration “Chevalier” in the Order of the “Legion d’Honneur” in 2005 and received the Centennial Medal from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) in 2018.Shih has made pioneering achievements in non-linear fracture mechanics, fracture analysis and contributed greatly to the development of physics, materials and other disciplines.