Prof LUI Pao Chuen is Singapore‘s Chief Defence Scientist since 1986. He also holds appointments on the management boards of research institutes, corporations and universities which include DSO National Laboratories, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, Tropical Marine Science Institute, Temasek Laboratories @ National University of Singapore, Jurong International Holdings Pte Ltd, Temasek Defence Systems Institute, Temasek Laboratories @ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Research Foundation.
Prof LUI had also served in the board of directors of various Government-linked-companies, Government agencies and University of Singapore which include Singapore Electronic & Engineering Pte Ltd, Singapore Aerospace Ltd, Science Council of Singapore, School Executive Committee of Victoria Secondary School and Victoria Junior College, Land Transport Authority, Defence Medical Research Institute and Tropical Marine Science Institute.
Prof LUI Pao Chuen graduated from the University of Singapore in 1965 with a degree in Physics. Awarded MINDEF’s first fellowship for postgraduate education in 1971, he elected to study at the United States Naval Postgraduate School where he graduated in 1973 with a Masters degree in Operations Research and Systems Analysis. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Singapore since 1990.
Prof LUI Pao Chuen joined the Ministry of Defence in 1966 as the Officer-in-Charge of Tests, Evaluation and Acceptance Section. In 1970 he established the Science and Management Group, reporting directly to the Second Permanent Secretary of Defence for the planning and management of major development projects. In 1973, he was appointed acting Director, Logistics Division. In 1975, he was appointed Special Projects Director and was made responsible for the planning, system engineering and management of the implementation of major weapon systems for the SAF. As he was responsible for both operational and technical matters, he could adopt a “Conception to Retirement” systems approach which later became standard practice in MINDEF. In 1984, he concurrently held the appointment of acting Director, Joint Operations and Plans Directorate with his appointment as Director, Special Projects Organisation. In 1986, he was made Senior Director to set up the Defence Material Organization through the merger of the Material Management Organization and the Special Projects Organization. He was appointed, also in 1986, to the new post of Chief Defence Scientist to provide advice to the Ministry of Defence and the Singapore Armed Forces.
Dr Nandagopal is the DSTO's Deputy Chief Defence Scientist (Policy and Programs), responsible for DSTO's strategic policy development, client program planning and reporting across the organisation. He is also DSTO's Chief Systems Integration Officer, responsible for the overall planning, policies and frameworks for the integration of systems and technologies across the whole of DSTO, and has the lead for DSTO's major S&T initiative in Military Experimentation. Dr Nandagopal is Executive Chair of TTCP Joint Systems and Analysis Group, and is the chair of the ARC Research Network on Information Systems, Sensor Networks and Information Processing.
Dr Nandagopal holds a B.E., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and has held academic positions at the University of Adelaide, McMaster University, Canada and the University of Melbourne. He has held an Adjunct Associate Professor position at the University of Adelaide and he has also been appointed Adjunct Fellow of the Australian National University (ANU).
Dr Nandagopal joined the DSTO in January 1989 as a Principal Research Scientist and was promoted to Senior Principal Research Scientist in 1990, working as Research Leader Maritime Weapons Systems in Weapons Systems Division. In July 1996, he was promoted to Chief Weapons Systems Division and then Chief Maritime Operations Division in 2000. In 2002, Dr Nandagopal was promoted to become the inaugural Director, Systems Sciences Laboratory - later transformed into Deputy Chief Defence Scientist (Systems). In this role, Dr Nandagopal was responsible for research and development into Operations (Land, and Maritime), Weapons, Radar and Electronic Warfare. On July 1, 2006, he relinquished this position and took up his current role as Deputy Chief Defence Scientist (Policy and Planning).