Dr. Lee Der-Horng Was Elected Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore in 2017
Dr. Lee Der-Horng Was Elected Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore in 2017
Dr. Lee Der-Horng, the year 1992 alumnus of the Master’s Program of track of Transportation Engineering of the Department of Civil Engineering at NCU, currently holds his tenured full professorship at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Lee was elected and awarded Fellow status of the Academy of Engineering Singapore (SAEng) in 2017 with his distinguished and abundant research achievements in transportation.
Implementation of Research Results: A Shining Star on the World Stage
Following his father’s suggestions, Dr. Lee chose Singapore to develop his future careers. The higher education in Singapore led by the NUS has performed brilliantly in world university rankings. Dr. Lee specializes in Transportation Planning, Transportation Policy, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Port Logistics, and Smart City and so on. He has always been the thought leader of the Government of Singapore and Mass media. In recent years, Dr. Lee’s scientific research on transport data analytics, traffic information, travel behavior, and optimization in public transportation was further implemented in the transportation development of Singapore.
Years at NCU: Tremendous Gratitude for His Mentor
After beginning his graduate studies, Dr. Lee was once stranded at a bottleneck in his learning due to the divergent learning modes between undergraduate and graduate studies. During this time, he made great changes in his attitude toward learning; that is, to turn from the passive into the active. When recalling his days at NCU, Dr. Lee especially expressed his gratitude to his advisor, Professor Chen Huey-kuo. Their relationship is not simply mentor and student at NCU; Dr. Lee’s dissertation supervisor in the University of Illinois in the U.S. was the very same supervisor of Professor Chen’s, which added a sense of school brotherhood intimacy.
Dr. Lee also integrates what he had gained in doing research into his own teaching. When he was a doctoral student in the U.S., the lectures in class were not simply about the content of the textbook but professors’ sharing of life experiences. “The very ability you should have in learning is to be active,” emphasized Dr. Lee, “and to actively pursue the knowledge is the only path to success.”
Traveling Hundreds of Thousand Miles: Cultivating International Competitiveness
Dr. Lee specifically mentioned that it is now the era of information explosion, students in engineering fields must cultivate a global mindset. Apart from that, language proficiency is also a must; effective communication and expression are definitely the advantage in worldwide competitions. “‘He that travels far knows much.’ Though the proverb is such a platitude, it best describes my faith and my persistence,” smilingly said Dr. Lee.
