Kok-Kwang Phoon

Biography

KK Phoon is Distinguished Professor and Vice Provost (Academic Personnel), National University of Singapore. He is widely recognized for his work on developing statistical and other data-driven methods to support decision making in geotechnical engineering. His work has influenced recent codes such as ISO2394:2015 “General principles on reliability for structures” and garnered more than 10,000 cites (h-index 47) in Google Scholar. He is the recipient of numerous awards notably the ASCE Norman Medal, the John Booker Medal, and the Humboldt Research Award.

KK Phoon is the founding editor of Georisk and serves on the boards of major journals conferences, and societies in his field. He has edited 3 books: Reliability of Geotechnical Structures in ISO2394 (CRC Press/Balkema, 2016; in Chinese 中国水利水电出版社, 2018), Risk and Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering (CRC Press, 2015), and Reliability-Based Design in Geotechnical Engineering (Spon Press, 2008). He was elected Fellow of ASCE in 2008, Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) in 2009, and Fellow of Academy of Engineering Singapore in 2012. He is a widely sought after lecturer having delivered talks in 26 countries 83 cities around the world, including:

• 1st S.L. Lee Lecture (2013) – “Is Site Investigation an Investment or Expense? – a Reliability Perspective”
• 11th J.E. Jennings Memorial Lecture (2013) – “Statistical Characterization of Geotechnical Parameters”
• 10th Sun Jun Lecture (2015) – “Reliability of Geotechnical Structures”
• 4th Wilson Tang Lecture (2015) – “Is There Anything Better than LRFD for Simplified Geotechnical RBD”
• 10th Lumb Lecture (2018) – “The Story of Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering” news

Education/ Professional Qualifications

• Professional Engineer (PEng), Singapore
• ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer
• Fellow, Academy of Engineering Singapore
• Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers
• Fellow, Institution of Engineers Singapore
• PhD, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (USA)

Experience

• Interim Director, Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for Public Understanding of Risk, 2016-2019 web
• Vice Provost (Academic Personnel), NUS, 2015-
• Board Member, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), 2017-2020
• Vice-President, International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), 2017
• Vice-President, International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability (IASSAR), USA, 2018 – 2021
• Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NUS, 2013-2015
• President, Geotechnical Society of Singapore, 2010-2011

Honours & Awards

• Luojia Distinguished Visiting Professor (珞珈杰出访问教授), Wuhan University, 2018-2022
• Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung/Foundation, 2017
• John Booker Medal, International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, 2014
• Distinguished Professor, National University of Singapore, 2013
• Outstanding Geotechnical Engineer, Geotechnical Society of Singapore, 2012
• Academy of Engineering Singapore （新加坡工程院院士）, 2012
• Annual Teaching Excellence Award (2009/2010, 2010/2011)
• Engineering Educator Award (2010/2011, 2011/2012)
• Provost’s Chair Professor, National University of Singapore, 2011-2013
• Kwang-Hua Chair Professor (光华讲座教授), Tongji University, China, 2010
• Outstanding Researcher Award, National University of Singapore, 2010
• Hogentogler Award, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 2007
• Norman Medal, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2005
• Named Lectures: Inaugural S.L. Lee Lecture (2013), 11th J.E. Jennings Memorial Lecture (2013), 10th Sun Jun Lecture (2015), 4th Wilson Tang Lecture (2015)

Professional Activities

• Managing Editor, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering (ASCE)
• Editorial Board Member, Structural Safety (Elsevier)
• Editorial Board Member, Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics (Elsevier)
• Associate Editor, Structure & Infrastructure Engineering (Taylor & Francis)
• Associate Editor, Canadian Geotechnical Journal (NRC)
• Advisory Board Member, Environmental Geotechnics (ICE)
• Advisory Board Member & Founding Editor, Georisk (Taylor & Francis)

Recent conferences

• Conference Chair, Sixth International Symposium on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management (6ISRERM), 31 May-1 June 2018, Singapore
• Conference Chair, Risk Quotient, 25-26 Oct 2018, University of Tokyo, Japan
• Scientific Committee, 17th Probabilistic Workshop, Edinburgh, UK, 11-13 Sep 2019
• Scientific Committee, 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP13) 26-30 May 2019, Seoul, South Korea
• Scientific Committee, Sixth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE2018), Ghent, Belgium, 28-31 Oct, 2018

Recent Publications

• Wang, Y., Zhao, T. Y & Phoon, K. K., “Direct Simulation of Random Field Samples from Sparsely Measured Geotechnical Data with Consideration of Uncertainty in Interpretation”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 55(6), June 2018, 862-880
• Tang, C. & Phoon, K. K., “Statistics of Model Factors and Consideration in Reliability-Based Design of Axially Loaded Helical Piles”, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Aug 2018, 144(8), 04018050
• Tang, C. & Phoon, K. K., “Evaluation of Model Uncertainties in Reliability-Based Design of Steel H-Piles in Axial Compression”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 55(11), Nov 2018, 1513-1532
• Tang, C. & Phoon, K. K., “Statistics of Model Factors in Reliability-based Design of Axially Loaded Driven Piles in Sand”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 55(11), Nov 2018, 1592-1610
• Ching, J. Y., Li, K. H., Phoon, K. K. & Weng, M. C., “Generic Transformation Models for Some Intact Rock Properties”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 55(12), Dec 2018, 1702-1741
• Ching, J. Y. & Phoon, K. K., “Constructing Site-specific Probabilistic Transformation Model by Bayesian Machine Learning”, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, 145(1), 2019, 04018126
• Ching, J. Y. & Phoon, K. K., “Impact of Auto-correlation Function Model on the Probability of Failure”, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, 145(1), 2019, 04018123

Editorial works

• Phoon K. K. & Retief, J. V. (Editors), Reliability of Geotechnical Structures in ISO2394, CRC Press/Balkema, 2016 (book – in Chinese 李典庆, 唐小松, 曹子君(译). 方国光，约翰·雷迪夫(著). 基于ISO2394的岩土工程可靠度设计[M]. 北京: 中国水利水电出版社, 2018)
• Phoon K. K. & Ching, J. Y. (Editors), Risk and Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering, CRC Press, 2014, 594 p. (book)
• Phoon K. K.(Editor), Reliability-Based Design in Geotechnical Engineering: Computations and Applications, CRC Press, 2008, 544 p. (book)
• Phoon K. K. & Juang, C. H. (guest editors), Special Issue in Honour and Memory of Professor Tien H. Wu, Georisk – in progress
• Phoon K. K.(guest editor), Special Issue “Flow and Transport in Porous Media in the Face of Uncertainty”, Environmental Geotechnics – in progress
• Meschke, G., Hofstetter, G. & Phoon, K. K.(guest editors), Special Issue “Computational Methods in Tunneling”, Underground Space, 3(4), 2018 papers
• Meschke, G., Hofstetter, G. & Phoon, K. K.(guest editors), Special Issue “Computational Methods in Mechanized Tunneling”, Underground Space, 3(1), 2018 papers
• Phoon K. K.(guest editor), Special Issue “Probabilistic Site Characterization, ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems: Part A, 2018 link
• Phoon K. K. (guest editor), Special Issue “10th Anniversary Issue for Georisk”, Georisk, 11(1), 2017
• Li, D. Q., Zhang, J., Phoon, K. K.& Gokceoglu, C. (guest editors), Special Issue “Probabilistic and Soft Computing Methods for Engineering Geology”, Engineering Geology, Volume 203, March 2016
• Phoon, K. K.(guest editor), Special Issue in Honour of Professor Wilson Tang, Structural Safety, 2014