National University of Singapore (NUS) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star)
Professor Reginald TAN is Professor at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NUS, and concurrently Executive Director at the Science and Engineering Research Council at A*Star. He was also previously Programme Manager for Crystallisation and Particle Science and Director of Research at the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, A*Star, from 2012 to 2019. He holds degrees of BSc(Eng) from the Imperial College, London, M.Eng. from NUS, and PhD from the University of Cambridge, all in chemical engineering.
His research is focused on multiphase transport phenomena, crystallisation and formulation sciences, and environmental life cycle assessment. In the field of crystallisation, he has headed a leading research group on the science of crystallisation of active ingredients, focusing on molecular understanding of nucleation and crystal growth, the influence of impurities and additives, and crystallisation process development including Quality by Design, with applications directed at pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals manufacturing. He has published 256 journal papers, with 7,832 total citations and h-index of 46 (as of September 2019, by Scopus).
Prof Tan has been a keen educator and advocate of science-based and evidence-based solutions to environmental issues. He has applied the technique of environmental life cycle assessment to case studies in mineral extraction, energy options, carbon dioxide capture and sequestration, material selection, and waste management, resulting in several seminal publications in the field.
With his expertise on environmental management, Prof Tan has been an active standards volunteer and partner with SPRING and ESG over the past 25 years. He has served in many leadership roles both internationally (ISO TC207 SC5 on life cycle assessment, ISO Coordinating Committee on Climate Change) and nationally (Chair of Environmental and Resources Standards Committee). In 2019, he was awarded the Enterprise SG–Singapore Standards Council Distinguished Partner Award for his contributions to standards development in the field of environmental management.