Dr Chua is the Head and Principal Metrologist and leads the Electrical Metrology Cluster in the development and maintenance of national electrical measurement standards in the scope of electromagnetic spectrum to establish international equivalence for Singapore’s national measurement infrastructure. He is overseeing the SI units’ realisation and traceability dissemination of electromagnetic measurement units through calibration and measurement services to the industry. Working with a dedicated team, he leads the Cluster to undertake R&D to advance metrology and deliver measurement solutions, provide metrology training, consultancy, and proficiency testing to the industry. His research interests are in the field of dc and low frequency electrical metrology and his current work are mainly related to the primary standards of voltage and resistance, ac-dc transfer, and energy efficiency measurement systems, and has published and co-authored more than 58 technical papers.
Dr Chua has been involved in metrology for more than 32 years since he joined the Measurement Standards Centre (the predecessor of NMC), the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research (SISIR), in 1990. He was involved in various national metrology infrastructure projects, such as SISIR’s Calibration and Measurement Centre, the UNDP/UNIDO’s project “Harmonization of Voltage Metrology in ASEAN Member Countries” that set up the first regional quantum based voltage primary standard in Singapore. He organised an Asian Productivity Organization (APO) funded review of Singapore’s national metrology programme and a MTI follow-up review on chemical metrology infrastructure needs in Singapore. He plays a key role in spearheading national electrical metrology capability development projects since 1990 and propel NMC’s electrical metrology Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) to attain CIPM global metrology CIPM MRA acceptance in 2005.
Dr Chua represents NMC at the Consultative Committee on Electricity and Magnetism (CCEM) and Asia Pacific Metrology Programme Technical Committee on Electricity and Magnetism (APMP TCEM). He was the inaugural Chairman of the TCEM from 1999 to 2002, Chairman of CCEM Regional Metrology Organisations (RMO) TCEM Chairs Group in 2005 and Working Group for RMO Coordination (CCEM-WGRMO) from 2007 to 2009. He was a member of APMP Executive Committee and Treasurer from 2007 to 2010 and was responsible for the liaison work for APMP in APEC’s Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) and Specialist Regional Bodies (SRB). He received an APMP Award in 2013 for his contributions to APMP. He has been invited to conduct peer assessments on electrical metrology capabilities for national metrology institutes and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in support of the CIPM MRA requirements. He is actively involved in standardisation and conformance assessment work and is currently a member of the Singapore Standards Council’s Electrical and Electronic Standards Committee (EESC) and IEC National Committee, and a registered Technical Assessor for the Singapore Accreditation Council Singapore Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (SAC-SINGLAS). He co-chaired the Technical Committee on Thermal Imager from 2003 to 2011 that developed the world’s first Technical Reference for human body temperature screening using a thermal imager. He was a member of the Council Committee on Laboratory Accreditation (SAC CCLA) from 2006 to 2012, Chairman of SAC SINGLAS Calibration and Measurement Technical Committee (CMTC) from 2003 to 2006. He received a Distinguished Technical Assessor Award in 2005 and Quality & Standard Merit Award from SPRING in 2010.
Dr Chua graduated with a BSEE (High Honor) from University of Arkansas, USA, in 1987, MSEE from Ohio State University, USA, in 1989, and Phd in Manufacturing and Engineering Systems from Brunel University, UK in 1998 under a SISIR’s scholarship, attached to the National Physical Laboratory, UK undertaking a project to develop ac resistance standard based on the quantum Hall effect.