Harn Kua

Associate Professor Harn Wei Kua is currently the Assistant Dean (Academic) of the School of Design and Environment of the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also leading the Smart Materials Laboratory and the construction 3D printing thrust in NUS. He has three Masters degrees (in theoretical physics, civil & environmental engineering, and technology policy) from NUS or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his PhD is in sustainable building technology from MIT. His current research interest is in bio-based building materials and life cycle sustainability assessment. His current focus on bio-based building materials is innovative use of biochar as a sustainable way to recycle biological waste to improve structural integrity and indoor air quality of buildings. One of his current topics of interest is the application of biochar in concrete 3D printing. Dr. Kua has authored more than 100 articles and book chapters; in many of these publications, he is either the sole or lead author. His research team is currently one of the most prolific groups in the world in the area of biochar building material, and he has pioneered the creation of mathematical models to describe the various phenomena due to the application of biochar in mortar or concrete mixture. Dr. Kua has an h-index of 22. His overall Field-weighted Citation Index (FWCI; collected in the database Scival) is 2.88 – which means that his publications have a citation probability that is 2.88 times higher than an average paper in his field. More specifically, in the field of “Waste Management and Disposal”, his FWCI is 6.86, in “Pollution” it is 9.30, and in “Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis” it is 20.51. He has won more than 60 different international/national academic awards, including several from MIT, and has been invited by local and international organizations to deliver guest lectures and speeches on his research more than 60 times, including as a plenary speaker at the Forum for Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development, workshop on Sustainable Consumption and Production, which was organized by the International Council for Science on 11th June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (at Rio+20). He consults for the Singapore Government on environmental issues and has helped set up corporate sustainability guidelines for companies with more than SGD 2 billion in combined annual turnover. He is currently involved in collaborations with various groups and universities in China, USA, Italy, Colombia, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia on biochar building materials, sustainable resource management policies and construction 3D printing.

Education

• PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001 — 2006)

Companies

• Associate Professor National University of Singapore (2014)
• Assistant Professor National University of Singapore (2006 — 2014)