Professor Choon Fong Shih  was named Founding President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in January 2008, and took up the appointment in December 2008. In October 2008, he was appointed to the KAUST Board of Trustees. He is also a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at KAUST.

An internationally recognized researcher and academic leader, Professor Shih joined KAUST after nine years as President and Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Singapore (NUS). In this capacity, he led the transformation of NUS as a highly regarded research university embracing an entrepreneurial dimension. He promoted the university's global profile and reach, building research and educational partnerships with premier institutions around the world.

Professor Shih was a key driver for the formation of the International Alliance of Research Universities, an alliance of 10 of the world's leading research universities spanning four continents. He is chairman emeritus of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of 37 leading research universities modeled after the premier Association of American Universities. In addition, Professor Shih chaired the Governing Board of the APRU World Institute, an institute of advanced studies seeking to address scientific, social, and economic issues of global importance

As a researcher, Professor Shih has made significant contributions in nonlinear fracture mechanics and computational methods for fracture analyses. With about 150 publications in leading scientific journals, Professor Shih is listed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as among the world's most highly cited engineering researchers.

Among his honors are the George Irwin Medal and the Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award, from the American Society for Testing and Materials, and the American Society for Mechanical Engineers, respectively. Professor Shih is a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He was the inaugural recipient from Asia Pacific for the 2007 Chief Executive Leadership Award presented by the Council for Advancement and Support for Education. He has been awarded the French decoration "Chevalier" in the Order of the "Legion d'Honneur" as well as conferred honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, Waseda University in Japan, and Brown University in the United States

After receiving a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1973, he joined the General Electric Corporate Research Lab in the United States, where he led the Fracture Research Group. In 1981, he joined Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, serving as Associate Professor and later as Professor in the Division of Engineering.

Professor Shih has been a consultant to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, among others. He is a member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

After 30 years in the United States, Professor Shih returned to Singapore in 1996 as the founding director of Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. The following year, he took up the concurrent appointment of Deputy Vice-Chancellor at NUS before becoming President and Vice-Chancellor in 2000.

 Professor Shih has also served on a number of national-level committees in Singapore.

He was the founding president of the Materials Research Society of Singapore, which is affiliated with the International Union of Materials Research Societies.

He was the chairman of the Singapore-MIT Alliance Governing Board as well as an executive committee member of the Economic Development Board.

 He was a founding member of the Singapore International Foundation, and served on the Economic Review Committee tasked to develop wide-ranging strategies for re-making Singapore. Professor Shih was also a board member of the National Research Foundation .