Prof. Dr. Chee-Ming Chan is currently a Professor with the
Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Faculty of
Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia.
She is also a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of
Engineering & Technology, UK. Dr. Chan was previously a
postdoctoral visiting scholar at the Port and Airport Research
Institute in Japan from 2009-2011. Dr. Chan’s first degree (BSc.
Civil Eng.) was awarded by KUiTHO-UTM, Malaysia in 2001.
She then pursued her PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the
University of Sheffield (UK) on the Ministry of Science,
Technology & Innovation, MOSTI’s scholarship, returning in
2006 to serve at the present university. Dr. Chan is member to several key societies relevant to
her profession, namely International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
(ISSMGE), Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS), International Geosynthetics
Society- Malaysian Chapter (MyIGS), Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), Institution of
Engineers Malaysia (IEM), Society of Engineering Education Malaysia (SEEM) and Geological
Society of Malaysia (GSM). She is also serving as the Secretary for MyIGS since 2018,
facilitating the coordination of engagement between industry and universities, particularly in the
field of geosynthetics applications.
Dr. Chan has authored over 150 technical papers, including entries in seminars,
conferences and journals, as well as 3 modules for undergraduate courses. She has published a
book, The Sinking Earth, in 2012, an easy-to-read introductory book to ground improvement
techniques. Her research interests have always revolved around sustainable geotechnics, with
innovations to make poor quality soils into usable materials. Indeed, Dr. Chan has for the past
decade in active collaboration with the Marine Department of Malaysia and various industrial as
well as research instituional counterparts to explore the fundamental characteristics of dredged
marine soils from Malaysian and regional waters, with the aim of transforming the otherwise
discarded materials into useful recycled geo-materials. Her research effort in this direction has
received recognition with the award of several grants worth over 150,000 USD from various
national agencies and the industry.
Steadfast in her belief that research findings should be channeled to greater good of the
people and beyond, Dr. Chan is striving towards engaging more industrial players in addressing
the issue of inappropriate disposal of dredged marine soils, and encouraging the reuse of the
material based on reliable scientific discoveries while sharing and disseminating research-based
knowledge, skills and technology. It is her hope that Malaysia will one day, in a future not too
far away, become a regional leader in giving beneficial second lives to these geo-wastes,
consequentially contribute to nature conservation and resources optimization. As an academic,3/3
Dr. Chan is also appointed as Accreditation Panelist for Civil Engineering and Geotechnical
Enginering by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA), as well as Engineering Technology
Accreditation Council (ETAC) of the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). Besides, she is
regularly consulted on academic programme development, reviews and revisions. Her close
working relationship with the industry has enabled insights for continuous improvement of the
engineering / engineering technology programmes, with closing of the university-industry gap
via better engagement, feedback and improvement.