Dr. Raymond Girard R. Tan
AY 2009-2010
The end of the first decade of the 21st Century marked an important transition point in my academic career. In 2009, I was inducted into De La Salle University’s Society of Fellows, mainly on the strength of my published body of scientific work. I suddenly found myself, a freshly minted Full Professor in my mid-30s, in the company of the institution’s legends, elders and icons. Having seen myself as a young faculty member up to this point, I initially felt socially awkward at the Society of Fellows’ regular meetings. It took me a few months to see the human side of the more senior University Fellows, and thus learn to converse with them as an equal. Eventually, I learned to see them as colleagues in a collective effort to make De La Salle University a better institution through our shared ideas and commitment.
I eventually embraced my role as a University Fellow, along with the responsibilities that naturally came with the honor. Whether it came to speaking my mind on issues of strategic significance, or assuming adminsitrative duties (which I considered as a potential detour from my scientific career goals), as the new decade rolled onward, I realized I was no longer a young man. I had become one of the University’s elders, ready to answer when duty called.
Professional Profile:
Raymond R. Tan is a full professor of chemical engineering, University Fellow and current Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. His main areas of research are process systems engineering (PSE) and process integration (PI), and is ranked 13 th and 4 th in the world, respectively, in these areas according to Google Scholar citations. Prof. Tan received his BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering and PhD in mechanical engineering from De La Salle University, and is the author of more 220 Scopus-listed publications with an h-index of 32. He is co-editor- in-chief of Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (Springer/Nature), subject editor of Sustainable Production and Consumption (Elsevier/IChemE), and an editorial board member of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (Springer/Nature) and Int. J. of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience (Inderscience). He is also editor of the books Recent Advances in Sustainable Process Design and Optimization (World Scientific) and Process Design Strategies for Biomass Conversion Systems (Wiley). For his scientific work, Prof. Tan has received multiple awards from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP).