Paul Teng is Managing Director and Dean at the National Institute of Education International Pte. Ltd., Singapore; and concurrently senior fellow (food security), Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU. He also holds honorary appointments as Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University and Senior Fellow, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Research & Graduate Studies in Agriculture. He is Chair, board of trustees, International Service for Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) and chairman of the board, Asia BioBusiness Pte. Ltd.. He graduated from Lincoln University, New Zealand, with a BSc in agricultural science (first class honours, 1972) and PhD in 1978. His honours include: CGIAR Excellence in Science Award, 2001; Outstanding Scientific Article; Eriksson Prize for Plant Pathology, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Fellow, American Phytopathological Society; Honorary Doctor of Science, Murdoch University, Australia. Current interests are in andragogy, food security, urban agriculture, biotechnology, sustainability and inclusive agribusiness.

Suresh is President, Nanyang Technological U., Singapore. Previously, he served as Pres., Carnegie Mellon U. (2013-17), Dir., Natl. Science Foundation of the United States (2010-13), and as dean of engineering (2007-2010) and Vannevar Bush prof. of engineering, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT). He received his bachelor of technology (1977) from Indian Inst. of Technology, Madras; MS (1979) from Iowa State U.; and ScD (1981) from MIT. He is world renowned for his pioneering work on the mechanical properties of engineered and biological materials and for establishing connections between cell mechanics and human diseases. He has authored over 240 research articles, 20 patents and 3 books. A recipient of 11 hon. doctorates, he has been elected to 15 engineering/science academies incl. the US Natl. Acad. of Engineering, Natl. Acad. of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Inventors, and the American Acad. of Arts and Sciences, as well as the French, Chinese and German science academies.

Chen is Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore. He was Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor (2006-12), Distinguished Professor (2013-15), and served as Director, Institute for Mathematical Sciences (2000-12). He was President, Bernoulli Soc. for Mathematical Statistics and Probability (1997-99), President, Inst. of Mathematical Statistics (2004-05), and Vice-President, International Statistical Institute (2009-11). He has done fundamental work on Poisson approximation, now known as the Chen-Stein (or Stein-Chen) method. His research in discrete probability has broad applications ranging from molecular biology to probabilistic number theory. He is an elected fellow, Singapore Natl. Acad. of Science, and Inst. of Mathematical Statistics; elected member, International Statistical Institute. He has served as Associate Editor of the journals Bernoulli and Statistica Sinica.