Piang Siong "Paul" Teng

Piang Siong "Paul" Teng is the Dean in the Office of Graduate Studies & Professional Learning at the National Institute of Education (Singapore) (since 2006), a Professor of Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (since 2004), and a Senior Fellow in Food Security at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (since August 2010). He is a former Vice President of the biotech giant Monsanto and he is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.

Education
Teng received his Bachelors of Agricultural Science at Lincoln College, University of Canterbury in New Zealand, graduating in 1973. He continued on at University of Canterbury, receiving his PhD there in 1978. Teng "post-doctoral work at the Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands under a Visiting Fellowship awarded by the Netherlands Government and has attended many short courses on management development and science communication."

Career
After earning his PhD, Teng served as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor, respectively, at the Department of Plant Pathology, at the University of Minnesota, in St Paul, from 1978 until 1987. He then became the Chair of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Hawaii, in Manoa, Hawaii from 1989 to 1990. Before and after he held that position, from 1987 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999, Teng served as Programme Leader, Cross-Ecosystems Research and Plant Pathologist. He left to work for Monsanto as the Vice-President Asia-Pacific, Public Affairs, and Director, Science and Technology from 1999 to 2002.

Teng left Monsanto to serve as the Deputy Director-General for Research at the WorldFish Centre in Penang, Malaysia from 2002 to 2004. He went to the National Institute of Education (Singapore) in 2004, first serving as the head of the Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group for two years, while simultaneously serving as Professor of Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, a position he still holds. In 2006, he was named Dean in the Office of Graduate Studies & Professional Learning at the National Institute of Education.


 * "Prof Teng has extensively researched the role of plant diseases in causing epidemics and crop losses in several continents, working cooperatively with a network of national programme scientists. The work has led to over 250 journal papers, eight books and numerous conference papers, and recognition by peer organisations. His pioneering work on using system analysis and computer modelling techniques to quantify and predict biological phenomena, and conduct risk assessments, is still having impact today in the USA and Asian rice growing countries. More recently, he has devoted his time to researching science communication and science entrepreneurship, under the umbrella of "Innovation and Enterprise" and to meet the needs of new economies. He is a regular invited speaker on agricultural biotechnology - how to bring products from "lab to consumer" and how to communicate on controversial issues surrounding biotechnology and other emergent technologies.


 * "Prof Teng has served on many national and international committees, and is currently Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, Member, Editorial Board, Chinese Journal of Agricultural Biotechnology, and non-Executive Chair, Asia Biobusiness Pte Ltd. He was previously a member of the Board of Directors of the International Consortium for Agricultural Systems Applications, the International Advisory Board of the C T de Wit Graduate School of Production Ecology, and the Editorial Board of Agricultural Systems and Philippines Phytopathology, and also President of the Board of the Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre, Thailand. He is a past Chairman of the Epidemiology Committee of the International Society of Plant Pathology. Prof Teng has also been a regular consultant for FAO, the World Bank and several other international and regional organisations. He has started and divested two small businesses on technology brokerage."

Awards
Teng has won the following awards:
 * 2001: CGIAR Excellence in Science Award for Outstanding Scientific Article
 * 1996-97: Cited in Marquis Who's Who in Science and Engineering
 * Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences
 * Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society,
 * 1987: Eriksson Prize in Plant Pathology from Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
 * U.S. State Department Promotion of Agricultural Biotechnology
 * U.S. Department of State Biotechnology Outreach Funds
 * Monsanto's Use of Humanitarian Projects to Open Global Markets to GMOs
 * Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) I
 * Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) II
 * Program for Biosafety Systems
 * Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA)

External Articles

 * Paul PS Teng PhD, "An Asian perspective on GMO and biotechnology issues," Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008;17 (S1):237-240.
 * Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology: Report of the APO Multi-country Study Mission on the Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology Products 22–28 May 2005, Republic of China, Edited by Paul S. Teng, Asian Productivity Organization, 2007.
 * Helena Paul and Ricarda Steinbrecher with Devlin Kuyek and Lucy Michaels, "Hungry Corporations: Transnational Biotech Companies Colonise the Food Chain," In association with Econexus and Pesticide Action Network, Asia-Pacific, Published by Zed Books, November 2003.
 * Sen. Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, REPORT TO THE SENATE ON THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF ASIA IN THE NEXT 25 YEARS IN HONG KONG, SEPTEMBER 10 & 11, 2001.