S.K. Chou obtained a B.Eng. in mechanical engineering from the University of Singapore, and a doctorate in engineering from ENS d’Art et Metiers, Paris, under a French Government Scholarship. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, as a lecturer, in 1980, where he is presently professor and head of the Energy and Bio-Thermal Systems Group.
In 1992, he helped establish the NUS Industry and Technology Relations Office (INTRO), where he was Director from 1992 to 2000. In 1995, he helped found the NUS Technology Holdings Pte Ltd (NUSH), a wholly-owned NUS company responsible for seeding new technology start-ups from university research and inventions. He was appointed Managing Director of NUSH from 1995 to 2001. He was Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS, from 1998 to 2003, and Vice-Dean (External and Industry Relations) of the Faculty of Engineering from 2003 to 2008.
S.K. Chou is a Fellow and Deputy-President of the Institution of Engineers (IES), Singapore, and a Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. He is chairman of the management board of IES Academy. He chairs the Advisory Committee of the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, and is a member of the Board of Governors of Singapore Polytechnic. He chairs the Technical Evaluation Panel on the Grant for Energy Efficiency Technology (GREET) of the National Environment Agency, Singapore. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the APEC Center for Technology Foresighting.
Dr Chou is credited for developing the formulation of the Envelope Thermal Transfer Value (ETTV) and the Residential Envelope Transmittance Value (RETV) criteria in the present building energy standards used in the Singapore Green Mark Scheme. He is presently Associate Editor of the Elsevier journal, Applied Energy, and Chairman of the International Editorial Board of the Asian Journal on Energy and Environment. He serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Energy Research and a number of other journals.