Up close and personal with Yale-NUS College’s new Dean of Faculty Professor David Post

Image provided by Professor David Post.

On 1 July 2021, Yale-NUS College welcomed Professor David M Post as its new Dean of Faculty. No stranger to sunny Singapore, this is Prof Post’s second stint on the island – the first, in the 1970s, was when he was only five years old.

Prof Post is an aquatic ecologist and Principal Investigator of the Post Lab at Yale, where his research tests long-standing questions about food web structure and dynamics, the influence of environmental change on community structure and ecosystem function, spatial linkages among ecosystems, and the importance of interactions between ecology and evolution for community and ecosystem processes. He has studied the impacts of environmental change on species in habitats as diverse as Connecticut lakes and the Mara River in Africa, earning his PhD from Cornell University, and his BA and MS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prof Post looks forward to returning to a place where he spent a portion of his childhood. “I lived in Singapore in the 1970s when I was five and six years old. I have vivid memories of the tropical rain, the satay, and lizards in our house. It was a transformative experience for me. My family and I are excited to live in and learn from a region and college community located at a crossroad of cultures and a centre of innovation for the 21st century,” he said.

During his time here, Prof Post aims to work with the faculty to maintain excellence in scholarship across all disciplines, to support their professional development, and to help develop new opportunities for collaboration within Yale-NUS and across NUS and Yale. In addition, he hopes to challenge the faculty to identify and strengthen areas of distinction that can fortify the curriculum and enrich the scholarship of students and faculty.

“I am incredibly impressed by what has been achieved at Yale-NUS in its first decade. I am excited to join the strong and vibrant Yale-NUS community as it transitions into its second decade. I am eager to work with the students, faculty, and staff of Yale-NUS to sustain and enhance the exceptional living and learning environment on campus that promotes life-long learning by the next generation of global leaders,” he said.

Prof Post arrived in Singapore with his wife, Dr Linda Puth, and his adolescent daughters, Cassia and Linnea.

Dr Linda Puth is a lecturer at Yale, and will be teaching Plants and People, The Ecology of Food, and other courses at Yale-NUS. She received her BA from Williams College, and her MS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She enjoys reading, travelling, and spending time outdoors.

Cassia and Linnea, both ballet dancers, have performed in The Nutcracker for years – Prof Post himself has joined them on stage for the opening act, and found it a meaningful way to participate in the life experiences of his daughters. 16-year-old Cassia, a visual artist, loves plants and has a small business selling jewellery online, while Linnea, 12, plays the cello and enjoys baking, biking, and reading.

“As a family, we love great food, hiking and camping, and family game nights,” said Prof Post. “We are looking forward to exploring Singapore and Southeast Asia, eating our way through Singapore’s hawker stalls, and participating in campus life.”