Senior Lecturer Quah Siam Tee served in the Decision Sciences Group of the Faculty of Accountancy and Business Administration, the precursor to the Department of Decision Sciences in the School of Management.
Siam Tee is remembered as an avuncular instructor by many students, who was systematic and methodical in explaining the intricacies of statistical and numerical methods, way before the wide availability of computers made the subject more computational than rigorous. In the days of hand computations, even before calculators, every time-saving step had to be carefully grasped, and following Siam Tee made light work of statistical modelling for diligent students. He became the natural go-to guy where practical data analyses were concerned.
Among colleagues, Siam Tee was ever cordial and humble. He wore a constant smile, and never talked about his very substantial and illustrious industrial experience, which contrasted with the untried theoretical groundings of younger staff members. Back when our School was small, and everyone knew everyone else, lunch was a social gathering at the designated staff corner of the canteen. Siam Tee made for a very pleasant meal partner who was conversational without drawing attention to himself. He played the part of the senior statesman who had witnessed many more comings and goings, and was not above generously sharing his social and managerial competence when approached.
Siam Tee was always a community member everyone was happy to call our own. He very much helped build our School’s prominent analytics capability, back when we were literally just a handful of numbers heads on the periphery. He is one of our fondly remembered pioneers.
