David Chak

David Chak of Malaysia serves as the curriculum director for Arus Academy, a social enterprise he co-founded. Arus Academy provides high-impact educational interventions aimed at creating a long-lasting systemic impact in the Malaysian education ecosystem. Previously, he worked as a high school teacher in one of the nation’s lowest-performing schools under the Teach for Malaysia program. Additionally, he was a columnist at Malaysia’s largest Mandarin-language publication and a textbook writer.

A recipient of the prestigious Malaysia Public Service Department scholarship, Mr. Chak completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology at McGill University in Canada. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in education from the Northern University of Malaysia. In addition to his university credentials, Mr. Chak participated in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, during which he was placed in a Chicago charter school network specializing in serving underserved communities in southern Chicago. He was also selected to participate in the Acumen Fellowship, a distinguished leadership development program aimed at cultivating leaders to address social injustice in selected countries around the world.

Mr. Chak’s time at Vanderbilt will be devoted to studying how STEM and media literacy education are conducted in the US education system. Moreover, he hopes to gain a better understanding of the role of charter schools as catalysts for educational innovation in underserved populations. Building upon Arus Academy’s impact on over 120,000 students and 70,000 teachers, Mr. Chak aspires for his fellowship experience to enable him to magnify his organization’s impact.