Ming Hsieh
{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Use American English|date = February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ming Hsieh
| native_name = 謝明
| native_name_lang = zh-Hant
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956|}}
| birth_place = Shenyang, Liaoning, China
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| known_for = Cogent Systems
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| alma_mater = University of Southern California, BS, MS
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| spouse = Eva Hsieh
| children = 4
| awards =
}}
Ming Hsieh ({{zh|s=谢明|t=謝明|p=Xiè Míng|c=|w=Hsieh4 Ming2|first=t}}; born 1956) is a billionaire Chinese-born American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded Cogent Systems in 1990, and sold it to 3M in 2010. In 2011, he founded a genetic testing technology company, Fulgent Genetics.
Early life and education
Ming Hsieh was born in 1956 in Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning province in Northeast China.{{cite web |title=Ming Hsieh |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/family-voices/individuals/ming-hsieh |website=American Museum of Natural History |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |date=November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224075152/https://americanhistory.si.edu/family-voices/individuals/ming-hsieh |archive-date=February 24, 2023}} His parents were Baoyan and Sun Hsieh.
Because his grandparents lived in Taiwan and his father had also recently lived there, during the Cultural Revolution his family was persecuted as being a part of China's upper middle class and having ties with the Taiwan Nationalist government. As a result, his family was forced to move in 1970 to a small country village near Panjin. Hsieh's formal education was therefore stopped for several years. He was home-schooled by his parents, and learned the trade of electrical engineering from his formally trained father as they built a crude power system for the unelectrified village and did a variety of repair work.
After the Cultural Revolution ended in late 1976, Hsieh studied semiconductor physics at South China University of Technology for two years.
Hsieh's uncle, P.Y. Hsieh, had left China and earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1952, and then worked for TRW. This uncle helped him transfer to USC's engineering program in January 1981. Hsieh earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from USC in 1983 and his Master of Science in electrical engineering (MSEE) in 1984.{{cite web |title=Ming Hsieh |url=https://www.nixonfoundation.org/board-of-directors/ming-hsieh/ |website=Richard Nixon Foundation |access-date=November 26, 2023}} His parents wanted him to continue and earn a Ph.D., but Hsieh decided to begin his career instead.{{cite web |title=Cogent, Inc. Founder Ming Hsieh Joins USC Board of Trustees |url=https://today.usc.edu/cogent-inc-founder-ming-hsieh-joins-usc-board-of-trustees/ |website=University of Southern California |access-date=November 26, 2023 |date=April 18, 2007}}
Career
Hsieh began his professional career in 1985 as a circuit designer for International Rectifier.
He co-founded his first company, AMAX Information Technologies, a high performance computing and storage vendor, which specialized in servers, storage systems and related hardware,{{cite news |last1=Bednarz |first1=Ann |title=Tech billionaires among biggest charity donors in 2010 |url=https://www2.computerworld.co.nz/article/498994/tech_billionaires_among_biggest_charity_donors_2010/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |work=Computerworld |date=February 7, 2011}} with several fellow USC graduates in 1987.{{cite web |title=The Ming Hsieh Institute |url=https://mhicancer.usc.edu/ming-hsieh/ |website=University of Southern California |access-date=November 21, 2023}}
In 1990, together with another USC classmate, he co-founded Cogent Systems, which offered fully automated, high-speed biometric fingerprint-identification system and customized software. He was president, chairman, and CEO of the company. The company went public via an IPO in 2004, and by 2007 had numerous government contracts including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Cogent was acquired by 3M in 2010.
In 2011, Hsieh founded Fulgent Therapeutics, a genetic testing company, which is now Fulgent Genetics.{{cite news |title=LA500 2023: Ming Hsieh |url=https://labusinessjournal.com/special-editions/la500/2023-la500/health-care-2023/la500-2023-ming-hsieh/ |access-date=November 26, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Business Journal |date=June 5, 2023}} He took the company public via IPO in 2016.{{cite web |title=Ming Hsieh |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/ming-hsieh/?sh=3883d189783f |website=Forbes |access-date=November 26, 2023}} Hsieh is chairman and CEO of the company.{{cite web |title=Ming Hsieh |url=https://ir.fulgentgenetics.com/board-member/ming-hsieh |website=Fulgent Genetics |access-date=November 26, 2023}}
Hsieh was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2015.
Philanthropy
In October 2006, Hsieh donated $35 million to USC's Viterbi School of Engineering's Department of Electrical Engineering, 100 years after the department and school's founding. In honor of his donation, the department was renamed the USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering. In October 2010, Hsieh donated $50 million to USC for cancer research. He is on the USC Board of Trustees.[http://www.usc.edu/about/administration/trustees/ Board of Trustees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726020808/http://www.usc.edu/about/administration/trustees/ |date=2011-07-26 }}, University of Southern California, Accessed April 13, 2008.
In November 2007, Hsieh donated $5.5 million, cash and in-kind, to West Virginia University's Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Department of Forensic Investigative Sciences, one of only ten in the nation. WVU houses the largest Crime Scene Training Complex in the country.{{Cite web|url=https://forensics.wvu.edu/students/facilities/crime-scene-training-complex|title=Crime Scene Training Complex {{!}} Department of Forensic and Investigative Science {{!}} West Virginia University|website=forensics.wvu.edu|access-date=2020-02-10}} In honor of his donation, WVU named a building on their downtown campus, Ming Hsieh Hall.{{Cite web|url=http://wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu/n/2007/11/14/6326.html|title=WVUToday Archive|website=wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu|access-date=2020-02-10}}
In February 2014, he donated $1 million to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.Laura Coleman, 'Beverly Hills' Hsieh Family Donates $1 Million to CHLA', The Beverly Hills Courier, February 6, 2015, pp. 4; 12
Personal life
Hsieh is a naturalized U.S. citizen.{{cite web |title=Ming Hsieh |url=https://labusinessjournal.com/news/ming-hsieh/ |website=Los Angeles Business Journal |access-date=November 26, 2023 |date=May 27, 2007}} He is married to Eva Hsieh; they reside in Pasadena{{cite news |last1=Ryan |first1=Harriet |last2=Hamilton |first2=Matt |title=Feuding USC trustees announce no changes after emergency board meeting |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-usc-trustees-meeting-20190123-story.html |access-date=November 26, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 23, 2019}} and have two children.{{cite web |last1=Paul |first1=Ben |title=10 Years as the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering |url=https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2016/10/10-years-as-the-ming-hsieh-department-of-electrical-engineering/ |website=USC Viterbi School of Engineering |access-date=November 26, 2023 |date=October 31, 2016}} Hsieh also has two adult children from a previous marriage.{{cite web |title=Annual Report on Philanthropy 2012-2013 |url=https://www.westridge.org/uploaded/About/Annual_Report/WestridgeSchoolReportOnPhilanthropy12-13.pdf#page=62 |website=Westridge School |access-date=November 26, 2023 |page=60}}
References
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Category:Businesspeople from Shenyang
Category:Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California
Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States
Category:American billionaires
Category:American computer businesspeople
Category:American philanthropists
Category:American technology chief executives
Category:American technology company founders
Category:USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni