Steve Chen (computer engineer)

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Steve S. Chen

| native_name = {{no bold|陳世卿}}

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}}

| birth_place = Taiwan

| residence =

| nationality = Taiwanese

| field = Computer science
Electrical engineering

| work_institutions = Cray Research

| alma_mater = National Taiwan University (BS)
Villanova University (MS)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (PhD)

| known_for = Cray X-MP and Cray Y-MP

| thesis_title = Speedup of Interactive Programs in Multiprocessing Systems

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302762807/81686A711496482BPQ

| thesis_year = 1975

| doctoral_advisor = David Kuck

}}

Steve Chen ({{zh|陳世卿}}; pinyin: Chén Shìqīng; born 1944) is a Taiwanese computer engineer and internet entrepreneur.

Chen was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 1991{{Cite web |title= Dr. Steve S. Chen |work= NAE Web Site |url= https://www.nae.edu/27926.aspx |access-date= January 18, 2017 }} for leadership in the development of super-computer architectures and their realization.

Education

Chen earned a Bachelor of Science from National Taiwan University in 1966, a Master of Science from Villanova University in 1971 and a Ph.D. under David Kuck from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975.Shyh-Ching "Steve" Chen, Speedup of Interactive Programs in Multiprocessing Systems, PhD thesis, Tech. Report UIUCDCS-R-75-694, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., January 1975

Career

From 1975 through 1978 he worked for Burroughs Corporation on the design of the Burroughs large systems line of supercomputers. He is best known as the principal designer of the Cray X-MP and Cray Y-MP multiprocessor supercomputers. Chen left Cray Research in September 1987 after it dropped the MP line.{{Cite news |title= Cray Drops Computer Venture as Too Risky; Top Researcher Resign |author= Donald Woutat |work= Los Angeles Times |date= September 3, 1987 |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-03-fi-5826-story.html |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}

With IBM's financial support, Chen founded Supercomputer Systems Incorporated (SSI) in January 1988.{{Cite news |title= Steve Chen Touts for Funds |work= Computer Business Review |date= November 29, 1988 }}{{Cite news |title= IBM Buys Into Firm Building Supercomputer: Funds Engineer Who Had Project Killed at Cray Research |author= Carla Lazzareschi |work= Los Angeles Times |date= December 23, 1987 |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-23-fi-20536-story.html |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}{{Cite news |work= Time Magazine |date= March 28, 1988 |title= Fast and Smart: Designers race to build the supercomputers of the future |author= Philip Elmer-Dewitt |url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967086,00.html }}

SSI was devoted to development of the SS-1 supercomputer, which was nearly completed before the estimated $150 million investment ran out. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based company went bankrupt in early 1993, leaving more than 300 employees jobless.{{Cite news |title= Firm's Flop Adds To Computer Confusion |work= Chicago Tribune |date= May 7, 1993 |author= Chuck Murry |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/05/07/firms-flop-adds-to-computer-confusion/ |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}

An attempt to salvage the work was made by forming a new company, SuperComputer International (SCI), later that year. SCI was renamed Chen Systems in 1995.{{Cite news |title= Designer Starts New Computer Company |work= New York Times |date= July 3, 1995 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/03/business/designer-starts-new-computer-company.html |access-date= January 18, 2017 }} It was acquired by Sequent Computer Systems the following year. John Markoff, a technology journalist, wrote in the New York Times that Chen was considered "one of the nation's most brilliant supercomputer designers while working in this country for the technology pioneer Seymour Cray in the 1980s."{{Cite news |title= Have Supercomputer, Will Travel |work= New York Times |author= John Markoff |date= November 1, 2004 |url= http://arneberg.com/chippewa/articles/2004.1101.chen/ |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}

In 1999, Chen became founder and CEO of Galactic Computing, a developer of supercomputing blade systems, based in Shenzhen, China.{{Cite news |title= China to lead supercomputing sector |date= October 25, 2004 |work= China Business Weekly |url= http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-10/25/content_385499.htm |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}

At Tonbu, Inc., his team designed and implemented the world's first fully scalable cloud computing system. A fully scalable dynamic process and application engine.

By 2005 he started to focus on grid computing to model a human brain instead.{{Cite web |title= The Third-Brain: The Next Generation of Supercomputer Design Beyond PetaFlop/s - an interview with Steve Chen |work= Primeur Weekly |date= August 7, 2006 |url= http://www.hoise.com/primeur/06/articles/weekly/AE-PR-09-06-1.html |archive-date= September 28, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928094845/http://www.hoise.com/primeur/06/articles/weekly/AE-PR-09-06-1.html |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}

By 2010, he was reported to be working on technology to use cloud computing to improve health care in rural China.{{Cite news |title= Steve Chen Launching China's 'Medical Cloud' |author= Sherry Lee |date= June 24, 2010 |work= CommonWealth Magazine |url= http://english.cw.com.tw/article.do?action=show&id=12054 |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}{{Cite journal |title= Empowering village doctors and enhancing rural healthcare using cloud computing in a rural area of mainland China |author=Che-Wei Lina |author2=Shabbir Syed Abdul |author3=Daniel L. Clinciu |author4=Jeremiah Scholl |author5=Xiangdong Jin Haifei Luf |author6=Steve S. Chen |author7=Usman Iqbal |author8=Maxwell J. Heineckg |author9=Yu-Chuan Li |date= February 2014 |volume= 113 |issue= 2 |pages= 585–592 |journal= Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine |doi= 10.1016/j.cmpb.2013.10.005 |pmid= 24296075 |s2cid= 18424749 |url= https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4d85/1eca7f3342c26fa351a1b61359afc44ca8d3.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170131184023/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4d85/1eca7f3342c26fa351a1b61359afc44ca8d3.pdf |archive-date= 2017-01-31 }}

In 2011, he founded Information Supergrid Technologies USA.{{Cite web |title= About Us |work= Information Supergrid Technologies web site |url= http://www.isupergrid.com/about-us/ |access-date= January 18, 2017 }}