Ming Hsieh (; born 1956) is a billionaire Chinese-born American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded

Cogent Systems Cogent Systems, Inc. is a manufacturer of automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS). On January 20, 2006, the City of Pasadena (CA) announced Cogent Systems' impending relocation from South Pasadena to Pasadena. On August 30, 2010, ...

in 1990, and sold it to 3M in 2010. In 2011, he founded a

genetic testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

technology company, Fulgent Genetics.

Early life and education

Ming Hsieh was born in 1956 in

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

, the capital city of

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

. 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 The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

his family was persecuted as being a part of China's upper middle class and having ties with the Taiwan

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

. As a result, his family was forced to move in 1970 to a small country village near

Panjin Panjin ( zh, s=盘锦, t=盤錦, p=Pánjǐn) is a coastal prefecture-level city in central Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, situated on the northern shore of the Liaodong Bay. It borders Anshan to the east, Yingkou to the sout ...

. Hsieh's formal education was therefore stopped for several years. He was home-schooled by his parents, and learned the trade of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

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 The South China University of Technology (SCUT) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and co-sponsored with the Guangdong Provincial People's Governme ...

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 The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

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. His parents wanted him to continue and earn a Ph.D., but Hsieh decided to begin his career instead.

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, with several fellow USC graduates in 1987. In 1990, together with another USC classmate, he co-founded

, which offered fully automated, high-speed

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics and features. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used t ...

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 The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

and

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

. Cogent was acquired by 3M in 2010. In 2011, Hsieh founded Fulgent Therapeutics, a genetic testing company, which is now Fulgent Genetics. He took the company public via IPO in 2016. Hsieh is chairman and CEO of the company. Hsieh was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2015.

Philanthropy

In October 2006, Hsieh donated $35 million to USC's

Viterbi School of Engineering The USC Viterbi School of Engineering (formerly the USC School of Engineering) is the engineering school of the University of Southern California. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew J. Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm. ...

'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

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s.Board of Trustees
, University of Southern California, ''Accessed April 13, 2008.'' In November 2007, Hsieh donated $5.5 million, cash and in-kind, to

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

'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. In honor of his donation, WVU named a building on their downtown campus, Ming Hsieh Hall. In February 2014, he donated $1 million to the

Children's Hospital Los Angeles Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care Pediatrics, children's hospital in the East Hollywood, Los Angeles, East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Vermont Avenue ...

.Laura Coleman, 'Beverly Hills' Hsieh Family Donates $1 Million to CHLA', ''

The Beverly Hills Courier ''The Beverly Hills Courier'' is a free weekly Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid-sized print newspaper of circulation in Beverly Hills and the surrounding communities, and a daily web newspaper. History The publication was founded by March Sch ...

'', February 6, 2015, pp. 4; 12

Personal life

Hsieh is a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

U.S. citizen. He is married to Eva Hsieh; they reside in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

and have two children. Hsieh also has two adult children from a previous marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsieh, Ming 1956 births Living people Businesspeople from Shenyang Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California Chinese emigrants to the United States American billionaires American computer businesspeople American philanthropists American technology chief executives American technology company founders USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni Members of the Committee of 100 Naturalized citizens of the United States