Shu-Park Chan
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Shu-Park Chan (1929 – February 22, 2013) was a Chinese-born
electrical engineer 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 ...
who served for many years as a professor at
Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...
and went on to found
International Technological University International Technological University (ITU) is a private university in Santa Clara, California, United States. It was founded in 1994 by Professor Shu-Park Chan, previously a professor and interim dean of the School of Engineering at Santa Cla ...
and serve as its first president.


Early life and education

Chan grew up in Canton, China, where his father,
Chen Jitang Chen Jitang () (January 23, 1890 – November 3, 1954), also spelled Chen Chi-tang, was a Chinese military officer during the era of Nationalist China. Born into a Hakka Chinese family in Fangcheng, Guangxi, he joined the Tongmenghui in 190 ...
(a
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
ancestry), was a
warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...
and the leader of Guangdong province from 1929 to 1936. His father had three wives; Shu-Park Chan was the tenth of the 18 children born to the family. Like his father, Shu-Park Chan served in the
Chinese Nationalist Chinese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chinese people. According to Sun Yat-sen's philosophy in the Three Principles of the People, Chin ...
army in the late 1940s. After the founding of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, his father fled to
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and sent the 19-year-old Shu-Park to the United States to obtain an education. His father hoped that his son could use the fruits of his western education to benefit the education system of his native country. In the U.S., Chan studied engineering at
Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...
and the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
, receiving a Ph.D. at Illinois in 1962.


Santa Clara University

After obtaining his Ph.D., Chan joined the faculty of Santa Clara University in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. He went on to become a U.S. citizen in 1965 and he taught
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 ...
at Santa Clara for over 30 years, serving for a time as interim dean of the university's School of Engineering. At Santa Clara University, he was a mentor to many Ph.D. candidates and personally taught more than 10,000 students. His work as an educator contributed significantly to the growth of
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
as a center for technology. His research specialty was in the area of
graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
and
network topology Network topology is the arrangement of the elements (Data link, links, Node (networking), nodes, etc.) of a communication network. Network topology can be used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks, ...
, a field that connects electrical engineering with
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
, and Ph.D. students he mentored were to become founders or co-founders of companies such as
Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence)Investor's Business DailCEO Lip-Bu Tan Molds Troubled Cadence Into Long-Term LeaderRetrieved November 12, 2020 is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology and computational ...
, Atmel, Microelectronics Technologies, and
Oak Technology Oak Technology (OAKT) was an American supplier of semiconductor chips for sound cards, graphics cards and optical storage devices such as CD-ROM, CD-RW and DVD. It achieved success with optical storage chips and its stock price increased sub ...
. In 2009, an article in ''
AsianWeek ''AsianWeek'' was America's first and largest English-language print and on-line publication serving East Asian Americans. The news organization played an important role nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area as the “Voice of Asian Americ ...
'' stated that "over 80% of all microprocessors designed and developed within the last 20 years have been created or touched by technology generated from Professor Chan’s students." Chan was the author or co-author of several engineering books. He wrote the 1972
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
''Analysis of Linear Networks and systems: A Matrix-Oriented Approach with Computer Applications'' (
Addison-Wesley Addison–Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson plc, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison–Wesley also distributes its technical titles ...
) together with his brothers Shu-Yun and Shu-Gar Chan; they dedicated the book to their father.


Later career

In 1984, during a period when China was establishing cooperative ventures with Western countries, Chan took a leave of absence from Santa Clara University and moved to
Shenzhen, China Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
, to establish a university there. Chinese authorities had allocated of land there for the school, which was to be called the Chinese Experimental University. Chan had obtained necessary permissions from the U.S. and Chinese governments, as well as pledges of financial support from Chinese authorities and U.S. companies. He said the school would be China's "first western-style university since the People's Republic was founded." A few weeks before construction was scheduled to start, the project was cancelled due to changes in the Chinese government, leading Chan to return to the United States. Chan did not give up on his quest to start an educational institution after the failure of his Shenzhen initiative. In 1992, he retired from Santa Clara University with the intention of starting a new university in Silicon Valley that could offer graduate engineering education "in the shortest time possible, at the lowest cost." He opened International Technological University two years later, in 1994, and served as its president until retiring in 2010. In his final years, Chan had
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
. He died in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
on February 22, 2013, the same day that International Technological University was
accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ( )) provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern ...
.


Personal life

Chan was married to Stella Chan. They had two children. Their son, Yau-Gene Chan, succeeded his father as president of International Technological University.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Shu-Park 1929 births 2013 deaths American electrical engineers American people of Hakka descent Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Educators from Guangdong Santa Clara University faculty Silicon Valley people University and college founders Grainger College of Engineering alumni Virginia Military Institute alumni Hakka scientists People from Bobai Military personnel of the Republic of China Hong Kong engineers Chinese Civil War refugees Naturalized citizens of the United States Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese emigrants to British Hong Kong