USC Trustee elected to National Academy of Engineering


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Ming Hsieh, a USC trustee and alumnus, was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering. This position is one of the most esteemed professional honors that can be granted to engineers.

“I am very humbled and excited to be a member of the academy,” Hsieh said in a statement released by USC News. “It is a great honor to be recognized by the highest national engineering organization. I deeply appreciate and would like to share this recognition with my beloved USC, industrial colleagues and family and friends for the education, inspiration and support provided to me during the past 35 years.”

Hsieh, founder of 3M Cogent Inc., has previously worked as the company’s chief executive officer and chairman since 1990. Hsieh was also the vice-president of AMAX technology; a computer server and storage systems company, from 1987 to 1990.

During his time at USC, Hsieh has funded the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering and established the Ming Hsieh Institute of Engineering-Medicine for Cancer.

Known for his desire to bridge the gap between engineering and medicine, Hsieh has received accolades for starting Fulgent Therapeutics, a cancer drug research facility that customizes cancer treatments and genetic diagnostics.

“It is really wonderful to see that Ming Hsieh’s technological and engineering impact is aptly recognized through his election to the NAE,” said USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos said in a statement released by USC News. “All of us at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering — and particularly in electrical engineering — the department which carries his name — are thrilled by this recognition.”

The pursuit of higher education by his uncle, P.Y. Hsieh, created the framework for Hsieh to pursue his undergraduate and graduate degrees at USC.

Hsieh is a native to Shenyang, China, and traveled to Southern California in 1980 to finish his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering through USC’s engineering program. Hsieh also completed his master’s degree in electrical engineering through USC in 1984.

His company, Cogent Systems, has been noted by scholars in the field of engineering as a revolutionary feat in fingerprint identification services. Cogent Systems is a global biometric identification service that serves local and state-wide law enforcement agencies, governments and commercial enterprises.

Correction: This article has been edited to note that Ming Hsieh is not the dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.