Van C. Mow
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Van C. Mow (; born January 10, 1939) is a Chinese-born-American bioengineer, known as one of the earliest researchers in the field of biomechanics. Van C. Mow has published over 315 full-length peer-reviewed, archival papers and book chapters, has delivered over 450 podium presentations at bioengineering meetings, and he has delivered over 450 invited seminars, keynote, plenary and distinguished named lectures in orthopaedic
biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to organs, cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechanics. Biomechanics is a branch of ...
. According to
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...
, his papers have been cited over 33,500 times, and he has an h-index of 100 as of October 5, 2015. His work on the biphasic and triphasic theories for soft-hydrated and charged biological tissues, coauthored with W.M. Lai, are two of the most highly cited biomechanics papers in the world. Among Mow's many activities, he was the first PhD to be elected President of the
Orthopaedic Research Society The Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) is a professional, scientific, and medical organization focused on orthopaedic research. The stated mission of the ORS is to advance orthopaedic research through education, collaboration, communication, and ad ...
and from 2000 to 2011 was the founding chair of the Department of
Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. In honor of his contributions to the field of biomechanics, the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers established the Van C. Mow medal in 2004. This medal is awarded annually to a mid-career engineer who has demonstrated excellence in biomechanics research, education, and leadership.


Early life and education

Mow's
ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...
town is Ngai Tou, in
Fenghua Fenghua (; ) is a district of the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. The district and its administrative hinterlands has a population of over 480,000. Fenghua is most famous for being the hometown of former Presidents Chiang Kai-shek ...
,
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...
, China. He was born in
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
, Sichuan, in 1939 during the
2nd Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific The ...
, as the 5th of 6 brothers. His father Mow Pang Tzu, was a nephew of
Mao Fumei Mao Fumei ( zh, c=毛福梅, 9 November 1882 – 12 December 1939) was the first wife of Chiang Kai-shek, and the biological mother of Chiang Ching-Kuo. Mao was born in Fenghua, Ningpo (Ningbo), Chekiang (Zhejiang) Province, and, like most w ...
, the first wife of Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. Mow Pang Tzu graduated from the 3rd class of China’s
Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...
in 1927 and later became Lt. General of the
Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force, retroactively known by its historical name the Chinese Air Force and unofficially referred to as the Taiwanese Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces, currently based ...
.Webpage for General Pang Tzu Mow
/ref> In the late 30th and early 40th, General Mow was largely responsible for bringing Captain Chennault, the father of the
Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...
, to China. In addition, he was instrumental in establishing the Burma-China airlift (typically referred to as "
The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek an ...
"). In 1942, General Mow was assigned to the U.S. to establish the Chinese Air Force Office in Washington, DC. In August 1945, he was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit by President Harry Truman, for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States from February 1943 to August 1945." In 1949 his wife, Wong Ay Chuan, and five of his six sons (Van, Maurice, Donald, Harry and William) joined General Mow in Washington, DC, where they lived in a diplomatic residence on 32nd Street, N.W.Los Angeles Times, "Back to His Future," by Evelyn Iritani September 28, 1997. In the early fifties, General Mow became entangled in an embezzlement scandal that was covered in great detail in major US and Chinese newspapers and even let to a congressional hearing. The Chiang Kai-shek government of the Republic of China alleged that General Mow failed to account for $19,440,000 (equivalent to about $180,000,000 in 2015). After a protracted legal battle, during which General Mow fled to Mexico /sup> and shared a "luxury" prison cell with the
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
assassin
Ramón Mercader Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978),Photograph oMercader's Gravestone/ref> more commonly known as Ramón Mercader, was a Spanish communist and NKVD agent, who assassinated Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Tr ...
, the US Appeals Court in DC upheld a lower-court ruling that General Mow owed the Republic of China $6,368,503 plus interest and costs. A settlement was reached in 1958, and General Mow eventually returned to the US in the mid-sixties. A detailed account of these events aired on Chinese TV in May 2015. Growing up under difficult circumstances, which he detailed in a 2005 lecture, Mow managed to obtain a bachelor's degree in
aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1962. After graduation, Mow decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree at Rensselaer in
applied mechanics Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short, when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and e ...
and applied mathematics. In his thesis he developed a perturbation mathematical method to predict secondary vortex flows in polymeric fluids. Five Mow brothers (Van, Maurice, Donald, Harry and William, founder of
Bugle Boy Bugle Boy Industries, Inc. was a clothing company founded by William Mow in 1977. It is perhaps best known for its namesake brand of denim jeans that were popular in the 1980s. The company declared bankruptcy in 2001. William C. W. Mow (Traditio ...
Industries, a clothing manufacturer) received a total of 3 Ph.D. degrees in mechanics and applied mathematics, one bachelor's degree each in architecture and electrical engineering from RPI.


Career

Following his doctoral graduation in 1966, Mow went on for a postdoctoral fellowship in applied mathematics at the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU), and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research cente ...
at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
with
Joseph B. Keller Joseph Bishop Keller (July 31, 1923 – September 7, 2016) was an American mathematician who specialized in applied mathematics. He was best known for his work on the "geometrical theory of diffraction" (GTD). Early life and education Born i ...
. One year later, he joined the Applied Mechanics and Mathematics Group at Bell Labs working on computer programs for U.S. sonar detection of submarines off the East Coast of America. He returned to RPI in 1969 as Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics. In 1976, he was promoted to the rank of Professor, and received a visiting scientist position at the Skeletal Research Laboratory of Harvard Medical School with Melvin J. Glimcher. The following year, to broaden his prospective, Mow received the coveted
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship to visit eight European countries each with universities with noted research in bioengineering. In 1982, Mow was awarded the John A. Clark and Edward T. Crossan Endowed Chair Professorship in Engineering from Rensselaer. Mow moved to
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in the city of New York in 1986 as the Anne Y. Stein Endowed Chair professor in Mechanical Engineering and Orthopaedic Bioengineering. There he started to work on new ways to map joints, such as the knee, shoulder and wrist, for surgical precision. In December 1995, he received an invitation from Executive Vice Provost
Michael M. Crow Michael Maurice Crow (born October 11, 1955) is an American academic administrator and parking lot executive. He is the 16th and current president of Arizona State University, having succeeded Lattie F. Coor on July 1, 2002. During his tenure at ...
and Provost Jonathan R. Cole, to lead the formation of a ne
Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBME)
at Columbia University and became the inaugural Chair from 2000 to 2010. Following a highly public dispute with the Dean of the Engineering School, during which he called Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora a "control freak", Mow stepped down from his position in 2011. He retired in 2018.


Honours

In 1991 Mow was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
"For major contributions toward orthopedic engineering, particularly understanding the physical behavior of cartilage and the arthritic process." In 2004,
ASME The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
established the Van C. Mow Medal for its Bioengineering Division to be bestowed upon an individual who has demonstrated meritorious contributions to the field of bioengineering; the individual must have earned a Ph.D. or equivalent degree between 10 and 20 years of the award. ; Awards and honors in 1980s and 1990s *
Kappa Delta Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia. Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, whic ...
-Elizabeth Winston Lanir Award, Best Research in Orthopaedics, AAOS, 1980 * President, Orthopaedic Research Society, 1982-1983 (First PhD President) * Melville Medal, Highest ASME honor for original paper, 1982 * Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1986 * Fogarty Senior International Fellowship, 1987 * HR Lissner Award for Contributions to Bioengineering, ASME, 1987 * Bristol-Myers/Zimmer Award for Excellence in Orthopaedic Research, 1990 * Elected to the United States
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
(1991) * Giovani Borelli Award, American Society of Biomechanics, 1991 * College of Fellows, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Founding Member, Elected 1992 * Elected to the United States
National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...
(1998; 2015) * Robert H. Thurston Lecture, ASME, November 18, 1998 ;Awards and honours since 2000 * Academic Advisor to Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn for the Development of Biomedical Engineering in Thailand, 2003–07 * Elected to the Academia Sinica (2004) * Namesake for ASME Medal: The Van C. Mow Medal for Excellence in Bioengineering (2005
Van C. Mow Medal, ASME
* Davies Medal for Outstanding Alumni Achievements, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, April 6, 2006 * Distinguished Lecturer, Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Virginia, November 3, 2006 * Named Lecture Series: The Annual Van C. Mow Lecture Series in Applied Mechanics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2006 * Hunter Distinguished Scientist Lecture, Molecular and Cellular Basis for Cartilage Functional Tissue Engineering—Role of Biomechanics, Biomedical Engineering Department, Clemson University, April 5, 2007 * Distinguished Lecturer in Biomechanical Engineering, Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics of Articular Cartilage, Stanford University, June 4–5, 2007 * Elected to the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (2008) * OARSI Outstanding Basic Science Award, OARSI World Congress, Rome, Italy, September 18, 2008 * Named Top 10 Mechanical Engineering Graduate from RPI for the Centennial Celebration of the ME Department, April 2008 * William Mong Distinguished Lecture, University of Hong Kong, November 21, 2009 * Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Hong Kong, spring semester, 2012 * Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, San Diego, spring semester, 2013 * Richard Skalak Memorial Lecture, University of California, San Diego, March 15, 2013 * Distinguished Lecturer and Visiting Professor, School of Engineering, University of Miami, March 24, 2014


Family

In 1973 Mow married Barbara Hoffman, who studied psychology at the University of Vermont. Her graduate work was done at Rockefeller School of Public Affairs. They live together in
Briarcliff Manor Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...
, NY. Van C. Mow has 2 sons from a previous marriage. Jonathan, born in 1965, was promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, in March 2015. Previously he was the Chief Business Officer (CBO) at this privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing novel drugs to treat metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Jonathan was also involved in two venture capital biotech/pharma businesses in Seattle that were sold for $700 million in 2000 and $350 million in 2006. Jonathan received an MBA from the
Tepper School of Business The Tepper School of Business is the business school of Carnegie Mellon University. It is located in the university's campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. The school offers degrees from the undergraduate through doctoral levels, in addition ...
at Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He and his family reside in the San Diego area. Mow’s second son, Kelvin, was born in 1968. He is a Managing Director of Groupe SEB (Société d'Emboutissage de Bourgogne) overseeing several Asian countries while based in Hong Kong.linkedin page of Kelvin Mow
/ref>"Tefal’s parent company Group SEB chooses social agency", 02/04/2014 in Singapore by Rezwana Manju

/ref> Groupe SEB is a large French consortium that produces small appliances and cookware. Notable brand names associated with Groupe SEB include
All-Clad All-Clad Metalcrafters, LLC is a U.S. manufacturer of cookware with headquarters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The company markets its cookware to department stores and specialty stores in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the UK ...
,
Krups Krups is a German kitchen appliance manufacturer. It is part of the Groupe SEB. It is named after its founder, Robert Krups. Wednesday, 02 December 2020 The company produces a large variety of household appliances such as coffee makers, toa ...
,
Moulinex Moulinex is a Groupe SEB brand along with Rowenta, Calor, All-Clad, Lagostina, Krups, and Tefal, all household products brands. The company designed and produced the Mouli grater. The company was founded by Jean Mantelet who in 1932 invented the ...
, Rowenta, and
Tefal Tefal S.A.S. (a portmanteau of TEFlon and ALuminium.) is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer, owned by Groupe SEB (a global manufacturer of cookware) since 1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests t ...
. Kelvin received his MBA from the
University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...
in 1991. He and his family reside in Hong Kong.


References


External links


Personal Webpage at Columbia

A Tribute to Professor Van C. Mow: A Wonderful Scholar and Leader in Bioengineering
by
Shu Chien Shu Chien (; born June 23, 1931 in Beijing, China), is a Chinese–American physiologist and bioengineer. His work on the fluid dynamics of blood flow has had a major impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as athe ...

Van C. Mow Medal




{{DEFAULTSORT:Mow, Van C. 1939 births Living people American bioengineers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Columbia University faculty Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Briarcliff Manor, New York ASME Medal recipients Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Scientists from New York (state) Chinese emigrants to the United States People from Chengdu Engineers from Sichuan Educators from Sichuan Members of the National Academy of Medicine