Van C. Mow

Van C. Mow (1939 b, Traditional Chinese: 毛昭憲), was one of the earliest researchers in the field of biomechanics. He has published over 315 full-length peer-reviewed, archival papers and book chapters, has delivered over 400 podium presentations at bioengineering meetings, and he has delivered over 450 invited seminars, keynote, plenary and distinguished named lectures in orthopaedic biomechanics. According to the Google Scholar, his papers has been cited 25,611 times and has an h-index of 90 as of April 19, 2013. His work on the biphasic and triphasic theories for soft-hydrated and charged biological tissues are two of the most highly cited bioengineering papers in the world. Among his many activities, he was the first PhD to be elected President of the Orthopaedic Research Society and in 2000, he became the founder, and founding chair, of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University.

Biography

Mow's ancestral hometown is Ngai Tou, a suburb of Ningbo, in the county of Fenhua in Zhejiang Province. He was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in 1939 during the Sino-Japanese War,just prior of World War II. His father Mow Pang Tzu (毛邦初), a graduate of the 3rd class of China’s Whampoa Military Academy in 1927, was Lt. General of the Republic of China Air Force. Following the historic flight over the Himalayas in 1942 to establish the final link of the Burma Road, General Mow was assigned to the U.S. to establish the Chinese Air Force Office in Washington, D.C.. For this efforts, he was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit by President Harry Truman in August 1945. The entire family, mother and five brothers were able to emigrate to the United States in April 1949.

In 1962, Mow received his bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as his all three older brothers and his youngest brother. Impressed by his father’s air force experiences, Mow's bachelor’s degree was in aeronautical engineering. After graduation, Mow decided to pursue graduate study at Rensselaer in applied mechanics and applied mathematics on developing a perturbation mathematical method to predict secondary vortex flows in polymeric fluids. Among the five brothers, they received a total of 3 Ph.D. degrees in mechanics and applied mathematics, one bachelor's degree each in architecture and electrical engineering from Rensselaer.

Following his PhD degree in 1966, Mow went on for a postdoctoral fellowship in applied mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University with Joseph B. Keller. Then 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 a visiting scientist at the Skeletal Research Laboratory of Harvard Medical School with Melvin J. Glimcher. 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 in the city of New York in 1986 as the Anne Y. Stein Endowed Chair professor in Mechanical Engineering and Orthopaedic Bioengineering. In 2000, he founded the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Columbia University and became the inaugural Chair of the BME department since 2000, and currently holds the Stanley Dicker Endowed Chair in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Academic career

• Present Inaugural Chairman, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, since 2000
• Present Director, The Liu Ping Laboratory for Functional Tissue Engineering Research, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, since 2003
• Present Stanley Dicker Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Bioengineering, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, since 1998
• 1995-00 Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
• 1986-02 Director, New York Orthopaedic Hospital Research Laboratory, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
• 1986-98 Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
• 1986-02 Anne Y. Stein Professor of Orthopaedic Bioengineering, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
• 1982-86 John A Clark and Edward T Crossan Professor of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 1978-86 Visiting Professor in Orthopaedics, Harvard Medical School
• 1977-86 Adjunct Professor of Surgery, Albany Medical College
• 1976-82 Professor of Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 1976-77 Visiting Professor, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
• 1972-77 Adjunct Associate Professor of Orthopaedics, Albany Medical College
• 1969-76 Associate Professor of Mechanics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 1968-69 Member of Technical Staff, Division of Engineering, Research and Mechanics Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
• 1966-67 Assistant Professor of Mechanics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Awards and honors

• Elected to the United States Institute of Medicine (1998)
• Elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering (1991)
• Elected to the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (2008)
• Elected to the Academia Sinica (2004)
• Distinguished Lecturer, School of Engineering, University of Miami, March 24, 2010
• William Mong Distinguished Lecture, Mechano-Signal Transduction in Cartilage, University of Hong Kong, November 21, 2009
• 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
• Distinguished Lecturer in Biomechanical Engineering, Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics of Articular Cartilage, Stanford University, June 4–5, 2007
• 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, Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Virginia, November 3, 2006
• Davies Medal for Outstanding Alumni Achievements, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, April 6, 2006
• Named Lecture Series: The Annual Van C. Mow Lecture Series in Applied Mechanics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2006
• Academic Advisor to Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn for the Development of Biomedical Engineering in Thailand, 2003–07
• Namesake for ASME Medal: The Van C. Mow Medal for Excellence in Bioengineering (2005) Van C. Mow Medal, ASME
• Robert H. Thurston Lecture, ASME, November 18, 1998
• College of Fellows, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Founding Member, Elected 1992
• Giovani Borelli Award, American Society of Biomechanics, 1991
• Bristol-Myers/Zimmer Award for Excellence in Orthopaedic Research, 1990
• Fogarty Senior International Fellowship, 1987
• HR Lissner Award for Contributions to Bioengineering, ASME, 1987
• Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1986
• Melville Medal, Highest ASME honor for original paper, 1982
• President, Orthopaedic Research Society, 1982-1983 (First PhD President)
• Kappa Delta-Elizabeth Winston Lanir Award, Best Research in Orthopaedics, AAOS, 1980

Van C. Mow Medal

In 2004, ASME 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.

References

• Brief Biography of Van C. Mow
• A Tribute to Professor Van C. Mow: A Wonderful Scholar and Leader in Bioengineering by Shu Chien
• Van C. Mow Medal
• Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University
• Alumni at Rensselaer