Mung Chiang (Chinese: 蒋濛; born February 2, 1977) is a Chinese-American electrical engineer and academic administrator who has been serving as the current and 13th president of Purdue University since 2023. He is the youngest president of a top-50 American university in recent history, taking office at age 45.
Chiang served as executive vice president of Purdue University from 2021 to 2023 and as dean of the Purdue University College of Engineering from 2017 to 2023. Previously at Princeton University, he served as full professor of electrical engineering since 2011 and as faculty member since 2003.
Chiang is credited with 25 U.S. patents, many of which have been adopted and utilized by the communications and networking industry.[1]
Early life and education
Mung Chiang was born on February 2, 1977, in Tianjin, China.[2] In 1988, when Mung Chiang was 11 years old, his family went to Hong Kong to live with his grandmother. He re-took the fifth grade of primary school at Tak Sun School (德信學校), a full-time Catholic school for boys, and taught himself Cantonese, Traditional Chinese, and English.[3][4][5]
After primary school, Chiang was admitted to Queen's College (皇仁書院) through examination by the school's independent admission quota.[3][5] At his final semester in high school in 1995, he took the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and obtained full A's in all 10 subjects. He was one of the four students of Queen's College that year who attained 10 A's in the exam.[2] After graduating from high school, he traveled to the United States for college education in 1995.[6]
Chiang became an assistant professor at Princeton University in 2004,[7] an associate professor with tenure in 2008,[7] a professor in 2011,[7] and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering in 2013.[8] While at Princeton, Chiang founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009.[9]
In 2015, Mung Chiang, along with Helder Antunes and Tao Zhang, met to discuss the creation of a consortium to promote the standardization of fog computing, which eventually was formed as the OpenFog Consortium.[10]
On May 1, 2017, Purdue University announced that it had chosen Chiang as the next dean of its College of Engineering. He assumed office on July 1, 2017, as the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University.[12][13] He was simultaneously appointed the Roscoe H. George Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.[14] At age 40, he was among the youngest in modern history to become the leader of a major college in an American university.[2] Under his leadership, Purdue Engineering became the largest ever top-5 engineering college in the United States and reached milestones in education, research, fund-raising, physical infrastructure, online learning, industry partnership, economic development, global engagement, diversity and visibility.[15] Starting in December 2019, Chiang took a one-year leave of absence to serve as the science and technology adviser to the secretary of state Mike Pompeo on an IPA.[16]
On April 23, 2021, Purdue University named Chiang as Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives while continuing to lead the College of Engineering.[17]
On June 10, 2022, the Purdue University Board of Trustees announced its unanimous election of Chiang to become the university's 13th president on January 1, 2023.[18]
Chiang co-authored a technical undergraduate textbook Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers (Cambridge University Press, 2012; ISBN978-1107024946) and a popular science book The Power of Networks: Six Principles That Connect Our Lives (Princeton University Press, 2016; ISBN9780691183305). The first book received the PROSE Awards in Science and Technology Writing in 2013 from the Association of American Publishers.[35] The second book was mentioned in various popular media, such as in TIME Magazine.[36]
^ abChiang, Mung (2003). Solving nonlinear problems in communication systems using geometric programming and dualities (Ph.D. thesis). Stanford University. OCLC83821053. ProQuest305293131.
