Spring 2016 Commencement - Ming Hsieh, Honorary Degree Recipient

Good morning and thank you, Dr. Kaplan. It is a pleasure to be here today to be an honorary member of the Class of 2016. Today is also a special day for me as well. I would like to start by congratulating all the graduates for all you have achieved and the tremendous potential you have to make a difference in the future. I would like to encourage all of you to take some time before you leave today, in the coming few days, to thank your parents, your family, your friends, and your professors for the important role they played in helping you reach this milestone in your life. It is especially fitting to be addressing graduates of the College of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences here at the University of New Haven. I have tremendous respect for Dr. Henry Lee, an expert in the field of forensic science which I have worked in for the past 20 years, as I'm sure you all do. A few months ago, I received a phone call from Dr. Henry Lee and he asked me to be a speaker at this commencement. Normally, as you may find out, I am very reluctant to accept a speech like this since I'm not a very good public speaker. But Dr. Henry Lee is a very persuasive person. I tried to find a way out and I told Dr. Henry Lee, 'Why don't I write you a check?' Without hesitation, he said, 'Thank you, Ming Hsieh, I'll take your check, but still the best gift you could give to me and to the students and the faculty is to tell all the students part of your story.' So Dr. Henry Lee is not only a good scientist, not only a good educator, but a tough negotiator and a good fundraiser for the University of New Haven. So today, I am very proud and honored to share my story with you. I hope some of the experience I have gained in my career, my professional life, will provide something for you to think about as you follow your passion to start your own career. Commencement will be one of the happiest days in your life. You all have your own goals and plans for the future. I was sitting in a similar position over 30 years ago. I earned a master's degree from the University of Southern California. My parents wanted me to continue education to earn a PhD degree, but I would like to start to get a design job to gain some working experience, then maybe take some classes at night and maybe earn a PhD degree, which would be a lot cheaper. I joined a mid-sized semiconductor company in 1985. It was a company that did not have a lot of resources. I had been there no longer than a year before I started the company. Before knowing where the bathroom was, I already signed a design job to build the next-generation power-managing chip for the company. In the 1980s, the semiconductor industry in the United States faced strong competition from Japan. I was working long hours to get my work done. It was grueling. I literally had to do everything from circuit design to wafer processing, from reliability testing to the same day lines to keep the project on schedule. At that time, an engineering workstation was dedicated for design work and could not do word processing. We had about 20 engineers sharing one PC computer, which I believe today everyone has one. I realized that I was a bit of a slow typist, so I decided to delay other people's typing. I decided to use a few hundred dollars of my own money and buy some PC parts and build my own personal computer and install it on my desk. In this way, I did not need to fight with the crowd of engineers for a PC, and there was no need to worry about slow typing. This idea inspired some of the people in our company. Within about two months, about 20 people also built their own computers with my help. Before knowing it, I became their PC technician or technical support. So when they had trouble, they called me. I was using my weekends to fix their defective computer parts. That experience inspired me and two of my friends. We saw there was an opportunity to build our own computer chips and see what we could create. We started our own first company. My parents were very disappointed and angry when they learned I started a business instead of pursuing a PhD program. You know a Chinese proverb: 'Plan flowers with care, but flowers never bloom. However, plant a bunch of willow carelessly, and the branches yield a willow tree.' In other words, despite your best efforts to plan whatever you desire, things do not always turn out as expected; they may fail. However, beauty might come from somewhere you least expected. The important part is that you have to be prepared to accept it and you have to be ready to make the most out of what might be a less-than-ideal situation. I learned this first-hand growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s. As a child, my family was forced to leave our city and move to a remote rural area to do farm work. There was no electricity in the village, and I didn't have much of a formal education for the next ten years. So my mother, a former high school literature teacher, and my father, a former electrical research scientist, taught me using textbooks they were able to acquire. By the time the Cultural Revolution ended, I was able to pass the national exam and enroll in college, and eventually I transferred to the United States to finish my bachelor's and master's degrees. After coming to terms with our new life in the countryside, my father pursued the local authorities for permission to work to bring electrical power to the village of about a hundred families. I was the only full-time helper for him. I worked hard day and night, helped my father cut down trees, drill holes, put up poles, string wires, and install transformers, and we were able to bring power to the village, to every family. The electricity extended our lives. There was no more darkness in the village at night. We were able to read, learn, and play during the night. And my father was no longer regarded as a frame-up, and he started working to design a radio broadcasting network for the villagers. I started to love electronics, radios, and mechanics. It was during this time that I learned the power of science, engineering, and hard work. It may sound trite, but working hard is fundamental. Beyond that, you also need to find a way to differentiate yourself from others. When hiring an employee, I look for responsibility and dedication. I look for people who take the initiative and who think beyond the position they're in. I also look for people who embrace creativity and who challenge themselves not only to come up with new solutions but to push their résumé ability to implement it to the end. There aren't any guarantees for what you will have in your life. But I will guarantee you will fail sometime. I know because it happens to me. Please do not let this scare you. It is important to know how you respond to failure or an obstacle in front of you; it shows what kind of person you are. I started the company Cogent System in the mid-1990s, a fingerprint identification business with three other scientists based on a new searching algorithm. Four years later, we were bidding on a $50 million job from the FBI to develop their next-generation National Crime Information Center project. It was almost certain we were going to win the job since Cogent had superior technology, leading against the competition's. But in the end, we lost the job. It was a tragedy for us because of the large, prestigious job, and we did have an innovative solution. We had a small reference in size, fast in certain speed, accurate identification, and low-cost solutions. At a debriefing, the FBI contract manager told me, 'It was such a large and important national security project, the FBI was worried about the size and stability of Cogent. The only reason we lost was we were concerned about what would happen if Ming Hsieh was hit by a truck.' So I found out there was another easy and quick way to build a success. Fortunately, we were able to regroup and build our business by installing an automated fingerprint identification system project by project, state by state, country by country. As a matter of fact, the Secretary of the Philippine National Police was our user during that time; the Commissioner of the Philippine National Police was the head of the identification unit. After 10 years later, Cogent successfully listed on NASDAQ and became a billion-dollar company in 2004. The same FBI contract manager was the vice president of Cogent System. He led the effort and successfully secured a $500 million project to build the world's largest and fastest identification system for the Department of Homeland Security. So whenever we walk across a busy street, I keep reminding him that the contract officer should make sure you always stay there in front of me and make sure I will not hear about trucks. So whenever you have a setback, you will realize there will be a new opportunity. Finally, I want to encourage you to give back. Among the most rewarding experiences in my life has been supporting my university and supporting education to help students have the same experience I had. I hope you consider ways you can give back to the University of New Haven, to help people follow in your footsteps. So thank you again for the opportunity to be part of your special day. I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. The words: continue working hard, and the sky is the limit for whatever you can accomplish. Thank you.