Distinguished Professor Fu-Pen Chiang Retires After 57 Years at Stony Brook

A special retirement celebration for SUNY Distinguished Professor Fu-Pen Chiang was held November 8 at the Charles B. Wang Center, attended by more than 50 family, friends and colleagues. Photos by John Griffin.

Over 50 colleagues, friends, and family gathered in the East Hall at the Charles B. Wang Center November 8 to honor the remarkable career and retirement of Fu-Pen Chiang, celebrating his 57 years at Stony Brook University.

Known for his pioneering work in optical metrology and experimental mechanics, Chiang's contributions have transformed the Department of Mechanical Engineeringin the College of Engineering and Applied Sciencesand influenced generations of students, researchers, and faculty worldwide.

As a SUNY Distinguished Professor and a fellow of four prestigious professional societies, his career is defined not only by his achievements but also by the respect he has earned from those he mentored and collaborated with, evident from colleagues from across the country who traveled to attend his celebration.

Jon Longtin, professor and interim chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, spoke warmly of his colleague and mentor.

Interim Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Jon Longtin highlighted the impact Chiang has had on the university and beyond. "This is a person whose career has spanned five decades," Longtin said. "He has personally molded hundreds of engineers and researchers, academics, and scholars, and has taught thousands of students over that career. Think about that impact - thousands of students, hundreds of people, personally molded."

Longtin, who was hired by Chiang nearly three decades ago in 1995, shared a story that reflected the qualities of his former mentor and friend. "I was a postdoc in Japan, looking for academic jobs," he said. "Stony Brook was interested, but finding me overseas wasn't easy, so Fu-Pen reached out to my parents back in Cincinnati and spoke to my mother on the phone. My mom raved about the conversation she had with him for years."

That initial connection ultimately brought Longtin to Stony Brook, where he now leads the department that Chiang helped shape.

Chiang's academic and professional accomplishments are staggering. He is a fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, the Optical Society of America, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics. In 2020, he was named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors. His accolades include the B.J. Lazan Award for "outstanding and original contributions to experimental mechanics" (1993), the M.M. Frocht Award for "outstanding achievements as an educator" (2009), and the Lifetime Achievement Medal from the International Conference on Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences (2012), among many others.

Beyond his research, Chiang is deeply respected as a mentor. Austin Giordano, one of Chiang's former students and a former undergraduate researcher, introduced him before Chiang took the stage. Now completing his PhD and serving as an instructional support specialist in the department, Giordano expressed the impact Chiang had on his own academic journey.

"Fu-Pen has been an incredible mentor, both academically and personally. I owe so much of my development as a researcher and as a person to his guidance and support," Giordano said.

Imin Kao, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, shared a story about his early days as an assistant professor when he was working on the process of slicing silicon wafers for electronic devices. "I didn't have training in optical metrology, but Fu-Pen taught me how to use shadow moiré," Kao recalled. "He didn't just teach me a technique; he gave me the tools to push the boundaries of my own research. That's something I'll always be grateful for."

Chiang's impact on the field of mechanical engineering extends beyond the Stony Brook campus. He has delivered invited lectures at over 60 institutions across 21 countries, and his published research, which includes more than 400 articles in 58 different journals, has advanced understanding in areas such as stress analysis, non-destructive evaluation, and fracture mechanics.

For Jon Longtin, Chiang's office became a symbol of mentorship and collaboration. "His office was packed with journals, papers, and manuscripts, and yet it was one of the coziest places on campus," Longtin said. "Whenever we had a meeting, he'd get up from behind his desk, come around, and sit next to me, as an equal. It was never him at the desk and me as a junior colleague; he treated us all with respect. That's something I have always admired and now do the same with my own meetings."

Raman Singh, another longtime colleague who traveled from Oklahoma, and who now serves as professor and associate dean for engineering at Oklahoma State University, recalled Chiang's unique approach to mentorship. "He was always supportive, and he encouraged us to pursue new ideas. When I was developing the manufacturing curriculum, he was there every step of the way, offering advice and helping us establish something that would have a lasting impact on the department."

In closing, Chiang himself took the stage to express gratitude. "I'm grateful to all of you for coming here and I thank all of you for supporting me through my research," he said. "I'm very thankful for my beautiful wife and children, and I'd like to give thanks to everybody sitting here, who directly or indirectly impacted my time at Stony Brook."

Longtin shared a final reflection that captured the significance of Chiang's career: "Most of us make our contributions to science incrementally, not with a single unique event. But when you add all of those incremental contributions together, you get a profound impact. And that's exactly what Fu-Pen has achieved here. His influence will be felt for generations to come."

- Beth Squire

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