Ping Fu

Ping Fu (born 1958) is a Chinese-American entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of 3D software development company Geomagic, and was its chief executive officer until February 2013 when the company was acquired by 3D Systems Inc. As of March 2014, she is the Vice President and Chief Entrepreneur Officer at 3D Systems. Fu grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution and moved to the United States in 1984. She co-founded Geomagic in 1997 with her then-husband Herbert Edelsbrunner, and has been recognized for her achievements with the company through a number of awards, including being named Inc. magazine's 2005 "Entrepreneur of the Year". In 2013, she published her memoir, Bend, Not Break, co-authored with MeiMei Fox.[5]

Early life and education

Ping Fu was born in 1958 in Nanjing, China,[6][7] where her father was a professor at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Career

National Center for Supercomputing Applications

In the early 1990s, Fu began working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at UIUC.[9][10] Her focus was on computer graphics and visualization,[21] including projects such as developing the morphing software for animation of the liquid metal T-1000 robot in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[13] While at NCSA, she hired student researcher Marc Andreessen and was his supervisor on the project developing NCSA's Mosaic, an early multimedia web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web.[13] According to her supervisor, Joseph Hardin, Fu was one of the managers involved in the discussions from which the idea for the browser was developed.[22] In 1994 Ping took a temporary position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, returning to NCSA in 1995.[23]

Geomagic

In 1996, Marc Andreessen's success with his own company, Netscape, inspired UIUC to encourage entrepreneurship and Fu developed the idea for a company that would combine manufacturing and digital technology, including 3D modeling software, the concept of which she called the "Personal Factory".[24] She founded Geomagic with her then-husband, Herbert Edelsbrunner, whose research formed the basis for the initial software to be developed by the company. In 1997, she left the NCSA to begin operations at Geomagic, taking on the role of CEO.[6][10] The company was originally named Raindrop Geomagic[10] and was based in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.[7] It was founded with the aim of developing 3D imaging software that could enable customized manufacturing using 3D printers.[18]

Other roles

In addition to leading Geomagic, Fu has held a number of advisory roles relating to technology and entrepreneurship and with charitable organizations. She has served on the U.S. National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship since 2010 and is also a member of the National Council on Women in Technology.[31] In 2012, she was appointed to the board of the Long Now Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on long-term thinking and enduring technology.[32] She also serves on the board of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina,[33] the board of Live Nation Entertainment [34] and is an advisor at Modern Meadow, an organization focused on tissue engineering.[35] Since 2017, Ping has served on the Board of Directors of the Burning Man Project;

Memoir

On December 31, 2012, Fu published a memoir, Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds.[37] Co-authored with MeiMei Fox, the book told the stories of her life, from her early childhood in China to her experiences as an entrepreneur, including founding and leading Geomagic.[38][39] The book received positive reviews from outlets including The Wall Street Journal[16] and Oprah.com.[38]

Beginning in January 2013, commenters in the Amazon.com reviews for the memoir began posting critical reviews, accusing Fu of lying about events in her past.[16] Around the same time, first in English,[18] then in Chinese [40] on Forbes China, Forbes published an interview with Fu that discussed Fu's memoir and her early life, which contained an inaccurate interpretation of where Ping Fu lived during the cultural revolution.[41][42][43] Chinese netizens responded to the piece with criticisms regarding alleged fabrication of events and inconsistencies in media coverage of Fu,[41][44] which raised questions in the media about the veracity of details included in the memoir.[45] Chinese blogger Fang Zhouzi was among the critics[46] and he later raised further questions and criticisms based on earlier media coverage of Fu.[44] Following the initial criticisms from Fang Zhouzi and other critics, commenters appearing to be non-native English speakers knowledgeable about Chinese history posted hundreds of negative comments in the memoir's Amazon.com reviews, leading The Daily Beast and New York Times [47] to conclude that Ping was the subject of an online attack.[16][48]

Fu responded to the criticisms through a public statement,[49] and a post on the Huffington Post website answering questions that were raised about her childhood, education and being forced to leave China.[11] She acknowledged that there were some inaccuracies in the book.[27] She also acknowledged that the Red Guard atrocity she related in the memoir and media interviews regarding a teacher being pulled apart by four horses may have been an emotional memory, the result of hearing tales of such barbarity in old China as a child and having nightmares about it, or seeing it in a movie, rather than actually seeing it.[43][50][51] In response to questions about accuracy of details in the book, her publisher stated that the book is a memoir, rather than a journalistic account of the Cultural Revolution.[46][50]

birth date	1958 (age 68)‡R1R‡
birth place	Nanjing, China
citizenship	American
education	University of California, San Diego University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
alma mater	University of California, San Diego
occupation	Vice President and Chief Entrepreneur Officer, 3D Systems‡R2R‡‡R3R‡‡R4R‡
employer	3D Systems
notable works	Bend, Not Break: A Life In Two Worlds
boards	Long Now Foundation National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Live Nation Entertainment