Obituary of Victor W. Wong

Dr. Victor W. Wong of Peabody, MA, passed away on July 13, 2020 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 68. He was Principal Research Scientist in the Sloan Automotive Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also served as Principal Research Scientist in the Laboratory for Energy and Environment and Manager of the Transportation Propulsion Program. After graduating with a bachelor degree from Dartmouth College, he obtained his MS (1976) and PhD (1978) degrees in mechanical engineering from the MIT, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Indiana-University-Purdue-University in 1982. He spent eight years at Cummins Engine Company, Columbus, Indiana, where he headed the Combustion and Emissions Research and later Lubrication and Cooling systems Departments. He has been back to MIT since 1986, where he was Director of the MIT Low Ash Diesel Emissions Research Consortium and Principal Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. During his long stretch at MIT, Dr. Wong led students and researchers in a wide range of internal combustion engine research areas: from fuels and combustion, low-friction component and lubricant research, to lubrication and diesel emissions. In 1989, he started with his colleagues an Industrial Research Consortium on Lubrication in I.C. Engines. In 2005, he co-founded another research consortium at MIT on Low-Ash Lubricants and Diesel Emissions with major engine, lubricant and additives OEMs participating to investigate the interactions of lubricant/additives on engine durability and diesel engine emission after treatment systems. His research focus was on modeling and experimental diagnostics of diesel engine exhaust treatment systems, lubricant films in internal combustion engines, clean diesel technologies, engine combustion and emissions, heat transfer and lubrication studies for the application of advanced materials. Dr. Victor Wong was a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and a Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). From SAE, he won the SAE Lubricants Award twice, once in 1992 and again in 2002. He also received the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award twice in 1994 and 2014, an SAE Award for Outstanding Research in Diesel Engines. From ASME, he received several awards for best paper, engineering management, and for achievement in engine friction and efficiency. Victor Wong served within the last fifteen years as the Chair of the IC Engine Division at ASME, Chair of the Engine and Drivetrain Committee of STLE, and as an Associate Editor of Tribology Transactions since 2010. During over three decades of his tenure at the MIT, Victor was a beloved colleague to many who worked with him and a respected teacher to his students, and will be greatly missed. His many research contributions, particularly in heavy-duty engine exhaust treatments and engine lubrication, were responsible for much of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory’s success over the years. Victor is survived by the love of his life, wife Dr. Kut-Nie Tan. He was the adored uncle of Dr. Geeling Victoria Wong, beloved brother of Pick Wan Wong and step-brother of Dong Sheng Huang, and cherished brother-in-law of Kut-Sing Tan, Dr. Lip-Bun Tan, Dr. Amanda Tan, Kut-Na Tan, Lip-Bu Tan and Ysa Loo. Victor also leaves many loving nieces, nephews and cousins. A virtual Memorial Service hosted by Sloan Automotive Lab, MIT, will take place on July 28, 2020. For obituary published on MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department website, please visit http://meche.mit.edu/news-media/remembering-dr-victor-wong. A Funeral Memorial Service and burial at the Mountain View Cemetery, Piedmont, CA, will be announced at a later date.