[2] In 1917, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University,[1] where his advisors were Edmund Beecher Wilson and Thomas Hunt Morgan.
[1] In 1937, Gowen joined the faculty of Iowa State College as a professor of genetics.
[1][2] Gowen's research focused on gene expression and the genetics of disease resistance, as well as the biological effects of exposure to radiation.
[1] Gowen married Marie Helena Stadler on September 10, 1917.
Gowen died on September 14, 1967, in Fort Collins, Colorado.