The goal of this project is to educate the public on the history of Asian American pioneers and scholars who have made transformative contributions to our country and the world. Our activities include selecting, documenting, interviewing and making multimedia contents for Asian American pioneers. We are invited to join the task force of Asian Pacific American History and Culture.
Videos
We are collaborating with the National Science Foundation on our first video series lifting up Asian American inventors who have significantly impacted our everyday lives, featuring:
- Dr. Simon Sze and Dr. Dawon Kahng (1931-92) co-discovered the floating-gate memory effect in 1967, which enabled the development of flash memory that allows us to store hundreds of feature movies on a USB stick and endless videos on a cell phone.
- Dr. Nasir Ahmed invented Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in early 1970s, which is the technology foundation for audio, images, and video compression. His invention helps us connect with our colleagues, family and friends in video meetings regardless of the physical distance.
- Dr. Raj Reddy pioneered continuous speech-recognition technology in 1974 that enables a computer to understand full sentences of a human speech. Our kids can now talk to Alexa or Siri to make magic happen.
- Dr. M.C. Frank Chang developed high-performance and low-cost power amplifiers in the early 1990s for mobile communication chips developed during the past three decades for mass production of cell phones. Today with a small battery, we can spend hours on cell phones instead of minutes.
- Dr. Teresa Meng invented how to build highly integrated radio-on-a-chip in the late 1990s which revolutionized wireless communication. Her company Atheros Communications, Inc. pioneered Wi-Fi technologies which allow most devices to connect us together wherever we go.
The videos will be released soon.
Webinars
The Contributions of Asian Americans in U.S. Science and Engineering, February 26, 2022
Speaker: Prof. Steven Chu. Nobel Laureate and the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy, Stanford University
Press Release
Today, the Asian American Scholar Forum launched, “Project Pioneer” to educate the public on the history of Asian American pioneers and scholars who have contributed to our country and the world. We are kicking off this crucial project this month by partnering with the National Science Foundation on our first video series lifting up Asian American inventors who have significantly impacted our everyday lives.
Asian American Scholar Forum Celebrates Dr. Gang Chen’s Election to National Academy of Sciences, May 12, 2023
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced the election of AASF board member Dr. Gang Chen in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Dr. Chen was among 120 members and 23 international members elected this May.
Asian American Scholar Forum Commends Gang Chen, Once Targeted by the China Initiative, on Landmark Scientific Discovery, August 18, 2022
Washington, D.C.– Professor Gang Chen, the former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, has led a team to discover what is said to be the best semiconductor ever found, performing better than silicon at conducting heat and electricity. This discovery opens up new possibilities for smaller and faster chips.