Honoring Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander innovators in science and technology
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage month, which celebrates and reflects on the contributions, culture and history of AANHPIs.
First recognized in 1977, Asian/Pacific American Heritage month became officially designated by Congress in 1992. May was selected to commemorate Japanese immigration to the U.S. in 1843 and to honor the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad — most of the workers immigrated from China.
Throughout May, University of Kentucky is celebrating AANHPI month with several events throughout Lexington.
University of Kentucky Information Technology Services (UK ITS) recognizes the vital contributions of AANHPIs to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries. Here are just a few of the technology pioneers that have helped shape our world today.
- Reshma Saujani. Saujani is an activist focused on closing the gender gap in tech and founded Girls Who Code. The nonprofit offers coding programs, explores AI and connects girls and nonbinary students with women in technology professions. As the nonprofit’s CEO, Saujani helped the organization grow to teach 300,000 girls computer science education. A graduate of Harvard and Yale law School, Saujani ran for Congress in 2010 becoming the first Indian American woman to do so.
- Nainoa Thompson. In 1980, Thompson, a master navigator, became the first person to use star navigation to travel by sea since the Polynesians in the 14th century. In 1980, the Native Hawaiian developed the star compass, a metal device that uses celestial bodies to navigate. The device helps navigators identify star positions to guide them and no navigational instruments are needed. Beginning in the 1990s, Thompson trained a new generation of Hawaiian navigators to pass on and preserve the navigation tradition.
- Ajay Bhatt. In the 1990s, Bhatt developed USB technology used in about 10 billion devices. Bhatt created the technology while working at Intel. Of his invention Bhatt told Fast Company, “The technology that we were replacing, like serial ports, parallel ports, the mouse and keyboard ports, they all required a fair amount of software support, and any time you installed a device, it required multiple reboots and sometimes even opening the box.” Bhatt, an Indian American retired from Intel in 2016.
- Min Chueh Chang. A reproductive biologist, Dr. Chang worked with a medical doctor and a biology lab founder to study progesterone as a form of birth control. In 1960, the oral contraceptive was approved by the FDA—making it the first pill to be used as birth control. The invention remains one of the most popular forms of contraception today.
- Josephine Santiago-Bond. After graduating from the University of the Philippines, Santigo-Bond accepted her first engineering job in the U.S. in 2002. She eventually spent a summer working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, which led her to a career at NASA. At NASA, Santiago-Bond has “contributed to the design of new technologies, space shuttle ground system operations, and Constellation subsystems design.”
- Yoky Matsuoka. A computer scientist, Matsuoka originally came to the U.S. from Japan to play professional tennis. Eventually, Matsuko became a computer scientist and earned a Ph.D in electrical engineering and computer science. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award grant for her work in neuroscience and robotics. Matsuko has served in many leadership roles at tech giants and is the CEO and founder of Yohanna, an independent subsidiary of Panasonic that provides technology product and services company.
These are just a few technology pioneers from the AANHPI communities whose talents and innovations have changed the technology sector. For more information about AANHPI month, visit the Smithsonian website.