National Engineers Week 2004
Asian American Engineer of the Year Award Banquet Hosted by CIE/USA

SAN JOSE, California (February 18, 2004) – Chinese Institute of Engineers, USA (CIE/USA) is co-sponsoring the National Engineers Week 2004 and will host an annual Asian American Engineer of Year Award Banquet on Saturday, February 28, 2004 at the Marriott Hotel Santa Clara. The primary goal of this award is to recognize outstanding Asian American engineers for their contributions to our nation and communities.

Two prominent honors will be presented to Asian American engineers with distinguished achievements. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Yuan-Cheng Fung, professor emeritus of Bioengineering at University of California, San Diego, fondly known as the “father of biomechanics”. Fung initiated a new direction for bioengineering and coined the term “tissue engineering” in the 1980’s.

The Distinguished Science and Technology Award recipient this year is Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics and professor at Stanford University. Chu and his research group are currently focusing on applying single molecule techniques such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, atomic force microscopy, and optical tweezers. Their study includes enzyme activity, and RNA folding at the single bio-molecule level. Many lives can be affected and benefited through Chu’s research endeavors.

The finalists for Asian American Engineer of the Year are: Shreekant Agrawal (Boeing), Ravi Arimilli (IBM), Li- Fung Chang (Broadcom), Er-Ping Chen (Sandia Lab.), Tze-Yao Chu (Sandia Lab.), Lawrence Y. Dong (Boeing), Wu-Chun Feng (Los Alamos Lab.), S.K. Gupta ( Lockheed Martin), William Lin (General Motors), Viet H. Nguyen (Boeing), Heidi Shyu (Raytheon), Man-Chung Tang (T.Y. Lin International), Tuchih Tsai (Cisco Systems) and Y.C. Yang (T.Y. Lin & Y.C. Yang International). Among them are internationally known high-rise building expert, world class segmental bridge consultant, lead nuclear weapon specialist, chief supercomputer architect, pioneer in vehicle ABS/TCS control systems, manager of space shuttle entry flight control system, lead of unmanned combat air vehicle and combat armed rotorcraft, and expert of sonic cruiser configuration. One has been awarded 267 patents in his 20 years in industry in a company of 297,000 employees. At the award banquet, each recipient will receive the honor in the presence of executives of his or her sponsoring company.