In the News

Chinese Institute of Engineers February 18, 2007
For Immediate Release

Asian American Engineer of the Year Award to Honor Outstanding Contributors to the Nation

As part of the celebration of the National Engineers Week, the Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA jointly with the National Engineers Week Foundation honors outstanding corporate leaders, scientists and engineers of Asian heritage with the prestigious Asian American Engineer of the Year Award.

Engineers are well known for their skills in solving problems and their role in building cities and contributing to the success of our great nation. During the National Engineers Week (E-Week, February 18-24), a series of celebrations are hosted by members of the National Engineers Foundation (www.eweek.org). The Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA (CIE-USA) is proud to present the Asian American Engineer of the Year (AAEOY) Award program as part of the celebration.

The award winners are recognized for their outstanding achievement in their fields and their contribution to the community. The award program is dedicated to fostering human relations, and to promoting diversity and information exchange among engineers and scientists. CIE-USA believes that it is important to provide a forum whereby our engineering organizations may recognize outstanding Asian American professionals during the E-Week. The award recipients so recognized are a source of inspiration for engineers of all heritages, races, present and future.

AAEOY 2007 will recognize a dozen outstanding professional engineers nominated by corporate America. Additionally, Dr. Taylor Wang, the first Asian American astronaut scientist, and Dr. James Wei, former Dean of Engineering at Princeton University will receive 2007 Distinguished Science and Technology Awards. Mr. Norm Mineta, former US Secretary of Transportation as well as former US Secretary of Commerce, and Mr. Minoru (Sam) Araki, retired President of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Co. will be this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards recipients. Click here to see photos of the Awards recipients.

This year, a special Distinguished International Services Award has been donated by a prominent off-shore research institute (ITRI, www.itri.org.tw) to honor Dr. Hwa-Nien Yu for his contribution to the development of information and electronics technologies overseas during and after his engineering career at IBM, USA. This is a stellar example of Americans contributing to international development, something that is of increasing importance in today’s trend towards equal opportunities worldwide.

The recipients for the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award are (click here for photo of all recipients):

Clement Chen
Vice President
Strategic Development
Integration Systems & Solutions
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Sidney S.Chow
Director
Greater China Systems and Technology Lab
IBM Corporation

Brad Furukawa
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Space Technology Sector
Northrop Grumman Corporation

S. Jason Hatakeyama
Director
Mechanical/Structural Engineering - C3 Networks
Integrated Defense Systems
The Boeing Company

Wen L. Hsu
Manager
Remote Sensing and Energetic Materials
Sandia National Laboratories

Mike Ma
Senior Manager
Software Development
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Ronald M. Nakamoto
Chief Operating Officer, Savi Group LLC
VP and General Manager
Integration Systems & Solutions
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Kim L. Ong
Technical Fellow
Industrial Engineer/Statistician
Information Technology Sector
Northrop Grumman Corporation

Yixing (Eddie) Ruan, Ph.D.
Technical Lead
Edge Router Business Unit
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Goro Tamai
Project Leader
Truck 2-Mode Hybrid program
General Motors Corporation

Joan Wada
Associate Technical Fellow
Systems Engineering
The Boeing Company

Xiuli Wang, Ph.D.
Completion Engineer
Project Leader
Injection Well Completions and Sand Control
BP p.l.c.

The 2007 AAEOY Awards Celebration will be held on March 31, 2007 at the Hotel Washington. A Career Fair, a Distinguished Lecture Series and Seminars and Exhibits will be offered free to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. An evening reception and gala banquet, including the Awards Ceremony, begins at 5:00 pm.

This historic event has received strong corporate, community, academia, and government support. Sponsors of this year’s event include Boeing, BP, Cisco Systems, CTCI, General Motors, IBM, ITRI, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Sandia National Laboratories. “We gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support and administrative assistance of these organizations,” says CIE-USA National Council Chairman, Dr. Francis Chang, Principal of FC Consulting.

The co-chairs of the 2007 AAEOY Awards Committee (Professor Shoou-Yuh Chang, DOE Samuel Massie Chair of Excellence Professor, North Carolina A&T State University, and Professor Wei-Yin Chen, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Mississippi) wish to express their highest appreciation and deep gratitude for the excellent nominations submitted and the efforts of committee members during the search and selection process.

Contact: Jack Peng
Chinese American Forum
(253)-351-0465
jackpeng@juno.com