Karl Ho
Data Generation datageneration.io
Karl Ho
School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences
University of Texas at Dallas
Invited talk at the Irving Library Chinese American History panel, May 2, 2023
Yung Wing (1828-1912): Yung Wing was the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, Yale College, in 1854. Although born in Guangzhou, China, his work in promoting education and advocating for Chinese students to study abroad led to close ties with Taiwan. He played a significant role in establishing the Chinese Educational Mission, which allowed many Chinese students, including those from Taiwan, to study in the United States during the late 19th century.
Source: connecticuthistory.org
Early Immigration (pre-1960s):
Samuel C. C. Ting (1936-present): A renowned physicist, Ting was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Chinese parents from Taiwan. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976 for discovering a new subatomic particle, the J/ψ particle. He has contributed significantly to the field of particle physics.
Source: MIT Physics
Post-World War II Immigration (1950s-1960s):
Source: Hachette Books
Post-World War II Immigration (1950s-1960s):
Wen Ho Lee (1939-present): Lee, a Taiwanese-born American scientist, worked as a nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was falsely accused of spying for the People's Republic of China in the late 1990s, which led to a highly publicized investigation and legal case. Eventually, he was cleared of all charges related to espionage. His case highlighted the racial profiling and discrimination faced by many Asian Americans, including Taiwanese Americans, during that period.
Source: Getty Images
Late 20th Century Immigration (1970s-1990s):
Ang Lee (1954-present): Ang Lee is a highly acclaimed Taiwanese-born film director known for his diverse and successful filmography. Some of his notable works include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Brokeback Mountain," and "Life of Pi." He has received numerous awards, including multiple Academy Awards for Best Director.
Source: Getty Images
Late 20th Century Immigration (1970s-1990s):
Ang Lee (1954-present): Ang Lee is a highly acclaimed Taiwanese-born film director known for his diverse and successful filmography. Some of his notable works include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Brokeback Mountain," and "Life of Pi." He has received numerous awards, including multiple Academy Awards for Best Director.
Source: Forbes
Late 20th Century Immigration (1970s-1990s):
Jerry Yang (1968-present): Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Jerry Yang is the co-founder of Yahoo! Inc., an early pioneer of the internet era. He moved to the United States at the age of 10 and later co-founded Yahoo! with David Filo in 1994, while pursuing a Ph.D. at Stanford University. Yang played a significant role in the development and growth of the internet and its services.
Source: ElaineChao.com
Late 20th Century Immigration (1970s-1990s):
Elaine Chao (1953-present): Elaine Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to the United States at the age of eight. She served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush and as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. Chao is the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a U.S. president's cabinet. She is married to Mitchell McCon
Source: NBA.com
Late 20th Century Immigration (1970s-1990s):
Jeremy Shu-How Lin (1988 - )is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player for the Kaohsiung 17LIVE Steelers of the P. League+. He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association during the 2011–12 season, generating a cultural phenomenon known as "Linsanity". He is currently playing professional basketball in Taiwan.
More in academia:
1. Steven Chu (1948-present): Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents from Taiwan, Steven Chu is a physicist and former United States Secretary of Energy. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his work on laser cooling and trapping of atoms. Chu has held professorships at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, and served as the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
2. Shing-Tung Yau (1949-present): Shing-Tung Yau is a mathematician born in Shantou, China, but raised in Taiwan. He is known for his work in differential geometry, particularly for proving the Calabi conjecture and the positive energy theorem in general relativity. Yau has been a professor at Harvard University since 1987 and was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982, one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics.
More in academia:
3. Andrew Yao (1946-present): Andrew Yao is a computer scientist born in Shanghai, China, but raised in Taiwan. He is known for his pioneering work in theoretical computer science, particularly in computational complexity theory. Yao has taught at several prestigious institutions, including MIT, Stanford University, and Tsinghua University. He was awarded the Turing Award in 2000, often considered the "Nobel Prize of Computing."
4. Chenming Hu (1944-present): Chenming Hu is a Taiwanese-born American electrical engineer and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his work on semiconductor devices, particularly the development of the FinFET transistor, which has had a significant impact on the electronics industry. In 2020, Hu received the IEEE Medal of Honor, one of the highest awards in electrical engineering.
More in academia:
5. K. C. Nicolaou (1946-present): Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou is a Cypriot-American chemist born in Cyprus, who grew up in Egypt and received his higher education in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He has Taiwanese ancestry from his mother's side. Nicolaou is known for his work in the field of organic chemistry, particularly in the total synthesis of natural products. He has held faculty positions at the University of California, San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute, and Rice University.
Los Angeles, California:
estimated Taiwanese population of over 50,000.
San Francisco Bay Area, California:
around 30,000.
New York City, New York:
around 20,000.
Houston, Texas:
round 6,000.
Seattle, Washington:
around 5,000.
By Karl Ho