Eddy Robles Badrina is the
Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
(AAPIs). In this capacity, he is charged with coordinating all Federal
activities under the Executive Order 13339, entitled “Increasing Economic
Opportunity and Business Participation of Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders.” The purpose of the Executive Order is to provide equal economic
opportunities for full participation of the AAPIs businesses in our free market
economy, where they may be underserved and thus improving the quality of life
for AAPIs. Mr. Badrina is also responsible for working with the White House and
the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs to advise the President on the
needs and concerns of this population.
Previously, Mr. Badrina
served as Senior Associate at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Specializing in business development and economic growth, he educated and
assisted U.S. businesses as they prepared to invest in foreign emerging markets.
Prior to OPIC, Mr. Badrina was a congressional advisor at the U.S. Department of
State. Focusing on Middle East policy, he acted as a conduit between the State
Department and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In addition to his efforts on Middle
East legislation, he worked with top State Department officials on a variety of
global issues, including the United Nations, trafficking in persons, democracy
development, and human rights. Mr. Badrina’s Federal career began as an
appointee to the White House Liaison Office from the Department of State, where
he was involved in the Bush Administration’s transition efforts. Prior to his
appointment, Mr. Badrina was an associate at the Corporate Executive Board, a
best practices research firm located in Washington, DC.
The son of Filipino
immigrants, Mr. Badrina was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He graduated from
Texas A&M University, earning his B.S. in psychology, and was a member of the
Corps of Cadets and the Aggie Band. Pursuing his interests in government and
international affairs, he received his Master’s Degree in Public Service and
Administration from the George Bush School of Government, and also served as
Bush School Fellow in the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Kevin Brady. Mr. Badrina
is married to Rachel Hammond Badrina, and they have one daughter.
Robert L. Bisi is the
Director of Outreach for Youth Service America (YSA). He is responsible for
connecting the youth service, service-learning, and youth civic engagement field
with tools, resources, and opportunities that increase their effectiveness,
scale, and sustainability. More specifically, he directs and manages the Working
Group on National & Community Service; writes and edit’s YSA’s weekly National
Service Briefing (35,000+ subscribers); directs and manages YSA's membership and
partnership development; serves as YSA's representative on the advisory boards
of the Youth Vote Coalition (www.youthvote.org);
Mobilizing America’s Youth (www.m-a-y.org);
and the Gloria Barron Prize (www.barronprize.org);
and directs YSA's Youth Voice Initiative.
Over the past several
years, Robert created opportunities for young people to participate in the
community, media, and government. For six years, Robert served as the
Washington, DC Bureau Director of a national youth run news organization called
Children's Express (CE). As the director, he worked with 150 young reporters and
editors (aged 8-18) to produce stories for print, radio, and online media
outlets including among others: Reuters Syndicate, Newhouse Syndicate, and
National Public Radio. He managed the DC Bureau’s coverage of national media
events such as the 1996 and 2000 national political conventions, the 1996
presidential inauguration, and the 1997 Presidents' Summit on Service and
Volunteerism. In addition, he was responsible for the general operations,
planning, and fundraising of the DC Bureau.
Before Children's Express,
Robert was a field representative for California Assemblywoman Barbara Lee
(D-Oakland). Among many duties, he was responsible for providing constituent
services related to worker's compensation, senior citizens, youth, and
unemployment. In order to increase the civic engagement of citizens, he created
and managed advisory councils that served as the eyes and ears for Assemblywomen
Lee. He is most proud of the youth council, which was made up of young people
between the ages of 13 and 18. They provided the member with perspective on
pending legislation and issues within the Assembly District affecting youth.
In his spare time, Robert
enjoys bike riding, traveling, reading, volunteering, and listening to live
Reggae and Latin Jazz. On the volunteering front, he is a seasoned tutor at
Community Club in downtown Washington, DC.
Robert has a Bachelors
Degree in Political Science with a minor in Urban Studies from San Francisco
State University. Top
Named as one of Newsweek's
"2001 Women of the New Century," Christine Chen currently serves as the
Executive Director for the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a national
Asian Pacific American civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
representing over 80 chapters and affiliates. She coordinates programs and
monitors issues pertaining to the Asian Pacific American community, such as hate
crimes, racial profiling, election reform, immigration reform, and affirmative
action. Ms. Chen currently sits on the executive board for the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and for
YouthVote, and the advisory boards for the Midwest Asian American Students Union
(MAASU), and the East Coast Asian American Students Union (ECASU).
Previously, she served as Director of Programs for OCA for six years. She
coordinated the first national Asian Pacific American voter registration and
education campaign in 1996 and then served as the National Director for the
APIAVote 2000 campaign. The campaign initially registered over 75,000 new voters
in 1996 and translated and created voter registration posters in Chinese, Korean
and Vietnamese. Ms. Chen also developed a leadership training program, "APIAU:
Leadership 101", which trains over 600 Asian Pacific American college students
every year. Top
Dr. Chu is the President
of the Vietnamese Professionals Society and an Executive Member of Vietcare. Vietcare was started in 1998 by a small group of Vietnamese
Americans who were former refugees. When they were in the refugee camps,
each one of them made individual promises to return and provide the same
assistance that they had received as refugees. Vietcare began its mission
at the last "home" for Vietnamese refugees (the Vietvillage in the Philippines)
by taking care of the remaining Vietnamese and proceeded to aid the Filipinos
who lived in the surrounding communities. Vietcare aims to help other Vietnamese
to learn how to form other volunteer groups so that they too, as Vietnamese
refugees, can give back, contribute and continue the spirits that got them to
where they presently find themselves.
In 2003, Dr. Chu was
nominated and accepted into the American College of Dentists. His induction will
be in October 2003. The fellowship in the American College of Dentist is
given to those who provide leadership in the field of dentistry and demonstrate
commitment to community services. Additionally, he received a
Gubernatorial Citation from Governor Parrish Glenndening of Maryland.
EDUCATION
Certificate of Prosthodontics: Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University
of Maryland, 1990.
Doctor of Dental Surgery: Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University of
Maryland, 1988.
Bachelor of Arts: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1984. Top
After law school, where he
was a Class Marshal and an Olin Research Fellow in Law and Economics, Professor
Dinh served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor. He was Associate Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee
for the Whitewater investigation and Special Counsel to U.S. Senator Pete V.
Domenici for the impeachment trial of President Clinton. He also serves as
counsel to the Special Master mediating a number of lawsuits by Holocaust
victims against German and Austrian financial institutions. Most recently,
Professor Dinh served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy,
U.S. Department of Justice. His representative writings include "Codetermination
and Corporate Governance in a Multinational Business Enterprise" in the
Journal of Corporation Law, "What is the Law in Law and Development?" in
The Green Bag, and "Financial Sector Reform and Economic Development in
Vietnam" in Law and Policy in International Business.
Born on February 22, 1968, in Saigon, Vietnam, Dinh came to America as a refugee
in 1978. After 2 years in Portland, Oregon, his family settled in Fullerton,
California. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Started working as a
Chemical Engineer in 1983 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head
Division.
1991 1999: Managed all
Navy basic, exploratory research and advanced development programs in High
Explosives. Served as the U.S. Navy focus point for explosives and the
transition of Navy explosives into weapon systems, providing consultation to
government/military, industries and allied nations.
1999 2002: Managed all
NSWC Indian Heads technical programs in Explosives and Undersea Weapons, from
concept through engineering development to production and demilitarization. In
October 2001, was asked to undertake a special endeavor: help create an urgently
needed new weapon (in support of Operation Enduring Freedom) to effectively
defeat tunnels and caves being used as terrorists hideouts, in order to spare
U.S. troops from the bloody prospect of tunnel-to-tunnel combat in Afghanistan.
Successfully assembled and led a team of scientists and engineers to develop the
payload for this new weapon, now known as the thermobaric bomb, then proceeded
to limited production and delivery to the Air Force, all in an unprecedented
period of 67 days.
Successfully led the
development and transition of a total of 10 high performing explosives into 18
different U.S. weapons in the past 12 years; this is an unprecedented record of
its kind. Was U.S. Delegate at the NATO AC310 Subgroup I for Explosives, and
chairman/member of many national and international Panels/Technical Steering
Groups.
Received the Dr. Arthur E.
Bisson Prize for Achievement in Naval Technology in 1999. Name is engraved in a
plaque on permanent display at the Office of Naval Research.
Awarded the Civilian
Meritorious Medal in 2001 for superb leadership, technical expertise and
significant contributions to the Department of Defense in the area of High
Performance Explosives.
2002 present: Director for
Science and Technology at NSWC Indian Head. Responsible for Indian Heads overall
technical investment strategies, guiding and overseeing research and development
programs in all areas of science and technology and focusing these efforts
toward the creation of future weapon generations for the United States.
Jared Genser is the
President of Freedom Now and an associate in the federal affairs and legislative
practice group of Piper Rudnick LLP in Washington, D.C. Previously, Jared was a
management consultant with McKinsey & Company, the global strategy consulting
firm. Before forming Freedom Now, he represented
James Mawdsley, a British
national who served 416 days of a 17-year sentence in solitary confinement in
Burma for handing out pro-democracy leaflets there. Jared holds a B.S. in human
service studies from Cornell University, a Master in Public Policy from the John
F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a J.D., cum laude
from the University of Michigan Law School. He has published opinion-editorials
on human rights topics in such publications as the
Washington Post,
Asian Wall Street Journal,
International Herald Tribune, and
Washington Times.
Mark L. Keam
Chief Counsel
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Mark L. Keam is Chief
Counsel to United States Senator Richard J. Durbin on the Senate Committee on
the Judiciary. He is the top legal advisor to the senior Senator of Illinois – a
Democrat – on various legislative and political matters that come before the
high profile Senate panel. Mr. Keam’s areas of responsibilities include
business-related issues in Judiciary such as antitrust, bankruptcy, civil
justice reform, corporate and securities fraud, intellectual property, Internet,
technology, and telecommunications.
Mr. Keam also supervises a team of attorneys and professionals who work on
committee hearings and legislation that address a wide variety of issues,
including civil rights and civil liberties, courts, criminal justice, homeland
security, immigration, privacy, terrorism, and the Constitution. Mr. Keam and
his staff also advise the Senator in the Senate confirmation process for the
President’s nominees to various Department of Justice and other executive branch
positions, and to serve lifetime judicial appointments on the federal bench.
Before coming to Capitol Hill in 2001, Mr. Keam served in the Clinton
Administration as Assistant Chief Counsel in the Office of Advocacy of the U.S.
Small Business Administration, where he worked to protect the regulatory
interests of small, minority-owned, and woman-owned businesses. Prior to that
appointment, Mr. Keam was a trial attorney for enforcement with the Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Before
that, Mr. Keam held a number of positions in private, public, and political
organizations.
Mr. Keam is active in his profession with various bar activities. He is a member
of the American Bar Association and the California and the District of Columbia
Bars. He is a past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of
the Greater Washington DC area, and served as the overall coordinator of the
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s annual national convention
that drew over 500 attorneys to the nation’s capital.
Mr. Keam is also involved in his local community, and has served in leadership
roles with a variety of grassroots initiatives in the National Capitol region,
such as the DC Hate Crimes Task Force, DC Mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Council,
Building One Neighborhood Project, and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans
of Virginia. Mr. Keam was appointed by Virginia’s Democratic Governor, Mark R.
Warner, to serve on the Governor’s Asian American Advisory Board. He is a member
of Leadership Washington’s Class of 2001.
As an Asian American political and community activist, Mr. Keam helped found
several local and national organizations that work to advance the interests of
immigrants and minorities in the United States, including the National Council
of Asian Pacific Americans, Asian Pacific American Coalition for Presidential
Appointments, Immigrant Empowerment Council, Centennial Committee of Korean
Immigration to the United States, and the Korean American Coalition.
Mr. Keam is a frequent speaker at conferences and events, and his opinions on
issues of civil rights, immigration, race, and politics, have been featured in
numerous newspapers, books, journals, newsletters, and Internet sites, including
Asian Week, The Common Denominator, Far East Economic Review,
KoreAm Journal, The Korean Central Daily, The Korea Times,
Washington Jewish Weekly, The Washington Post, AsianAvenue.com,
Salon.com, and PoliticalCircus.com. Mr. Keam has also appeared on
many television and radio programs.
Mr. Keam was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Saigon, Vietnam, Sydney,
Australia, and the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. He studied political
science at the University of California at Irvine, and was a college intern in
Washington, DC, at the Democratic National Committee, and a staff of the
Democratic National Convention. Mr. Keam received his law degree from the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco, where
he was elected by his first year section-mates to represent them in student
government. He served as a senior editor of the Hastings Law Journal and
was on moot court.
In April 2001, Daphne Kwok became the Executive Director of
the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. Ms. Kwok brings
exceptional leadership and organizational skills, political and community
contacts, and knowledge of front-burner issues to APAICS.
For 11 years, she was the Executive Director of the Organization of Chinese
Americans (OCA), a non-profit, civil rights organization with more than 10,000
members. She coordinated programs and services for 45 chapters and 37 college
affiliates and monitored issues pertaining to the Asian American community, such
as hate crimes, campaign finance reform, immigration reform, Census 2000,
English-only, and affirmative action.
During the Wen Ho Lee investigation, Ms. Kwok testified before the Congressional
Asian Pacific Caucus on the impact of federal counter-intelligence and security
investigations on Asian Pacific Americans at the Department of Energy. She was
subsequently appointed to the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Council.
Empowerment of all APAs has long been one of Ms. Kwok's core values.
From November 1997 until April 2001, Ms. Kwok was the first elected Chair of the
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, a network of national APA
organizations.
She coordinated a national voter registration campaign involving 19 Asian
Pacific American organizations in 1996. This unprecedented campaign registered
more than 70,000 voters.
A 1984 graduate of Wesleyan University, Ms. Kwok became the first Asian American
member of its Board of Trustees. She has a B.A. in East Asian Studies and Music.
She received a Masters in Public Administration from New York's Baruch City
College.
Ms. Kwok currently serves on the board of a wide range of APA groups including
the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, National Coalition of Asian Pacific
American Community Development, and the Asian Pacific American Caucus of the
American Political Science Association. Her views have been featured on national
radio and TV programs as well as in major newspapers and magazines.
Honors include The Women at the Top of the Game Award in 2001, being named one
of A Magazine's One Hundred Most Influential Asian Americans of the Past Decade,
World Journal's Top 100 North American Chinese, a member of the 1999 American
Swiss Foundation's Young Leaders Conference in Vevey, Switzerland, one of 10
delegates selected for the 1997 National Women's Leadership Group to travel to
Israel hosted by the American Jewish Committee, and the Presidential Classroom's
25th Anniversary Outstanding Alumni Award. Top
Dr. Nguyen Van Hanh has
been Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement since September 2001.
He is experienced in refugee assistance management at national and State levels,
teaching environmental protection and economic development at universities,
writing technical papers, and participating in international conferences.
Dr. Nguyen Van Hanh holds
a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Davis, with
specialization in public finance, economic development, and international trade.
Earlier, he received a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors from the
University of Florida and a Master of Science degree in agricultural science
from the same university.
From 1976 to 1981 he was
Director, Office of Refugee Affairs, California Health and Welfare Agency, where
he also served as Coordinator of the Governor's California Refugee Task Force.
From 1985 until his
current appointment, he was a part-time faculty member at California State
University in Sacramento, where he taught environmental science, engineering
economics, and socioeconomic adaptation of refugees from Southeast Asia. He has
published papers and made presentations at international conferences on
Southeast Asian refugees adaptation, economic development, and international
environmental issues. He also has been manager of various units
responsible for market analysis and development, and member of the Environmental
Technology Certification Program, California Environmental Protection Agency
(Cal/EPA). In 1990 he served as representative of California Governor Deukmejian
on Community Relations, and earlier had managed various programs as Senior
Economist for the State of California in water resources programs.
From 1991 to 1993, Dr.
Nguyen Van Hanh was Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Prior to 1975, he was the
Director General of Planning for South Vietnam, in charge of economic
development. After returning from the U.S. in 1965, he joined the Nuclear
Research Institute in Dalat, South Vietnam to conduct research on radiation
biology.
Over the past decade, Dr.
Nguyen Van Hanh has received numerous awards and certificates of appreciation
from the California Legislature, the Department of Social Services, joint
CSUS-UCD teaching recognition, U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture,
professional associations and community based non-profit organizations
nationwide.
As a presidential
appointee, Dr. Nguyen Van Hanh is a member of the Senior Executive Services of
America. Top
Hung Nguyen is a community
organizer and activist. He holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and working on his M.A.
thesis "Jungian Psychology and the Masculine Spirituality." He is the President
of the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans, a nonpartisan nonprofit
organization that promotes culture, education and civic involvement. He serves
on the Board of Directors of the Conference on
Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL) as the Chair of the Washington
Leadership Program, the Board of Directors of the Coalition of Asian Pacific
Americans of Virginia, the Executive Committee of the
NAACP - San José Chapter and the
Advisory Committee of the Vietnamese American Professionals Alliance (VAPA).
Previously, Hung Nguyen served as Director of Public Relations for the
Vietnamese Nationalist Community of Austin, recipient of the National Society of
Fund Raiser Executives’ 1999 Philanthropic Organization of the Year Award and
the Executive Committee of the California State Conference of the NAACP.
Hung Nguyen has worked on
issues affecting the community, including capacity building, economic
self-sufficiency, redistricting, human rights, and voter education and
empowerment. In addition to being quoted in the Los Angeles Times, Washington
Post, San José Mercury News, Associated Press, Fairfax Times and many other
community newspapers, he has appeared on television and radio programs to inform
and educate the public on hot issues affecting the communities of interest. He
is focused in educating the public and working on projects in which the
community can increase its effectiveness, capacity/infrastructure and
empowerment capabilities. Hung Nguyen currently lives and works in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Top
Mai Nguyen is currently
working as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) program manager for Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders, Native American/Alaska Native, and People with
Disabilities. She joined the FAA in 1991 after spending six years with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the Peace Corps.
Mrs. Nguyen returned to the Federal Service after spending a decade in the
private sector working as management consultant for Space America, DC
Associates, Academy of Educational Development, and other International
Corporations. She was also a director of personnel for Marriott, Ramada, and the
Holiday Crowne Plaza in the Washington Metropolitan.
Mrs. Nguyen received a BA in political science and languages from Wayne State
College and did her graduate studies at Ohio University. Top
Mina Nguyen
Director of Public Liaison, U.S. Department of Labor
Mina T. Nguyen was
recently named Director of Public Liaison by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Serving in the Senior Executive Service for the Bush Administration, Nguyen is
responsible for providing advice and counsel to the Secretary of Labor on the
vast array of workforce development issues and for planning and development of
long-range strategy for achieving Secretarial priorities.
Prior to being named
Director of Public Liaison, Nguyen was appointed in September of 2001 to serve
as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Labor. In this role, Nguyen worked on
the Department’s key initiative by addressing the changing needs of the 21st
Century Workforce by leading the Department’s national, state and local outreach
efforts.
Prior to her appointment,
Nguyen was a management consultant with Accenture, the world’s largest global
consulting firm, where she developed business strategies for leading companies
in the high-tech, transportation and telecommunications industries.
Nguyen has also been
recognized for her public service commitments in bridging the digital divide and
assisting in the reorganization of the Bay Area juvenile justice system. She
spent 2 years mentoring and working with incarcerated youths as a Juvenile Court
Advocate for the Alameda County Juvenile Hall.
Nguyen is a graduate of
the University of California at Berkeley, Walter A. Haas School of Business
where she received a degree in business administration. She also served in the
office of California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher as the UC Berkeley President’s
Fellow. Nguyen is a resident of Orange County, California. Top
Thanh Truc Nguyen was born
in the city of Dalat, Vietnam. She has a MA in French ltterature from the
University of Saigon and received an education degree in early childhood in
Saigon before 1975. She came to the U.S. as a political refugee and worked for
the Montgomery County Social Services in Maryland. She later joined Montgomery
County Public School (MCPS) as a Family Service Coordinator. During the five
years working at MCPS, she was provided with an opportunity to return to college
and studied to be a school counselor.
Thanh Truc began studying mass communications in 1996, at which time she started
working for Vietnamese Public Radio, a non-profit organization in Virginia. From
1997 to the present, she has worked for Radio Free Asia, an international
broadcasting center funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board
of Governors, which oversees all U.S. international broadcasters.
As a reporter, she travels regularly throughout the U.S. and overseas,
especially to Southeast Asia. Thanh Truc is also a volunteer and free lance
senior reporter for Vietnamese American Television in Washington DC, Little
Saigon TV in Orange County, California, and Saigon Broadcasting Television
Network (SBTN), a nationally televised broadcast accessible on cable networks.
Thanh Truc enjoys cooking and reading, but for her the most important is
devoting and spending quality time with her two children.
Vinh Nguyen
Executive Assistant
Representative Mike Turner
Vinh Nguyen was born in
Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Houston, Texas. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps
from 1993 to 2001. His duty assignments include the 1st Marine Air Wing,
Okinawa, Japan; Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, CA; and, the Marine
Barracks, Washington, D.C.
From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Nguyen worked in the Office of Representative John
Linder, 7th Congressional District in Georgia. Currently, he serves as the
Executive Assistant in the Office of Representative Mike Turner, 3rd
Congressional District in Ohio.
Anthony Romeo is a
19-year-old student at Seton Hall University in New Jersey majoring in
Sociology. Anthony became involved with the tobacco control community very early
on, helping to found the "Delaware County Ash Kickers" in his rural town. He was
a member of local coalitions before becoming involved with Reality Check in New
York State, serving on both the State Board and Executive Board. Anthony has
served on Governor Pataki's "Adolescent Tobacco Use and Prevention Advisory
Council" as well as having worked with New Jersey State Assemblymen to tighten
tobacco control policies in New Jersey. Anthony is excited to continue his work
in the tobacco control community with both youth and adults through activism,
advocacy, and empowerment. Top
Joel Szabat is the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy in the Department of
Transportation. His portfolio includes Transportation, Energy and the
Environment, and the responsibility to coordinate the Department's
implementation of President Bush's Executive Order on Stewardship and Project
Streamlining.
From 1993 through 2001,
Joel was the Principal Consultant for Transportation for Republicans in the
California State Assembly.
From 1990 to 1993 Joel
served in President Bush's administration, first as the Executive Officer of the
Environmental Protection Agency, then as EPA's liaison to California's
environmental and resource agencies. Before joining EPA, Joel was a management
consultant in the private sector specializing in transportation issues.
Joel received a B.A. in
economics and government from Georgetown University in 1981, and an MBA from
Harvard Business School in 1988. Between Georgetown and Harvard, Joel served as
a Captain in the United States Army during the Cold War, commanding tank units
patrolling the East-West German border.
Joel is from Sacramento,
California. He is the founder of the International Leadership Foundation, a
non-profit organization providing scholarships for Asian American college
students to serve public affairs internships. Joel is also a director of Pacific
Housing and the Eskaton Foundation, non-profit organizations providing
affordable housing and senior care. His wife, Chiling Tong, is a Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Pacific in the Commerce Department. Top
Doua is Hmong American.
She and her family immigrated from Laos to Detroit, Michigan in 1979. They were
apart of hundreds of thousands of Hmong families who were refugees after
supporting and fighting on the side of the United States in the Secret Wars of
Laos. She holds a graduate degree from the University of Michigan’s School of
Social Work with a concentration on Social Policy and Evaluation. While in
graduate school, Doua worked with the Youth Initiatives Project, a program led
by young people working on antiviolence and antigun campaigns. In April of 2002
Doua was awarded the New Voices Fellowship and is now working with Hmong
National Development (HND) as the Policy Advocate. HND is the only national
Hmong organization based in Washington, DC whose missions is to develop the
capacity to ensure the full participation of the Hmong in this country.
In the past Doua has been
involved with the local Detroit community. She served as a board member for
Hmong Women United of Michigan, the only Hmong women’s organization in Michigan.
She was also one of the co-founders of Hmong of Tomorrow-a youth group in the
Detroit Metropolitan area. She graduated with her undergraduate degree from
Wayne State University while working with an organization called Neighborhood
Service Organization, where she served as a bridge between the Hmong community
and many social service institutions in the Detroit area.
Currently she serves as a
board member for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and was the
first graduate scholar of the Council on Asian Pacific American Leadership.
Overall, Doua is dedicated and committed to the community. She plans to utilize
her social work degree to advocate and work towards social justice at the same
time increasing awareness about the Southeast Asian community in America.
Mr. Tran is a founder and
Chief Technology Officer of Ecutel, a leading provider of secure roaming and
communications technology for enterprise mobile workforces. Currently, he is the
CEO of Da Hieu Youth Alliance and the Assistant Chairman of the Representative
Council of the Assembly of the Republic Vietnam Veterans Overseas. He has
previously served as Vice President of External Affairs for the Vietnamese
American Community of Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland and as president of
the Washington DC chapter of the Vietnamese Professional Society.
Mr. Tran has an MS degree in computer science from George Washington University
and a BS degree in computer science with Magna Cum Laude, from The University of
Maryland.
Dr. Eugene H. Trinh is the
Director of the Physical Sciences Research Division in the Biological and
Physical Research Enterprise at NASA Headquarters. He came to NASA HQ In 1999 as
a Senior Research Scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where for twenty
years he conducted experimental and theoretical research in Fluid Dynamics,
Fundamental Materials Science, and Levitation Technology. He conducted hands-on
experimental investigations in laboratories, aboard the NASA KC-135 airplane,
and on the Space Shuttle Columbia. Dr. Trinh was a Payload Specialist crew
member on the STS-50/United States Microgravity Lab-1 Space Shuttle flight in
1992.
As the Director of the
Physical Sciences Research Division at NASA, Dr. Trinh leads the effort to
develop an innovative peer-reviewed scientific program focusing on the effects
of gravity on physical, chemical, and biological systems. The results of this
program will enable the human exploration and development of space, providing
the scientific basis for technologies permitting humankind to explore the vast
expanses of our solar system and beyond. Dr. Trinh graduated with a BS in
Engineering from Columbia University and earned a PhD in Engineering from Yale
University.
Dr. Trinh was born in
Saigon, Viet Nam, raised from the age of two in Paris, France and has lived in
the United States since 1968. He graduated from Lycee Michelet in Paris, France
with a Baccalaureate degree in 1968. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in
Mechanical Engineering-Applied Physics from Columbia University in 1972; Masters
of Science and of Philosophy and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Applied Physics
from Yale University in 1974, 1975, and 1977 respectively. Top
