Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
As director of research and development for all vehicle programs at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Han T. Dinh oversees the technical development activities for the world’s largest fleet of vehicles (numbering approximately 208,000). Dinh, who attended the National Institute of Technology in his native Vietnam, received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the... Continue Reading →
In December 2006, Sunita Williams became only the second woman of Indian descent to travel to outer space when she was launched on board Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS). Kalpana Chawla had become the first woman of Indian descent to travel to outer space when she flew on board Space Shuttle... Continue Reading →
During the 19th century, Chin Lin Sou provided leadership and guidance to his fellow Chinese Americans in the construction of major railroads in the United States. Chin, who was born in the Chinese city of Guangzhou (also known as Canton), immigrated to the United States in 1859 at the age of 22. Chin first settled... Continue Reading →
During the first half of the 20th century, Samuel Apolo Amalu established himself as the dean of Hawaii’s lighthouse keepers. Amalu began his career in 1906 when he joined the U.S. Light-House Board (replaced four years later by the U.S. Lighthouse Service). The agency had jurisdiction over lighthouses in his native Hawaii, which was a... Continue Reading →
Ellison Shoji Onizuka, who became the first Asian American to travel into outer space, was born in the community of Kealakekua on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1946. After earning both a B.S. and M.S. in aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Onizuka entered active duty with the U.S. Air Force.... Continue Reading →
Norman Yoshio Mineta was born in San Jose, California, in 1931 to Japanese immigrant parents who were prohibited by the Asian Exclusion Act from becoming U.S. citizens. During World War II, Mineta and his family were forced to relocate to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming along with thousands of other Japanese immigrants and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 