May is Asian American, Pacifica Islander Heritage Month

This month we explore the stories of four Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM.) Their efforts and breakthroughs have helped us understand space, weather, and continue to change how we connect to one another via the internet.

May 3 - Dr. Ted Fujita - Mr. Tornado

• His curiosity about everything, led him to draw conclusions no one else had seen before.
• Observed the fact that not all tornadoes are the same.
• Created the Fujita Scale - a six-point scale to measure the intensity of tornados.

May 10 - Jerry Yang - Tech Entrepranuer 

• Graduated from Stanford University
• Created “Jerry and Dave’s Guide to the World Wide Web”
• Co-founder of the Yahoo! search engine 

May 17 - Reshma Saujani - Girls Who Code 

• Lawyer
• Politician
• Founder & CEO of “Girls Who Code”
• Wrote Girls Who Code Book (non-fiction)
• Other Girls Who Code Books (fiction)
  • The Friendship Code
  • Race to the Finish
  • Lights Music Code
  • Spotlight on Coding
• Activity Books
  • Girls Who Code
  • Crack the Code!
  • Code it! Create it!

May 24 - Ellison Onizuka - First Asian American in space

• An American astronaut and engineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii
• He was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese origin to reach space.
• Successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery
• Died January 28, 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded.

Most of the information on this page came from PBS So Cal