2017 Fred yee citizens award Honorees

2017 Honorees

National Association of Asian American Professionals—Seattle is a local chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), a non-profit organization that cultivates and empowers Asian Pacific American leaders through professional development, community service, and industry engagement. Founded in 1982, NAAAP operates in 28 cities in the United States and Canada. NAAAP boasts over 3,000 members and reaches over 20,000 Asian Pacific American professionals in North America.

NAAAP-Seattle is entirely volunteer-run, organizing professional development, community service, and social networking opportunities. The organization gives scholarships to high school and college students and supports local non-profits and small businesses.   NAAAP-Seattle has co-sponsored Rice Drives with C.A.C.A. Seattle, in addition to street cleanups to preparing food at Ronald McDonald House.

Harry Shum is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research group. He is responsible for driving the company’s overall AI strategy and forward-looking research and development efforts spanning infrastructure, services, apps and agents. He oversees AI-focused product groups — the Information Platform Group, Bing and Cortana product groups — and the Ambient Computing and Robotics teams. He also leads Microsoft Research and its integration with the engineering teams across the company.

Dr. Shum is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow for his contributions to computer vision and computer graphics. He received his Ph.D. in robotics from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States for contributions to computer vision and computer graphics, and for leadership in industrial research and product development.  Dr. Shum has published more than 100 papers in computer vision, computer graphics, pattern recognition, statistical learning, and robotics. He holds more than 50 U.S. patents.

Luly Yang is a world renowned fashion designer, most famous for her signature Monarch Butterfly gown which she created for the Art for Heart Foundation fashion show.  Ms. Yang opened her Seattle-based couture studio in 2000 which sells her evening and bridal designs. Since then, Yang's designs have earned her a successful business and recognition. She has been named Best Couture Dress Designer by Seattle Bride Magazine for twelve consecutive years and was awarded Nellie Cashman's Women Business Owner of the Year award.

In 2016, Ms. Yang was selected to design the new Alaska Airlines uniforms which will debut in 2018. She has also received commissions to design Pan Pacific Hotel uniforms and invited to design costumes for Teatro Zinzanni.

Over the years, Ms. Yang has contributed to the community through charity and donations. Her annual fashion shows have benefited Seattle Children's Hospital, Plymouth Housing, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Swedish Medical Center, Camp Korey, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and many other organizations and charity projects. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences with students and the community.