2017

Dr. Eric Wu obtained the Master of Science in Engineering from Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and finished his Ph.D. with Professor Joseph Devinny from Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USC. Dr. Wu is a California licensed professional engineer.  His experience includes remedial investigation and feasibility study for mitigating soil and groundwater contamination. Dr. Wu was the Chief of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Unit and involved with watershed management and developed many TMDLs for multiple stressors including trash, metals, pesticides, nutrients, chloride, bacteria, and algae for watersheds in the Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. 

Dr. Liping Yan has been actively involved in professional activities and community services. He is a vice president of International Association of Chinese Geotechnical Engineers and a member of Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Committee, Geo-Institute, ASCE. He is also an advisor to Chinese-American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California (CESASC), International Chinese Transportation Professionals Association - Southern California Chapter, and Overseas Chinese Civil and Structural Engineering Association Dr. Yan is enthusiastic about helping others to achieve their educational and professional dreams. He has been a strong advocate for STEM and LEAP programs.

Dr. Yu Gu has been an Associate Editor of Journal of Meteorological Research since 2014, and a regular reviewer for many professional journals. She is also active in reviewing proposals for a number of funding agencies, including NSF, DOE, and NASA. To promote academic exchange and collaboration, she has also organized and hosted numerous international conferences in the atmospheric science field.In recognition of her academic achievements, Yu Gu received the UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship, the American Geophysical Union Outstanding Student Paper Award, and the "Jacob A. Bjerknes Memorial Award" in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Recently, she was conferred the Alan Berman Research Publication Award by the Department of the Navy.

Dr. Yutao He is a Senior Research Technologist at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) leading technology development in innovative avionics systems for future space exploration missions. Dr. He is also an adjunct faculty member at UCLA and CSU-LA. At JPL, Dr. He has mentored over 50 interns from Caltech, UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, UCI, CalPoly, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Harvey Mudd Collage, etc. Since November 2011, he has been “Coach Yutao” in Science Olympiad Team of Dana Middle School in Arcadia, California. Dr. He is currently President/co-founder of LEAP Career Development Forum, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to career development and professional growth of Asian Americans. Dr. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Dr. Jay Yoshinaga's professional career started in 1984 working for Rockwell International which is now the Boeing Company.  His 33 career has spanned many different programs (e.g. B-1B bomber, Space Shuttle, Delta IV rockets, 787 Dreamliner, to mention a few).   He has held many senior management positions while in aerospace which included: Program Manager, Engineering Director, Chief Engineer and Site Chief Engineer.  He has also served as CIE Board Member.

After work Jay enjoys: Fishing, hunting, welding, hobby machining, car building, guitar building, long walks, watching sunsets, playing with dogs, and watching old movies.

Joan Wada is a Technical Fellow at the Boeing Company, where she has had an extensive engineering career in the defense industry, authoring 17 awarded patents of Next Generation Inertial Measurement Unit instruments. Her focus is on developing new innovative technologies, integrating and implementing strategies for new business growth, and enhancing customer relationships. She is a key contributor to improvements to Submarine Acoustic Detection on the P-8A Anti-Submarine Warfare program, Guidance and Control on the Minuteman III Missile program, and various other satellite and defense programs. Joan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Irvine, and a Master of Business Administration from the California State University, San Bernardino.