2012 Recipient
Sun Mei Liu (Brooklyn College)
Project: Filling The Gaps of Knowledge: Assessing the Health Status of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Population
Asian Americans are the most rapidly growing minority population in the United States. While Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders only make up about 5% of the U.S. population, that proportion is projects to reach 11% by 2050. However, data on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) healthcare is manila at best. Information on sub populations is even scarcer, with little baseline data available for several ethnicities. This project, based on Sun Mei Liu’s senior honors thesis, calls to attention the lack of awareness of the health care needs of Asian Americans and calls on local community leaders, academic institutions, health centers and government agencies to collect disaggregated data on a national and federal level for ethnic subgroups instead of under the umbrella term “Asian American/Pacific Islander.” Meta-analysis of the Computer Retrieval of Information on Specific Projects data was used to determine the number of research publications and grants that pertain to the health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander populations as compared to other US ethnic subgroups.
2012 Runner-Up Recipient
Liang Lin (Queensborough Community College)
Project: Asian-American Student Advocacy Project
As a youth leader, Liang Lin was trained to work to identify issues facing Asian Pacific American Youth and build campaigns around these challenges. With the help of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, Mr. Lin initiated an Ethnic Studies curriculum at Flushing International High School to help resolve some of the problems that immigrant students faced by allowing them learn more about their histories and identities in order to build up their confidence and to be more college and career ready.
2012 Honorable Mention Recipients
Alison Fischer (Hunter College)
Project: The Asian American Political Diversity Forum
Create a pan-Asian-American event that fosters political recognition and participation within and beyond Asian-American communities, specifically by educating students and young professionals of the demographics, concerns and accomplishments of Asian-Americans in local, state and federal government.
Rabiah Gul (John Jay College of Criminal Justice)
Project: Wudu
Through her monologue and performance, Rabia Gul wants to diminish the stereotype that the cultural backgrounds of Muslim women is a multifarious and cultural tradition, particularly around the idea of veiling which should not be given religious connotation, nor should it be part of a misconception that cultural traditions is equivalent to the practice of Islam.
Teng Lei (Baruch College)
Project: Strategic Partnership Committee
As the leader of the Strategic Partnership Committee at the Coalition of Asian and Pacific Americans, Teng Lei’s goal is to connect all Asian and Asian American organizations and communities to share a stage of heritage celebration, accomplishment recognition and the encouragement of activism in harmony and unity.
Bing Jee Ng (Baruch College)
Project: Attending the Other Side of Model Minority
Create an on-line community to help stir Chinese-American teens who might have strayed on the wrong path. The website will be in both Chinese and English with social media integration where community members and organizations stay closely in touch with them. We can utilize today’s technology like video streaming to conduct counseling sessions over the web. Community members will consist of bilingual social worker, counselors, community leaders, schoolteacher and other people who might be interested in participating.
Scholarship Committee: Brian Schwartz (Chair), Hiroko Karan, Russell Leong, Pearl Tam, Kyoko Toyama
Coordinator: William Tam
