Dr. Chon-Yin Tsai, a space and strategic missiles engineer, was one of the first winners of the prestigious Women of Color Technologist of the Year Award in the 1990s.
During her ceiling-breaking career, Dr. Tsai served as an engineering fellow in Lockheed Martin Space Systems and as an expert in the field of fluid dynamics and applied computational fluid dynamics.
Her pioneering work in the development and application of computational fluid dynamics techniques to fleet ballistic missile (FBM) underwater missile launch (UWL) contributed to the fundamental understanding and solution of FBM UWL hydrodynamics issues.
Dr. Tsai authored numerous publications and reports throughout her career, covering applied research, computer code development, and problem investigation.
In 1997, she won a Women of Achievement Award in the Engineering & Technology for Silicon Valley category. Earlier that decade, she was honored with the 1990 Engineer of the Year Award in Information Systems by the San Francisco Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
More recently, she won an Asian American Engineer of the Year Award. Presented by the Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA in conjunction with National Engineers Week, the honor placed Dr. Tsai among a rare group, ranging from distinguished professors to a U.S. Navy ship commander and a range of patent-holding engineers in the private sector.
Tsai earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while a three-time recipient of the Amelia Earhart Fellowship. She received a master's degree in applied mathematics from Brown University and a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from National Chung-Hsing University, one of four universities of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System, a research-led university alliance.
