BECOMING AMERICAN: Personal Journeys is a three-part series of conversations with five prominent Chinese Americans who have contributed to American life. The 30-minute programs feature one-on-one interviews by Bill Moyers with AIDS researcher David Ho, businesswoman Shirley Young, author Gish Jen, Nobel prize-winning physicist Samuel Ting and artist Maya Lin. The series is a complement to BECOMING AMERICAN: The Chinese Experience and amplifies the larger ideas of the documentary series through an intimate look at the lives of five distinguished individuals from the fields of literature, science, business, medicine and the arts.

AIDS Researcher David Ho and Businesswoman Shirley Young
March 25 at 9:30 p.m. on KUED-7

Recognized as one of the leaders in AIDS research, Dr. David Ho's seminal discoveries about the nature of HIV and effective therapies has resulted in dramatic reductions in AIDS-associated mortality in developed countries since 1996. He is the founding Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, a world-renowned biomedical research institute. He is also the Irene Diamond Professor at The Rockefeller University and an honorary professor at both Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Born in China, Ho is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.

An expert of brand development and consumer marketing, Shirley Young has worked with General Motors for 15 years as the automobile company has worked to open up the Asian market. From 1988 until the end of the 90s, she was involved in the development of GM's 1.5 billion joint venture in Shanghai. Formerly named Advertising Woman of the Year, she is currently president of Shirley Young Associates, providing expertise for companies interested in business development in the China market. Young is governor and founding Chairman of the Committee of 100, a national Chinese American leadership organization.

Author Gish Jen and Nobel prize-winning physicist Samuel Ting
March 26 at 9:30 p.m.

Second generation Chinese American Gish Jen grew up in Scarsdale and graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English. She has become a leading literary voice about the Chinese American experience and is known for her humorous yet incisive short stories and novels about Chinese American life, including the acclaimed novels “Typical American” and “Mona in the Promised Land.” A collection of her short stories, Who's Irish?, was published in 1999. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times and a variety of anthologies.

Born in Michigan, but reared in China, Samuel Ting returned to America from Taiwan in 1956 to study engineering, and then physics, at the University of Michigan. Despite limited facility with the English language, within six years he had completed a B.S. in engineering physics and engineering mathematics as well as a Master's and Ph.D. At the young age of 40, he shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics with Burton Richter. Ting currently heads an international collaboration involving over 500 physicists from about 33 universities and institutions.

Artist/Architect Maya Lin
March 26 at 9:30 p.m.

One of the rare few who has managed to forge a path in both art and architecture, Maya Lin is a sculptor, architect, designer and craftswoman. Lin catapulted into the public eye when, as a senior at Yale University, she was the controversial choice to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. Born in Athens, Ohio, where her father was the dean of fine arts at Ohio University and her mother is a professor of literature, Lin has also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama; The Woman's Table at Yale University; a 38-foot clock for Penn Station in New York City; the Peace Chapel at Juniata College in Pennsylvania and the Museum of African Art in lower Manhattan.

BECOMING AMERICAN: Personal Journeys airs on KUED-7 Tuesday, March 25-Thursday, March 27 at 9:30 p.m.