[Vacets-local-dc] RE: I just listened to Dr. Clark T.C. Nguyen of DARPA. He would be a good candidate to talk at our next VTIC.

[Tri Tran]

Thanks.

Please forward speakers full address (not just email but work 
address, phone number if you have) when you come across them. We will 
add them to our data base and will try to invite them to our next 
VTIC.

Tri

At 11:57 PM -0700 6/12/05, Christopher H Pham wrote:
>Good info anh Hung & anh Tho.  I believe if we plan it early and well
>prepare, the next VTIC will have a great pool of talented speakers.  In the
>next few days anh Tri, anh Thanh & I will meet to hopefully take care of all
>the post-VTIC'05 matters.  Then we will attempt to create a new VTIC'06
>core-team and revisit the VACETS existing infrastructure to restore the
>forum and other means to keep record of the potential speaker like Thai-Tang
>or Clark T.C. Nguyen.
>
>Thanks,
>/chp
>Ps: hopefully if we do it right, the work will not take more than
>15minutes/per person/day but the collective synergy will be tremendous :-)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tho Vu [mailto:tho at topvu.com]
>Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 8:57 PM
>To: Hung Nguyen
>Cc: VACETS Adcom Forum; vtic05-core at external.cisco.com; Christopher Pham
>(chpham); Tri Tran; vacets-gen at vacets.org; vacets-local-dc at vacets.org;
>vacets-head at vacets.org
>Subject: I just listened to Dr. Clark T.C. Nguyen of DARPA. He would be a
>good candidate to talk at our next VTIC.
>
>
>FYI. I'm currently in LA attending IMS, RFIC, and DAC. I just listened to
>Dr.
>Clark T.C. Nguyen (Program Manager of DARPA) on "Impact of New Technologies
>for New RF Systems". He would be a good candidate to talk at our next VTIC.
>I'm kind of familiar with his work from the past to present.
>
>Tho.
>
>
>
>>  ----------------
>>
>>  Quoting Hung Nguyen <hunguyen57 at cox.net>:
>>
>>  >  Thai-Tang would have been a great candidate for a VTIC speaker.
>>  >
>>  > Hung
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >  washingtonpost.com
>>  > Importing Ingenuity
>>  > Engineer Drew On a Saigon Vision for a U.S. Classic
>>  >
>>  > By Greg Schneider
>>  > Washington Post Staff Writer
>>  > Sunday, June 12, 2005; F01
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > It's a beautiful spring day, sun glinting off the Potomac, birds
>>  > chirping, the whole bit. A standard-issue Honda Civic coasts through
>>  > a crowded marina parking lot -- that spot's taken, that spot's
>>  > taken, that spot . . . Whoa, what's this? A row of half a dozen Ford
>>  > Mustangs appears: restored classics from the '60s and '70s,
>>  > culminating in a brand-new 2005 model. The Civic driver stops and
>>  > gets out. He stands, slack-jawed, staring at the menacing Mustangs. His
>Civic idles meekly behind him, door open, forgotten.
>>  >
>>  > It would have been a great TV commercial as the scene played out
>>  > half a
>>  dozen
>>  > weeks ago at the Washington Sailing Marina in Alexandria. The
>>  > impromptu car lust was exactly what Ford was hoping for when it
>>  > rolled out the new
>>  Mustang
>>  > last fall, and Americans have provided it in numbers even company
>>  executives
>>  > didn't expect.
>>  >
>>  > Sales are up 25 percent from last year. Ford has had to increase
>>  production,
>>  > to 192,000, a 70 percent increase over last year. Like a Beatles
>>  > album, the car is one of those rare products loved by critics as much as
>the public.
>>  The
>>  > new Mustang proves that despite all the recent news about Detroit
>>  automakers
>>  > stumbling financially, they can still get things right once in a while.
>>  >
>>  > "This is the best Mustang ever produced," said Brad Barnett, who
>>  > runs an enthusiasts' Web site called TheMustangSource.com. "It's
>all-American.
>>  > Baseball, apple pie and Mustang are all-American."
>>  >
>>  > Which makes it all the more remarkable that the new Mustang is
>>  > largely the creation of a Vietnamese immigrant named Hau Thai-Tang.
>  > >
>>  > At 38, Thai-Tang is younger than the car itself, which debuted in
>>  > 1964. He and his family escaped from Vietnam as Saigon fell in 1975,
>>  > and he hired on at Ford as an engineer shortly after college.
>>  > Despite his unusual
>>  background,
>>  > Thai-Tang was well aware of what was at stake when he landed the
>>  > assignment as chief engineer on Ford's most iconic product. Or maybe
>>  > it was because of his background.
>>  >
>>  > "This car symbolizes so many things about America," he said.
>>  > "There's so
>>  much
>>  > made in the media these days of the stereotype of the ugly American
>>  overseas.
>>  > But there are a lot of very positive images of America that don't
>>  > get mentioned enough, and I think in many ways the Mustang embodies
>>  > those things."
>>  >
>>  > Qualities such as "strength, power, confidence, freedom and the
>>  > sense of inclusiveness," he said, were always in mind as he oversaw
>>  > decisions about how to design and build the new Mustang.
>>  >
>>  > Sometimes it takes a distant vantage point to see America quite that
>way.
>>  > After all, it was Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville who captured the
>>  > spirit
>>  of
>>  > American democracy in essays in the 1800s, and fellow countryman
>>  > Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who created the great symbol of the Statue of
>Liberty.
>>  > Think of the Eastern Europeans of the early 20th century who shaped
>>  American
>>  > cinema -- Samuel Goldwyn, Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Mayer. Or French
>>  > designer Raymond Loewy, who created the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the
>>  > Shell and Exxon logos, the streamlined S-1 locomotive that was the
>>  > pinnacle of 1930s railroading.
>>  >
>>  > In the auto industry, it was another Asian American -- Larry
>>  > Shinoda, held
>>  in
>>  > internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II -- who
>>  > designed the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, arguably the top rival to the
>>  > Mustang as the quintessential American car.
>>  >
>>  > "There is probably a dynamic there that allows a -- for lack of a
>>  > better
>>  word
>>  > -- an outsider to express what all of us would like to say," said
>>  > Wes
>>  Brown,
>>  > an auto industry marketing expert with the consulting firm Iceology
>>  > Inc. In the case of the new Mustang, he said, Thai-Tang "was able to
>>  > express his
>>  love
>>  > for everything American better than someone who was born here."
>>  >
>>  > Thai-Tang knew war his whole childhood. His family was comfortable
>>  > -- his father was a schoolteacher and South Vietnamese army
>>  > conscript, his mother
>>  a
>>  > clerk for Chase Manhattan Bank -- but their neighborhood in Saigon
>>  > was no escape from combat. Viet Cong would infiltrate the city at
>>  > night, he said; one morning the family opened their front door and
>>  > found an enemy fighter shot dead on the stoop.
>>  >
>>  > During trips in the countryside, Thai-Tang and his younger brother
>>  > saw
>>  bodies
>>  > of Viet Cong guerrillas strung up by the roadside. An uncle and aunt
>>  > both died in the war.
>>  >
>>  > When Thai-Tang was around age 5, his father and grandfather took him
>>  > for a
>>  > treat: The U.S. military was staging an exhibition near the airport,
>>  > displaying tanks and planes and other military hardware. But what
>>  > really stood out was a group of souped-up Mustangs, brought over by U.S.
>>  drag-racing
>>  > legend Al Eckstrand to boost troop morale and promote safe driving
>>  > for soldiers headed back home.
>>  >
>>  > Accustomed to Vespa scooters, Volkswagen Bugs and the family's
>>  crank-started
>>  > Citroen, Thai-Tang hardly knew what to think of the powerful
>>  > Mustangs. They were "just totally out of this world," he said. "As a
>>  > kid, you envisioned this big country, wide open spaces. The people
>>  > are big, and here's this car that's big and muscular -- you envision
>>  > it driving out West somewhere. The freedom, and escape."
>>  >
>>  > He held that vision for four more years. In 1975, as South Vietnam
>>  > was
>>  about
>>  > to be overrun by the communist north, Chase Manhattan Bank selected
>>  > Thai-Tang's family for relocation to America. They had to listen for
>>  > a
>>  signal
>  > > -- Armed Forces Radio would play Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" --
>  > > and
>>  leave
>>  > small carry-on bags packed by the front door.
>>  >
>>  > The song aired one day in April. The family rushed to a rendezvous
>>  > point, pausing only to leave keys with Thai-Tang's grandfather, then
>>  > caught one of the last planes out before Saigon fell.
>>  >
>>  > Resettled in Brooklyn, 9-year-old Hau plunged directly into public
>>  > schools, despite knowing almost no English. He was a whiz at math,
>>  > though, and gravitated toward engineering. After college, Thai-Tang
>>  > interned at Procter
>>  &
>>  > Gamble, where he quickly tired of an assignment designing twist tops
>>  > for orange juice containers.
>>  >
>>  > So he went to an interview at Ford, where someone met him at the
>>  > airport in
>>  a
>>  > company car: a Mustang. "I thought, 'How cool is that?' " Thai-Tang
>said.
>>  >
>>  > Too cool for a newcomer, as it turned out. Mustangs were the
>>  > prestige
>>  program
>>  > within the company, and after Thai-Tang hired on it was years before
>>  > he got anywhere near them. But he did wind up working on
>>  > rear-wheel-drive
>>  vehicles,
>>  > a shrinking part of the business in an era when most Americans came
>>  > to
>>  prefer
>>  > front-wheel drive. Mustangs were the last major rear-wheel-drive car
>>  > at
>>  Ford,
>>  > and when the company decided to redesign the car a few years ago,
>>  > Thai-Tang was coming off successful work on the Lincoln LS. He was
>>  > in a perfect position to take on the Mustang job.
>>  >
>>  > When he was named chief engineer, a top executive called and
>>  > congratulated him for winning a "stand and deliver" opportunity.
>>  > "The implied message is, you're accountable. High risk, high
>>  > reward," Thai-Tang said. He didn't need reminding. "There's the
>>  > additional burden of 8 million customers who bought the car over the
>>  > last 41 years. You realize they're looking to you to not screw it up."
>>  >
>>  > Hau Thai-Tang does not come across as a Steve McQueen type of guy.
>>  > His carefully composed demeanor -- wire-rimmed glasses, trim
>>  > business suit -- conceals a dry, self-deprecating wit ("an Asian guy
>who's good in math:
>>  > imagine that," he quips). He's more likely to attend his young
>>  > daughter's ballet recital in the evening than to race around Detroit
>>  > in some new prototype. His iPod doesn't get any wilder than classic
>>  > rock, Black Eyed Peas, Gregorian chants and -- of course -- several
>>  > versions of "White Christmas."
>>  >
>>  > But it was McQueen, the 1970s movie tough guy, whom Thai-Tang looked
>>  > to for inspiration in pulling together the Mustang. He put up a
>>  > poster of the
>>  actor
>>  > in the work area where, at peak, some 200 team members collaborated
>>  > to
>>  create
>>  > the car. Steve McQueen's scowl, he said, set the look for the car's
>>  > front end, the headlights set back under the rim of the hood to
>>  > suggest the same air of menace.
>>  >
>>  > Workers used the Steve McQueen movie "Bullitt," which featured a
>>  > Mustang in wild car chases, to get the engine sound for the new car,
>>  > tuning its
>>  exhaust
>>  > pipes like a musical instrument, seeking the right rumble and roar.
>>  >
>>  > Engineers and designers hung out with enthusiasts at Mustang clubs
>>  > and rallies. They watched how Mustang owners lived with their cars,
>>  > and had customers clip pictures from magazines to illustrate their
>>  > feelings about
>>  the
>>  > brand.
>>  >
>>  > By the time the redesigned car rolled into showrooms last fall, with
>>  > its
>>  mix
>>  > of retro-flavored looks and updated technology, it had enough
>>  > preorders on the books to debut as a hit. Critics had a few
>>  > complaints -- the car has a solid rear axle instead of independent
>>  > suspension; stability control is not available -- but by almost any
>>  > measure the new Mustang was a home run, and one of the few highlights
>for Ford at a time of financial peril.
>>  >
>>  > Thai-Tang has since been promoted to oversee development of all of
>>  > Ford's advanced and performance vehicles. But he continues to travel
>>  > around the globe touting the car, such as at the Alexandria marina
>  > > in April when
>>  members
>>  > of several Mustang clubs showed up to hear him speak (and wowed that
>  > > Civic driver with their cars). At a Mustang show in Europe,
>>  > enthusiasts from several countries arrived wearing cowboy boots. At
>>  > rallies in the United States, Thai-Tang inevitably runs into Vietnam
>>  > War veterans who are eager
>>  to
>>  > meet him.
>>  >
>>  > "In some ways it brings a little closure for them to realize, Hey,
>>  > it
>>  wasn't
>>  > a lost cause," he said. "They made a difference in people's lives.
>>  > People resettled in America and were able to contribute to this new
>country."
>>  >
>>  > Thai-Tang made sure he got that message to Eckstrand, the former
>>  > drag racer who organized the Mustang show in Vietnam. Now living in
>>  > Florida, Eckstrand has been amazed to see Thai-Tang credit him in
>>  > television and newspaper interviews. The two men spoke by phone, and
>>  > Thai-Tang sent Eckstrand a book about Ford products inscribed to the man
>who inspired the 2005 Mustang.
>>  >
>>  > "I was so proud," Eckstrand said, his voice breaking with emotion.
>>  > After three years of touring those cars around Southeast Asia in the
>>  > 1970s, he said, he has always been haunted by the thought of all the
>>  > children who
>>  came
>>  > out to see them. Now he knows that at least one not only made it
>>  > out, but accomplished something remarkable.
>>  >
>>  > C 2005 The Washington Post Company
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>