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Dear Alumni and Friends,
I am very pleased to announce that Graduate Student Yee Thao and Undergraduate Student Ryan Horio are the recipients of the 2024-25 Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship in Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies at UCLA.
Graduate Recipient
Yee Thao graduated this June 2025 with a Master of Arts in Asian American Studies from UCLA. She is a first-generation Hmong American student who obtained her Bachelors at CSU Sacramento with a double major in Anthropology (Culture, Language, & Society) and Ethnic Studies (Asian American Studies). In Fall, she will begin the Ph.D. program in Education at UC Davis. Those who nominated Yee highly regarded her for her extraordinary commitment to community-engaged scholarship and leadership on and off campus, with a particular focus on social justice, the Hmong community, and youth. Her powerful work as an engaged scholar and
filmmaker is rooted in her and her family's experience who came as refugees displaced by the U.S. war in Southeast Asia.
Yee brought her work as an organizer for Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) together with creating an outstanding MA creative thesis, "Weavers: Hmong Feminist Weavership and Political Space-Making." A film focused on how four women leaders — or as they call themselves, "weavers" — mobilize a specific mode of Hmong feminism to constitute a sense of belonging and community that challenges both mainstream normative notions of political power. Her thesis documents how participants of HIP "weave" communities together through distributed decision-making, collaboration, and care work. One nominator stated, "Through dozens of hours of interviews with HIP organizers and participants and footage shot at meetings, actions, workshops, and other events, she collected a profound archive of this organization at a crucial moment in its history, and assembled it into a moving and compelling film."
In her Ph.D. program, Yee will build on her master's thesis by examining Hmong farming as a practice of memory, knowledge production and transfer, and respectful relations with human and non-human kin. Hmong refugee communities are known for agriculture and many Hmong make their living by farming. Yee will examine how Hmong corn takes on meanings of resilience and resistance to nation-state conceptualizations of a people, how Hmong agriculture is a mode of knowledge production and transmission, and how Hmong identity as a nomadic and non-sovereign people might help us reimagine respectful relations to native and Indigenous people and plants.
As a student leader, Yee has worked with numerous non-profit organizations prioritizing youth development (Sac Kids First) and assisting underserved minority communities (Youth Organize California). In particular, she helped link youth and the elderly to social services and created activities that fostered mutually supportive intergenerational relations among the elderly and youth. She also served as the civic engagement program team lead of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, host of the Seeding Change Fellowship Podcast that speaks to movement building and cross-cultural solidarity. Moreover, she was a bilingual outreach specialist for the COVID-19 Relief Hmong project of the Asian American Liberation Network, and as a project coordinator of the youth-led Bright Spots Project. "Yee's dedication isn't just about the talk, but her commitment to the community shines through her actions as well!" said one of her nominators.
"This award is an honor and a testament to everyone who has rooted in me love, care, and abundance, as well as a responsibility to rewrite change. It's an homage to those who dare to believe in our political convictions, who lean into our shared humanity, and who sow the seeds of a movement where resilience is not born solely from surviving oppressive systems, but from the shared power of healing, belonging, and collective imagination. I continue to carry the stories of those who came before me and build new ones as an ancestor in the making. Thank you to every person who has ever believed in me, this creative thesis, and my process!" said Yee Thao.
Undergraduate Recipient
Ryan Horio graduated this June 2025 as a pre-med student with a B.S. in Human Biology and Society, a B.A. in Asian American Studies and a Minor in Community Engagement and Social Change from UCLA. This Fall, he will continue at UCLA and start the Master's Program in Asian American Studies. Those who nominated Ryan underscored his dedication to create a more equitable society and his ability to meaningfully engage with both scholarly discourse and grassroots efforts to uplift AAPI communities as a future physician-activist. "Ryan has distinguished himself not only through his academic excellence but also through his steadfast commitment to equity-focused healthcare and community-driven research," said one of his nominators.
Ryan's senior thesis bridged ethnic studies, policy and public health by exploring the mental health of Asian American young adults and how they have responded to anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in terms of identity formation and activism. Ryan received funding for his thesis research from the Keck Humanistic Inquiry Undergraduate Research Award, the Active Minds Emerging Scholars Fellowship, and support from the Initiative to Study Hate all at UCLA. His thesis offers recommendations on how to change local mental health government agencies and civic engagement systems to support people in a more equitable way. Moreover, he contributed as a research assistant to three UCLA faculty projects and participated in both university- and community-based health studies. These experiences have resulted in co-authorship on eight conference presentations — five of which he led as principal investigator.
As a student activist, he worked with Dear Asian Youth, where he coordinated awareness campaigns about anti-Asian hate crimes and curated resource materials for campus and local advocacy. Within UCLA's Department of Asian American Studies, Ryan plays a leadership role through the Undergraduate Leadership Committee, helping organize events and peer support initiatives for fellow students. He also served medically underserved patients at UCLA Health as a caseworker.
Off-campus, Ryan participated in the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE) Leadership Academy, a prestigious and highly selective summer program dedicated to cultivating the next generation of API community advocates and civic leaders. "Throughout the program, Ryan consistently impressed me, my team, and our guest speakers with his engagement and leadership in proposing tangible solutions for API communities," stated one of his nominators. Ryan also volunteered with J-TOWN Action and Solidarity, a mutual aid organization that distributes food and basic necessities in Little Tokyo. His efforts were recognized by UCLA with two of its highest honors: the 2025 Chancellor's Service Award and the 2025 Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award.
"I am honored to receive the 2025 Don T. Nakanishi Award from the Asian American Studies Center, and I am deeply grateful for my mentors, professors, and peers who have pushed me to grow within my academic and community-engaged work. In the footsteps of Professor Nakanishi, we must all remain committed to standing against injustice in the face of suppression and marginalization; within academia, community organizing, policy, or medicine, everyone has a part to play in the fight for equity for all," said Ryan Horio.
The Asian American Studies Center is thrilled to recognize Yee Thao and Ryan Horio for their outstanding practical research, publications, teaching, training, and educational service to Asian American communities.
Through the generosity of UCLA faculty, students, staff, and alumni as well as community leaders, an endowment was established that honors the late Professor Emeritus Don T. Nakanishi, who served on the UCLA faculty for thirty-five years and who ably directed the Asian American Studies Center from 1990-2010. Among his invaluable contributions to Asian American Studies, Professor Nakanishi co-founded two, national publications: Amerasia Journal (1971) and AAPI Nexus Journal: Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy, Practice, and Community Research (2003). Professor Nakanishi published widely in the areas of Asian American politics and education, mentored thousands of students, and provided professional and community-based service locally, nationally, and internationally.
The Nakanishi Award includes a $2,500 cash prize award for each recipient. The award rotates annually between faculty and students. The faculty award will be given during the 2025-2026 academic year.
Please join us in congratulating Yee Thao and Ryan Horio!
Best wishes,
Karen Umemoto
Director & Professor
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