Founders’ Letter
Our Vision for the Future
Both Linda and Robin came from humble backgrounds in China. We grew up in Shanghai in the 1970s. We have been incredibly fortunate and proud to be who we are today, thanks to many people on both sides of the Pacific who helped us along the way.
When we were kids growing up, our parents taught us to work hard and be kind to others. We both went to excellent public schools. In the Chinese culture, education is the most important thing parents can give to their children.
Robin came to the US to attend the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 as an international student. Back then, it was not possible for his family to afford his college education in the US. He could not have done it without the generous support provided by Penn and many donors. We are indebted and grateful.
When Robin started his graduate study at Stanford University in 1995, he was again supported by a generous fellowship. Linda was able to join him in California. We started a family and our careers together.
During our lifetime, we have witnessed many profound changes across the world. With the advancement of technology, people everywhere are enjoying better qualities of life, increased access to education and social mobility, and better healthcare overall.
However, there is still much room for improvement. These are the areas where we can help:
Sustainability
Linda and Robin believe in a cleaner and more sustainable future world. The consequences of climate change are real and devastating. We want to support research and education to slow down and even reverse the climate change. There are many promising directions, including clean energy generation, stationary energy storage, transition to electric transportation in all forms, and carbon capture and long-term storage.
Education
Since the early days of our careers, we decided to give back to education and help others who come from humble origins like us.
We established our first college scholarship in 2012. It specifically helped students from China and other Asian countries pursue higher education. Every year, the happiest moment of our life was when we opened letters from the students we helped and found out how much education changed their lives, just like what it did to ours 20 some years ago.
Now we want to use the Foundation as a platform to help more students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to gain access to and afford college education. There is no better way to ensure a brighter future than giving the gift of education.
Asian Health
Having come from China, we believe that there are many unique health needs for the Asian population which is enormous and spans across many ethnic groups. There are many diseases and health conditions that impact the Asian population disproportionally, often with devastating consequences. More data need to be collected and knowledge gained on various diseases and health conditions within this population. More education is also needed.
We want to support projects that increase the understanding and education of the Asian health needs, improve the healthcare given to the Asian population everywhere, and ultimately achieve better health for the world’s population as a whole.