Albert Lin

Albert Yu-Min Lin is an American engineer, scientist, technologist, explorer and television host. He is a senior lecturer of mechanical and aerospace engineering at University of California, San Diego.[1] Since 2019 he has been the presenter of Lost Cities With Albert Lin.

Early life and education

Lin was born on 22 March 1981, in Santa Cruz County, California.[2] He completed a bachelor of science (2004), a masters of science (2006) and a PhD (2008) in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of California San Diego.[3][4]

Career

Lin has been an associate research scientist at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at UC San Diego since 2008.[4] He is the founding director of UC San Diego's Center for Human Frontiers, which aims to harness technology to augment human potential.[5][6] He founded the crowd-based analytics company Tomnod, which was acquired in 2011 by commercial satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe.[7]

Lin's work gained attention in 2009 for utilizing a combination of satellites, drones, geophysics, and intensive ground exploration to search for the missing tomb of Genghis Khan.[8][6] For his work on the Valley of the Khans project, he was named National Geographic's Adventurer of the Year for 2009.[9][4]

In addition to his scholarly work, Lin has been a National Geographic Society Explorer since 2010.[9] He has hosted a number of National Geographic television shows which document his research expeditions, including Forbidden Tomb of Genghis Khan (2011), China's Megatomb Revealed (2016), Lost Treasures of the Maya (2018), and Buried Secrets of the Bible (2019).

Since 2019, he has hosted the National Geographic series Lost Cities with Albert Lin.[10] The show focuses on the use of drones and LIDAR (light detection and ranging) imaging to reveal otherwise hidden archaeological structures within and beneath modern cities and remote landscapes.[11][12]

Personal life

Lin grew up surfing and is an avid outdoors-man.[13] He is fluent in English and Mandarin.[4]

In 2016, part of Lin's right leg was amputated after being severely damaged during a crash in a four-wheel-drive open-top vehicle.[14] Everything from the knee down was removed in an attempt to alleviate pain, but Lin was in turn plagued by phantom limb pain.[6] He credits a heavy dose of psilocybin with improving the symptoms.[14] Since then, he has worn a high-tech prosthetic leg which has allowed him to continue to lead and participate in extremely physically demanding expeditions.[4] Lin, primarily through his Center for Human Frontiers, has become a vocal advocate for improving access to prosthetics using technology including 3D printing.[15][13]

Recognition

Lin is a recipient of both the Desert Research Institute Nevada Medal[3] and the Lowell Thomas Medal from The Explorers Club.[16][17][18]

Select works

References
  1. "Albert Lin". UCSD Profiles. University of California, San Diego. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  2. "Albert Yumin Lin, Born on 22 March 1981, in Santa Cruz County, California". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  3. "UC San Diego Research Scientist Honored with Desert Research Institute (DRI) Nevada Medal". California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  4. Ismael, Katie. "The Epic Lives of Albert Lin". jacobsschool.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. "Albert Yu-Min Lin". Center for Human Frontiers (CHF). UC San Diego. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  6. Robbins, Gary (3 November 2017). "'Bionic' UC San Diego explorer Albert Lin returns to the jungles". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  7. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com.
  8. "Albert Lin: Modernizing exploration with new frontiers in technology". Impact. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  9. "Albert Yu Min Lin". National Geographic Society.
  10. Robbins, Gary (21 October 2019). "UCSD's 'Indiana Jones' stars in new NatGeo series 'Lost Cities'". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  11. Powell, Corey S. (26 October 2019). "A Space-Age Journey into the Past with Albert Lin". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  12. Long, Kat (20 October 2019). "Mapping Technology Reveals 'Lost Cities' on National Geographic". Mental Floss. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  13. Borowsky, Larry (26 April 2021). "Amputee Explorer Albert Lin at High Tide". Amplitude. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  14. Ling, Micah (10 June 2021). "Nothing Could Stop the Pain Where His Leg Used to Be—Until He Tried Psychedelic Drugs". GQ. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  15. Drake, Cynthia J. (29 October 2020). "The Bionic Indiana Jones Who Wants To Make Prosthetics Available To Everyone". Folks. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  16. "UC San Diego Alumnus and Research Scientist Honored with DRI Nevada Medal". ucsdnews.ucsd.edu.
  17. "UC San Diego Researchers Receive Explorers Club Awards". ucsdnews.ucsd.edu.
  18. "Awards & Honors". The Explorers Club. 2020-12-19. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  19. Owano, Nancy. "Crowdsourcing used in Genghis Khan tomb search". phys.org. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
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