Cynthia Yao (1940-) is the founder and former executive director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum.[1]
Yao was born in Kingston, Jamaica to parents who immigrated from China.[2] She attended Emmanuel College in Boston, where she met her future husband, Edward York-Peng Yao.[3] In 1979 she earned a Master of Museum Practice from the University of Michigan.[2]
Inspired by hands-on science centers like the San Francisco Exploratorium, Yao decided to start a children's museum in Ann Arbor.[4] She and fellow volunteers worked to transform the city's former fire station into the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, which opened in 1982.[5][6]
Yao was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2005.[7]
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