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