Maya Lin

Maya Ying Lin is an American architect, designer, and sculptor. Born in Athens, Ohio, to Chinese immigrants, she attended Yale University to study architecture. She has an older brother, the poet Tan Lin. In 1981, while still an undergraduate at Yale, Lin achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The memorial was designed in the minimalist architectural style, and it attracted controversy upon its release but went on to become influential.