Albert Yu-Min Lin is an American engineer, scientist, technologist, explorer and television host. He is a senior lecturer and an associate research scientist of mechanical and aerospace engineering at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

. 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 Santa Cruz County (), officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa ...

. 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.

Career

Lin has been an associate research scientist at the

California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2, previously Cal(IT)2), also referred to as the Qualcomm Institute (QI) at its San Diego branch, is a $400 million academic research institution jointly run by the ...

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

since 2008. He is the founding director of UC San Diego's Center for Human Frontiers, which aims to harness technology to augment human potential. He founded the crowd-based analytics company Tomnod, which was acquired in 2011 by commercial satellite imagery provider

DigitalGlobe DigitalGlobe is an American commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 14 May 2009, selling 14.7 million shares at US ...

. 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 ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

. For his work on the Valley of the Khans project, he was named

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

's Adventurer of the Year for 2009. In addition to his scholarly work, Lin has been a

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

Explorer since 2010. He has hosted a number of

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''. 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.

Personal life

Lin grew up surfing and is an avid outdoorsman. He is fluent in English and Mandarin. 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. Everything from the knee down was removed in an attempt to alleviate pain, but Lin was in turn plagued by phantom limb pain. He credits a heavy dose of

psilocybin Psilocybin ( , ) is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. The most potent are members of the genus ''Psilocybe'', such as '' P. azurescens'', '' P. semilanceata'', and '' P.&nbs ...

with improving the symptoms. 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. Lin, primarily through his Center for Human Frontiers, has become a vocal advocate for improving access to prosthetics using technology including 3D printing.

Recognition

Lin is a recipient of both the

Desert Research Institute Desert Research Institute (DRI) is the nonprofit research campus of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), the organization that oversees all publicly supported higher education in the U.S. state of Nevada. At DRI, approximately 460 rese ...

Nevada Medal and the Lowell Thomas Medal from

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Recognition

Select works

References

External links