Tommy is a Hmong designer, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary work focuses on the intersection between architecture, cartography, and ethnography. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and holds a Master of Architecture from Parsons the New School of Design with Distinction. He is a recipient of the Alpha Ro Chi Medal 2020 for Design Excellence and multiple awards. His Thesis: The Nuanced -Topia received multiple recognitions along with the NYCxDESIGN Architecture Graduates Showcase 2020 and Eileen Gray Thesis Prize.

Yang’s work focuses on collaborative design, resiliency, ethnic studies, and speculative urban futures. His methodologies include fieldwork, archival data collection, critical mapping, and oral history interviews. How can research and architectural design saturate the stories of people, the built, and the earth?

In his project 'Finding Home: A Place to Belong’ investigates the importance of home in the production of the Hmong and Hmong American identity in an inner city neighborhood of Milwaukee. His research methodologies are structured from disciplines such as ethnic studies, cultural geography, cultural studies, architectural history, public history, and cultural landscape studies.

A continuation of more of Yang's civilly engaged works are at the Buildings Landscapes and Cultures Program.

CURRENTS - Yang is investigating how Ethnography and Storytelling (the act of hearing lived realities), Cartography (the act of visualizing built realities), and Architecture (the act of manipulating realities) can become a form of agents for building equitable worlds. Along with his personal work he; is a designer at ZH Architects, Urban Systems Lab Faculty Fellow, and teaches at Parsons School of Design, School of Constructed Environments.