B. Jayant Baliga is an electrical engineer best known for inventing the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), one of the most widely used power semiconductor devices in the world. While working at General Electric and later at North Carolina State University, he developed and helped commercialize technologies that revolutionized power electronics. The IGBT enabled more efficient control of electrical power in applications ranging from industrial equipment to transportation and renewable energy systems. Baliga holds more than 100 patents and is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern power semiconductor technology.

Balu Natarajan grew up in Chicago as the son of Tamil immigrants. In 1985, at the age of thirteen, he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, making him the first person of Indian origin to achieve this feat. He later established a career as a sports medicine physician in Chicago. Throughout his life, he has remained actively involved in his local Indian American community.

C. Kumar Patel is a physicist and engineer best known for inventing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser, one of the most important laser technologies ever developed. While at Bell Labs, he created a high-power laser that transformed industrial manufacturing, materials processing, and medical procedures. The technology became widely adopted around the world for cutting, welding, and precision applications. Patel later served as Vice Chancellor for Research at University of California, Los Angeles and held dozens of patents, leaving a lasting impact on both scientific research and technological innovation.

Dalip Singh Saund arrived in the United States in 1920 to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he successfully earned a mathematics doctorate. For two decades, he worked as a farmer in California's Imperial Valley because discriminatory American laws prevented South Asians from becoming naturalized citizens. Once the laws changed in 1946, he entered local politics. In 1952, he was elected Justice of the Peace, becoming the first Indian American to hold an elected office. He later won a seat in Congress in 1956. A stroke ended his third term, and he died in 1973.

Har Gobind Khorana was a biochemist whose research helped establish the foundations of modern molecular biology and biotechnology. Working at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and later at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he helped decipher how genetic information encoded in nucleic acids directs the production of proteins. He pioneered techniques for the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides and artificial genes, methods that became essential tools in genetics and biotechnology. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1968, Khorana's work continues to underpin genetic research, sequencing, diagnostics, and therapeutic development.

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India, and moved to the US for graduate school, earning a PhD in aerospace engineering before joining NASA in 1994. In 1997, she became the first woman of Indian origin to reach orbit. She tragically died at age forty when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry over Texas on February 1, 2003. Following her death, India named a satellite in her honor.

Narinder Singh Kapany was a physicist, entrepreneur, and pioneer of fiber optics whose research helped create the foundations of modern telecommunications. After demonstrating the transmission of light through glass fibers, he brought the technology from the laboratory to the marketplace, founding companies in Silicon Valley and helping establish fiber optics as a commercial industry. He authored the first book on the subject and held more than 100 patents. Often called the “Father of Fiber Optics,” Kapany’s work laid the groundwork for the high-speed communications networks that power the modern internet age.

Nupur Lala was raised in Tampa, Florida, by Telugu immigrant parents. In 1999, she won the Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word "logorrhea". Her victory gained widespread attention because filmmaker Jeff Blitz documented her experience for the 2002 Oscar-nominated film Spellbound. The documentary introduced millions of Americans to the pressures and dynamics of a first-generation Indian American family. After her spelling bee success, Lala pursued a career in science.

Raja Chari grew up in Iowa, the son of an Indian immigrant father. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, earned a master's degree from MIT, and flew sixty combat missions before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 2017. In November 2021, he commanded the multinational SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station. He became the first Indian American to command an ISS mission, spending 176 days in orbit before returning in May 2022.