She is one of the few female engineers in the early history of the semiconductor industry. When she attended UC-Berkeley to study electrical engineering, she was the only girl among the 120 students in her class. After fighting against workplace discrimination for years, she worked her way up to become Fairchild Semiconductor's first female circuit design engineer. When she quit her high-tech job at AMD six years ago, she held nine patents in computer hardware design.

Woo started dancing Chinese folk dance long before Americans were aware of the Chinese art form. In the 1960s, Woo, then 14, was the youngest dancer of the San Francisco­based Folk Dance Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes Chinese folk dance. In 1991, she co-founded the Chinese Performing Artists of America, the first Chinese performing company in Santa Clara County.

"Many people think of me as a computer engineer who dances. They don't know I am a dancer before I am an engineer," Woo said.

Her devotion to promoting Chinese dance recently received county-level recognition when Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss awarded her and nine others the Asian American Heroes Award for their commitment to grass-roots organizations.

This is not the first time Woo has been recognized for her passion for dance. In 2002, she was selected as one of 14 "Women of Achievement in the Arts" by the Silicon Valley Women's Fund.

Woo's love for dance started soon after she immigrated to the United States with her parents and four of her five siblings. Her elder sister, a member of Folk Dance Association, asked her to learn Chinese folk dance with her.

"We didn't have a teacher and had to teach ourselves how to dance, how to make the costumes and sing the songs," Woo said. "Everything was made from scratch."

Despite the difficulties, Woo always performed no matter if she was a student or an engineer. And Chinese folk dance has gained popularity because of grass-roots efforts by people like Woo.

In 1991, Woo and her friends from the high-tech industry founded the CPAA to provide a training ground for young Chinese artists, introduce Chinese culture and present professional performances. Woo has been the executive director for the organization since 1992.

Woo's face lights up when she talks about Legends of an Ancient Civilization, an upcoming $750,000 production with Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley and the center the CPAA will open at Vallco Shopping Center, where music and dance classes are offered.

Yoa Yong, artistic director of CPAA, says the organization wouldn't thrive without Woo.

"Ann is the administrative brain of the Chinese Performing Artists of America," said Yao, who has worked with Woo since the dance troupe's inception. "Without her work backstage, we wouldn't be able to put up anything on the stage."

In addition to her devotion to promoting Chinese art, Woo's friends think what makes Woo unique is her altruism.

Woo has been an active community volunteer. She tutors children in math, English and reading. She helps the deaf and hearing-impaired through her service with Quota International, a women's service group. She also organized fundraisers for the victims of Sept. 11, Taiwan's earthquake and floods in China.

Woo's lost track of the number of the awards she has received. For her volunteer work. For her, name and recognition don't matter. What really matters is that people are appreciating Chinese art.