Indira Talwani and Manish Shah became the first Asian American federal judges in Massachusetts and Obama’s home state of Illinois respectively.

Bengaluru-born Indian American poet Vijay Seshadri won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for poetry while the New York Times included the works of Indian historian Ramachandra Guha and five Indian American writers in its list of 100 notable books of 2014.

Two Indian American youngsters made history as Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe were declared co-champions in the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest after 52 years and for just the fourth time in the contest’s history.

New York’s US attorney Preet Bharara, known in India for his dogged prosecution of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, tasted his first defeat in July after winning 85 insider trading cases.

Among those he sent to jail were Rajat Gupta, the former Indian American director of Goldman Sachs Group, and Mathew Martoma, former portfolio manager SAC Capital Advisors.

But Dinesh D’Souza, maker of a highly critical 2012 documentary on Obama, escaped jail time after pleading guilty to violating the federal campaign finance law.

High-profile hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal also awaited sentencing after pleading guilty to federal campaign finance fraud.

Recognising the contributions of Indian Americans from workers who built some of the first railroads in the West to the creator of Hotmail, Smithsonian mounted a first of its kind exhibition called “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation”.