Category: Education

The number of foreign students who have come to India in 2012 was 76,753 which rose to 93,693 in 2013, according to records of the Ministry of Home Affairs. “More number of foreign students came to India this year with the highest draw from Malaysia followed by Afghanistan and Bangladesh,” India’s Human Resources Department Minister Smriti Irani has said. Irani, while replying to a written question in Lok Sabha, also said, there is no definite trend about the number of foreign students coming to the country.

Dipping by almost half, a total of 44,620 foreign students came to India last year. The figures, however, rose to 66,885 in 2015. Maximum of 6,471 students came to India from Malaysia followed by 5,605 from Afghanistan and 5,431 from Bangladesh, respectively. Other countries from which over 2,000 students came to India last year included Sudan, Yemen, Thailand, Sri Lanka Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Korea.

His is a story straight out of a dream, and has reached a shimmering chrome. Pichai Sundararajan, better known as Sundar Pichai, shot to fame when he became the CEO of tech giant Google in August. Earlier, while heading Google’s products division, his vision of a separate browser (Chrome) impressed the then CEO Eric Schmidt. Pichai joined Google in 2004 and rose to the top. He was also a potential candidate for the top jobs at Microsoft and Twitter as well.

Hailing from a middle-class Chennai family, Pichai earned a Mettalurgical Engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur, an MS from Stanford University and an MBA from Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Google, he worked with Applied Materials and McKinsey & Company. But his love for math, science and software took him to the Silicon Valley. By his own admission, as a child, Pichai was an average student and didn’t score high grades that would have fetched him a seat at one of Delhi’s top colleges. His engineer father earned Rs 3,000 a month in the 70s; Pichai’s annual package from Google is $50 million.

Sundar Pichai had a hall full of students from Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce eating out of his hands. From software to India’s education system, T20 cricket to Lionel Messi, India’s biggest success story in Silicon Valley took a range of questions from students, teachers and social media users during his maiden visit to India since becoming Google’s CEO.

Referring to India’s educational system as “strong”, Sunder Pichai pointed out that “to move forward, creativity is an important attribute.” He added that students in the US have a more practical approach, compared to India where things are rather methodical. “In the US, education is experiential, very hands on. People learn to do things, project-based experiential learning. Teach students to take risks. System shouldn’t penalise students for taking risks.”

Pichai said it was a global phenomenon but significantly pronounced in India. “It is global problem. Less than one third in usage in rural areas. Most women in rural areas don’t think the internet applies to them. The most important thing we can do is to bring them online.”

Google’s public Wi-Fi project in India will be the largest rollout of public internet anywhere on the globe, he said. “We are very excited about the public Wi-Fi project. (It is the) largest such project in the world, covering 400 railway stations. Reason why we are doing it is, in India when you bring access to the Internet, it changes people’s lives.” The Google CEO recalled how he used to travel by train from Chennai to IIT Kharagpur and would be more concerned of getting food on his train rather than internet!

On a question why Android updates are named only after western desserts (a question he must have faced many times before) Pichai said he is open to the idea and may even do an online poll on it and it may become a reality. He was responding to a question from the audience. Pichai isn’t big on sweets though, and recalled how in his childhood he would add “sambhar” to his “payasam”!

On the difference between the startup space in India and the Silicon Valley in the US, Pichai said he pleasantly surprised to find a similar wave of growth in India. He said the quality of ideas by Indian startup founders is the same as that of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and that India is well positioned to become the Silicon Valley of the East. “India has an unique opportunity. All the relevant things are already here. Very well positioned in that sense.I don’t see any difference between entrepreneurs here and the Silicon Valley”, he said.

It turns out that the Google CEO is a huge football fan and loves FC Barcelona! Pichai revealed that he was big Barcelona and Lionel Messi fan. He also said that he loved former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar and was there at the second tied test in Chennai back in 1986.

Project Loon will very soon be a reality in India, Pichai said, adding that “Google was in talks with telecom operators and regulatory authorities in the country to bring it to India, especially for rural areas which lagged in connectivity.” Pichai said India has been the starting point for Google on many projects. “We do thing first in India like YouTube Offline which started in India and is now in 77 countries. It is a goal to build things here. We do things we can build here at scale which will apply to the world.”

Dr. Rakesh Jain, of the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, is among those named recipients of the National Medal of Science, Technology and Innovations the White House announced on December 22nd. The medals are the nation’s highest honors for achievement and leadership in advancing fields of science and technology, according to a White House news release.

“Science and technology are fundamental to solving some of our nation’s biggest challenges,” Obama said in a statement. “The knowledge produced by these Americans today will carry our country’s legacy of innovation forward and continue to help countless others around the world. Their work is a testament to American ingenuity.”

Jain, the A. Werk Cook professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a member of all three branches of the U.S. National Academies – the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences – and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He received his bachelor’s degree in from IIT Kanpur and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delaware, all in chemical engineering. The National Medal of Science was established by statute in 1959 and is administered by the National Science Foundation. It is awarded annually to those who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.

The president receives nominations from a committee of presidential appointees based on their extraordinary knowledge in and contributions to chemistry, engineering, computing, math and the biological, behavioral/social and physical sciences.

Created by statute in 1980, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office. It recognizes those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life, and helped strengthen the nation’s technological workforce. Jain and the 16 other recipients will receive their medals at a White House ceremony early next year.

Priyanka Chopra will go on a nationwide tour to spread awareness on fighting anemia among adolescents through a short movie. The actress was in New Delhi on December 23rd to launch the nationwide Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplement awareness campaign along with Health Minister J.P. Nadda.

Through the initiative, free pills will be distributed to teenagers across the country to eradicate nutritional anemia among adolescents. A short video featuring Chopra was also released.

The “Bajirao Mastani” actress, who is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, said health and nutrition play a crucial role in the development of a country.

“I am so fortunate to be able to be associated with UNICEF for around a decade and be a part of some incredible life-changing campaigns. It is in our hands to make our future better,” Chopra said. The Bollywood star said she added the “blue pill” to her diet.

“We started this campaign about six months ago in Bhopal, and I got introduced to it for the first time. It was such an easy concept, because I have a crazy lifestyle,” the actress said. “I work 16 hours a day, traveling up and down, and I don’t get time to eat. I have been taking this pill for the last six months. It has given me a strong immune system,” she added.

Spotswood in New Jersey will set up a scholarship fund to honor the memory of an Indian-origin emergency medical technician, who died in the line of duty in July this year, a media report said.

Hinal Patel, 22, was enroute with her partner to assist on a routine call in a neighboring town when her ambulance was struck by a car. Patel died in the crash while her partner and the woman who hit the ambulance survived, American news website,tapinto.net, reported Dec.13

It was Patel’s last shift at the Spotswood Emergency Medical Services. She was leaving her position to continue her education at the Graduate School of Biomedical Science at Rutgers University. Patel hoped to one day become a doctor.

The scholarship will keep Patel’s memory alive and it will be awarded annually to a deserving senior at Spotswood High School every spring on awards night.

The organizers of the Kloos Family Lights, another yearly tradition that supports “a worthy cause”, has invited donations for Patel’s scholarship fund.

Rajesh Singh, an Indian American former assistant professor Rajesh Singh has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against four Emporia StateUniversity officials; a month after another professor in the same department also sued the Kansas school.

Rajesh Singh taught at the university’s School of Library and Information Management from 2009 until he was fired in January 2015. His lawsuit names two current administrators in the department, Provost David Cordle and former university president Michael Shonrock. The university will be added to the lawsuit when Singh’s attorneys receive a right to sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The lawsuit comes about a month after Melvin Hale, an assistant professor in the same department, filed a defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit against the university. In the lawsuit, Singh details discrimination and retaliation from department Dean Gwen Alexander and interim associate dean Andrew Smith, who he said were supported by Cordle and Shonrock. He said the discrimination occurred despite his receiving positive reviews during his first three years on campus.

Singh alleges the discrimination began in 2010 after he asked to be paid the same as two other, newer staff members, including Smith. He said he was actively marginalized and criticized, culminating when all of his fall 2014 teaching assignments were canceled without warning, he was locked out of his office and had all his office contents seized. Singh said he sought to resolve the conflict through personal meetings and the university’s procedures but administrators ignored or disputed his efforts and did not follow the procedures.

The university does not comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Gwen Larson said. Alexander, who has been on administrative leave for most of this school year, plans to retire next June. Hale, who is black, alleged in his lawsuit that he was defamed and ostracized after he and his wife complained that someone wrote a racial slur near her office and administrators did not investigate their report of the incident or respond to their complaints. Angelica Hale’s position as assistant to the dean of the library information department was not renewed after the couple complained. A university investigation found no evidence to support the couple’s allegations of a hate crime and discrimination, prompting Hale to file his lawsuit.

After that investigation, the university announced several steps to improve diversity and inclusivity on campus, including hiring a facilitator to conduct public forums on the topic. During the first of those forums Thursday, members of the media were asked to leave after some students expressed concern about their presence. The school’s counsel said the media should be admitted and allowed to attend a second forum Thursday. University officials attributed the disagreement to a lack of communication.

Another forum is scheduled for today, Dec. 3, with an equity and inclusion summit scheduled for the next day. Larson said the media will be allowed into those meetings. The school will work with students to help them understand the role of media and also will provide an alternative way for students to add their comments without speaking in front of the media, she said.

Several South Asian Americans were the winners who contributed to a pressure ulcer prevention cover, technology to assist the visually impaired, a social media website for connecting STEM college students, and an energy-creating mat for high-traffic areas, who were behind the 10 winning ideas from the entries in the fall 2015 Change the World Challenge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Established in 2005 by Rensselaer alumnus and entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan ’85, the Change the World Challenge competition has helped to validate new student ideas.

The winning ideas for the fall 2015 competition cover a range of innovative devices, processes, and technologies: Pressure Ulcer Prevention Cover is for use with long-term care patients in the home and in hospitals. It helps to reduce the likelihood of a person developing a pressure ulcer due to certain medical conditions. Created by Jason Bernotsky ’15, Design, Innovation, and Society/Mechanical Engineering.

Tactile Vision is a wearable technology providing environmental feedback to the visually impaired allowing them to perceive the world around them as others do. The product will allow them to distinguish what is around them without the use of a cane or primitive sonar technology. Created by William Lawler ’17, Electrical Engineering, and Christopher Dannhauser ’17, Electrical Engineering/Computer and Systems Engineering.

STEM Social Media is a social media website for college students in STEM schools. The website will have a primary purpose of integrating, informing, and stimulating the STEM community. Additionally, students can connect with others who are doing similar research in different schools. Created by William Francis ’18, Mathematics and Management; Shaeed McLeod ’18, Industrial and Management Engineering; Chidiadi Onyeukwu ’18, Electrical Engineering; and Khalil Fleming ’19, Computer Science.

VR Tech is smart eyewear that projects a virtual reality motion-picture to the user while connecting wirelessly to a smart phone or computer. It could be used for exercise or watching movies, and is designed to be more comfortable than other products currently on the market. Created by Anurag Kaushik ’17, M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship; Ian He ’16, MBA/M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship; and Anand Prakash ’16, M.S. in Management.

Power Walk is a mat that uses the piezoelectric property of certain crystals to convert energy people expend while walking into electricity. It can be used in high foot-traffic areas to generate electricity. Created by Jason Luo ’18, Electrical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering.

Mobile Teaching Platform leverages the power of mobile communication to create a platform that can encourage social good in millennials. The product addresses literacy as well as other educational goals. Created by Shankar Rao ’15, Computer and Systems Engineering, and James Cazzoli ’16, Design, Innovation, and Society.

Bottle Technologies is a geographical context-driven social media content creation and delivery mobile platform which essentially allows users to “bottle” their experiences and leave them behind in that location for others to find. Created by Saurabh Dargar ’15, Biomedical Engineering; Jaikrishen Wadhwani ’15, Information Technology and Web Science; and Arun Nemani ’16, Biomedical Engineering.

Agora Technologies recognized the lack of entrepreneurial resources for the high school-aged student and implemented a program to mentor and coach high school teams through current business model generation tools being used in colleges around the world. Created by Richard Lin ’18, Computer Science/Business Management; Sidharth Modha ’16, Biomedical Engineering; Christina Ford; and Herman Li.

A “Whey” Better Beer is a beverage that combines a traditional light beer with eight grams of whey protein to provide a product for consumers who are interested in managing their protein intake. Created by Greg Merrill ’17, Chemical Engineering; James Male ’17, Materials Science and Engineering; and Christopher Lore ’17, Geology.

Guide assists visually impaired individuals with everyday tasks to increase safety and independence. There will be a line of products designed mainly for use in the kitchen to serve this population. Created by Jordan Hutensky ’18, Design Innovation and Society, and Morgan Schweitzer ’16, Mechanical Engineering.

The Change the World Challenge was created by Rensselaer alumnus, serial entrepreneur, inventor, filmmaker, and venture capitalist Sean O’Sullivan ’85, who earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer. O’Sullivan, who also serves as managing director of SOSventures International, an investment management operation, is the founder of JumpStart International, NetCentric, and was a founder and first president of software firm MapInfo, now known as PitneyBowes MapInfo. O’Sullivan has started a number of other successful companies and organizations. He was selected as the 2011 William F. Glaser ’53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year.

The Change the World Challenge competition is a twice-yearly event created to support entrepreneurship education and inspire Rensselaer students to consider ways to improve the human condition. Each semester, a $10,000 prize is shared by the winning students and student teams who develop innovative ideas and inventions. Patent application assistance is also given to the winning student proposals when applicable.

“Entrepreneurship takes our students on an amazing journey of creative exploration and problem-solving, but also collaboration, learning, and innovation with students of other academic disciplines,” said Thomas Begley, dean of the Lally School of Management. “We are very grateful to Sean O’Sullivan ’85 for sponsoring this competition and demonstrating through his own extraordinary entrepreneurial work that great ideas combined with ambition can change the world we live in for the better.”

Students involved in the competition develop ideas that have the potential to improve human life through innovative and sustainable solutions. The competition is overseen by the Paul J. ’69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship in the Lally School of Management.

“This fall’s Change the World Challenge winners have worked very hard reaching out to their potential customer base and working with their mentors from our Entrepreneurs-In-Residence program,” said Jason Kuruzovich, academic director of the Severino Center. “Entrepreneurship is one of the many great hallmarks of the student experience at Rensselaer and we are excited to continue to help our students develop their nascent ideas into real companies.”

Pratham has just finished holding 11 galas across the US. It is a vote of confidence in our organization to have thousands turn out to show their support. I am truly grateful to each and every one of you, Deepak Raj, President, Pratham USA, said in a statement issued here.

“We had inspiring speakers in each location,” he said. On October 16th, more than 550 guests at the NYC Gala were all brought to their feet by a rousing speech from Cory Booker, the charismatic U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and member of the Senate India Caucus. Booker acknowledged the key strength of Pratham – action.

“Here is an organization that has shown us that we can do things that people think are impossible. At a cost and an expense that is shockingly low… An organization that says we can reach the people by going to them. That we can educate folks that other people marginalize, that don’t see their worth, their dignity. We can do it all,” Booker had said.

Cory Booker has been in the headlines before with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, and many others. He has even been the subject of more than one film about his work – the Academy-award nominated documentary Street Fight, and Brick City, which won a Peabody. But at the gala, Booker got personal, telling us stories about his parents and the lessons they taught him.

Recalling his inspiring speech, the Pratham leader said, “We must sacrifice like those who came before us. We must plant trees for others to sit under and to benefit from. That’s who we are. That’s what we are called to be. Above all, Booker reminded us to: Don’t just sit there. Stand up.”

Deepak Raj said, “If we believe this world can transform the educational outcomes for children in India, we cannot just talk about it or hope for it or pray for it. We must stand up and with audacity and determination and bold dreams, we must do something about it. This Thanksgiving season, let us remember those who planted trees of learning for us to reap the fruits–and do the same for the next generation. I urge you to join Pratham in fulfilling our mission: Every child in school and learning well.”

Aashrit Abhinav Sundar, an Indian-origin student has been awarded a presidential scholarship in a U.S. college for outstanding academic merit and an exceptional commitment to the field of culinary arts. Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago awarded Aashrit Abhinav Sundar the scholarship recently following a final interview with college president, Emily Williams Knight, a news release said.

“Throughout his life, Aashrit has demonstrated a passion for the hospitality and culinary industry and a drive to build a remarkable career in the field of baking and pastry,” Knight said. “Having completed his hospitality management degree in India, Aashrit now wants to take his love for baking and pastry and attend one of the best programmes in the U.S.,” she added.

Sundar began classes at the institution in October 2015 and is pursuing an “Associate of Applied Science in Baking and Pastry”. The scholarship will cover 50 percent of the programme’s total cost. “Aashrit is confident, driven, and passionate about his field of study,” Knight noted. “It is clear that he is a leader and he is an example of the type of student that will thrive and lead the industry in the future.”

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program is a programme of the department of education that recognizes the academic achievements of distinguished U.S. citizens graduating high school. It is described as “one of the nation’s highest honours for high school students” in the U.S.

In Kendell College, the presidential scholarship is awarded each academic term to one international student who demonstrates superior academic achievement and passion for their area of study.

Kendall College, founded in 1934 and located in Chicago, Illinois, offers undergraduate degrees in business, culinary arts, early childhood education and hospitality management to a diverse and passionate community of more than 1,800 students.

A high school in Idaho is considering removing a book by an award-winning Indian-American author from the reading list because of sexual content. The Coeur d’Alene School District’s ad-hoc literature committee voted 4-2, to recommend excluding “The Namesake,” a 2004 book by renowned author Jhumpa Lahiri that tells the story of an immigrant couple from India adjusting to a new life in America.

Last year, the same committee made an unsuccessful attempt to remove John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” from the reading list of optional books that English teachers could assign to 9th Graders. That attempt by the 5-year old volunteer committee which reviews 5 titles per month, made headlines, the local news outlet cdapress.com reported Nov. 5.

Pulitzer Prize winner Lahiri is one of President Obama’s favorite authors and is on the White House Committee on Arts and Humanities and was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities at a White House ceremony this September.

After the committee recently submitted its recommendation to the board of trustees, a 30-day review period is underway during which members of the community can make comments on the decision. Board Chair Christa Hazel told The Press, local input was important. “Without that it’s more individual governance,” Hazel said. “We need to have local representation and it’s hard to represent when we don’t hear from the people we are representing.”

According to local school authorities, teachers have a strong voice in the selection process, and in case Lahiri’s title is challenged, the principal will appoint a committee of two parents and two teachers to review the material. The board has the final say in approving her book.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore is the only Indian University that has featured on the list of top 100 varsities in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking. IISc ranked 99^th on the list. The number of US institutions on the list has come down to 31 from 34 last year. Asia universities have gone up to 25 positions from 18 in 2014. The US institutions dominated the top 10 list with the Stanford University, California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology getting first three positions.

“This year’s stand-out success story has to be India, making its debut in this prestigious engineering and technology ranking, which represents the top few per cent of world universities for these subject disciplines,” said The World University Rankings editor Phil Baty.

“Whether you look at high-tech sectors such as IT or aerospace engineering or more traditional fields such as steelmaking, India’s engineering and technology prowess is highly visible the world over in the shape of companies based in India or run by people born in India, such as Google and Microsoft, Infosys and Wipro or Tata and Mittal.”

Baty said like their flagship World University Rankings, the THE ranking for engineering and technology subjects applies rigorous standards. It uses tough global benchmarks across all of a global research university’s key missions — teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

“But although the table employs the same range of 13 performance indicators they have been carefully recalibrated to fit more closely the research culture in this subject,” said Baty. Maximum weightage (30%) is given to teaching-learning environment and research followed by research, citations (27.5) and international outlook (7.5%).

IISc scored 60.7 points for teaching and 46.7 in research as per performance breakdown of the ranking. In teaching, IISc is among the top 50 universities while for research it is ranked 77th. Baty said while the US and UK still dominates the upper echelons of this table, Asia is shifting the balance of power, proving that its institutions are world-class in this field.

“Six Asian universities — the National University of Singapore, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Peking and Tsinghua Universities from China and Korea’s Seoul National University — make the top 30.”