Category: Education

The husband-wife team of Sanjib Biswas and Anuradha Mazumdar last month opened C0deEX, an Acton, MA-based school to teach coding to kids of age group 6-14; and almost a month-and-a-half later the C0deEX Panther team won the first prize in a major robotics competition.

“On August 9th, 2019 middle school students from the Acton C0deEx Panther robotics team watched their computer program control a satellite on the International Space Station (ISS) during the finals of the Zero Robotics competition,” C0deEX said in a statement. “C0deEx Panther, after winning the State Championship competing against fifteen other teams from around the state on July-27th, 2019 was representing Massachusetts at the ISS (International Space Station) final.”

For the ISS finals, teams from all over the northeast gathered at MIT Stata Center to join a video conference with other teams from around the world. NASA astronauts Andrew (Drew) R. Morgan, Christina Koch and Aleksandar (Sasha) Aleksandrovich Skvortsov Jr. facilitated the competition and provided live commentary which was telecasted live to MIT Stata Center and  16 others physical locations across USA, Russia and Puerte Rico.

Three hundred teams and more than 2,000 students across USA, Russia and PuertoRico participated in this competition. The ground teams watched the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) on the ISS competition.

C0deEx Panther’s code went head on with code written by 16 finalist teams. After being the winner in the Team A bracket, C0deEx Panther also beat the Teams from Team B securing the first position in 2019 International Zero Robotics Competition. The C0deEx Panther team consists of 5 students from Acton/Boxborough and Westford.

Zero Robotics is a summer STEM program for middle school students that “seek to inspire our next generation of great minds by allowing them unprecedented access to space at the middle school level.” The students spend five weeks learning about programming, engineering, and space exploration, while developing code to control satellites known as SPHERES. During this five-week program, the students rely on a simulation environment from MIT to develop their code. After the state finals, the international finalists’ code is tested on physical SPHERES at MIT before being uploaded to the ISS.

The program culminates in a tournament where winning teams’ SPHERES compete aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Middle school participants will get to see the SPHERES operate in space via a live feed from the ISS while NASA astronauts provide real-time commentary. Each year’s game is motivated by a problem of interest to NASA and MIT.

Government of India launched a scheme called “Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children” (SPDC), in the academic year 2006-2007, for the wards of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to assist them in pursuing Under Graduate courses in Indian Universities/Institutes.

Under SPDC scheme financial assistance for specific undergraduate courses in Professional and Non-Professional courses (except Medical and related courses)is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services. The scheme is applicable to NRIs and PIOs from 66 countries.

Under the scheme, PIO/NRI students are awarded a scholarship of up to US$4,000 per annum for payment of tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services for Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and other courses. The scholarship is applicable to students who have already secured admission in an Indian institution. Admission is   permitted only in Central Universities, NAAC “A” Grade Institutions, National Institute of Technologies (NITs), School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.

In case of any technical assistance, please contact following: SPDC Portal Support Team, EG & IT Division, MEA, 1025, A Wing, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan
23-D Janpath, New Delhi 110011, Email: technicalcellegit@mea.gov.in, Tel. +91 11 4901 8371

In case of any assistance/clarification regarding Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, please contact following: Section Officer, OIA II Division, MEA, 925, Akbar Bhawan, Chankyapuri, New Delhi 110021, Email: so1oia2@mea.gov.in, Tel.: +91 11 2419 7927; Or Visitwww.spdcindia.gov.in

Last date for application is Nov. 30, 2019.

• In its first year, the program will be highly selective, with a cohort of 7-10 students.
• The first MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences cohort will matriculate in August 2020.
• Applicants must meet HBS MBA Program admission requirements.
• Applicants with non-STEM undergraduate degrees must have substantial background preparation in the life sciences (i.e. advanced coursework or independent laboratory experience).
• Candidates can apply in either Round 1 (September 4, 2019) or Round 2 (January 6, 2020).
• HBS and GSAS will release admissions decisions in mid-December (Round 1) and March (Round 2).

Indian Ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that there are more than half a million Indian students studying abroad, with USA as the most favored destination.

He said more than two hundred thousand Indian students are currently pursuing their higher studies in the Unites States. UK, Australia, Canada are other choice destinations for Indian students.

Speaking at the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), a not for profit organization from India, Mr. Shringla said the Indian education system is vast in size, as well as its academic offerings.

“However, it is important to note that for half a million students studying aboard, there are more than 30 million students pursuing higher education in India. The Indian Education system is the world’s third largest Higher Education System with 907 universities, 43,000 colleges and a capacity of enrolling more than a whopping 30 million students,”  Mr. Shringla said his speech. “Higher Education Institutions in India offer courses/degrees that are competitive in the world market in terms of quality but are delivered at one-fourth the cost.”

He said a vibrant and diverse education system means a wide variety of courses are available: from the modern and cutting edge to the traditional.

“Indian education ranges from exposure to the latest advancements of science and technology like Virtual and Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing to Yoga, Ayurveda, Sanskrit, languages, and classical music and dances,” said Mr. Shringla. “This vastness of the Indian education system directly translates to enhanced opportunities for its students and global learning for an all-round academic and personal development.”

He said a burgeoning IT and Services sector has led to a robust placement oriented education as about 200 of the Fortune 500 companies hire regularly from Indian campuses. India has been and continues to be home to innovation, creativity and leadership.

“The strength of India’s education system may be gauged from the fact that the world’s leading companies are being led by students of Indian education system,” said Mr. Shringla, giving examples that Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft is an alumni of Manipal Academy of Higher Education; Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google Inc studied at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur;  Ajaypal Singh Banga, President and the CEO, MasterCard, is graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University; Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia has studied in Manipal Academy of Higher Education; and Indira Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi Co is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

“Some of the leading world leaders and diplomats have graduated from Indian colleges and universities. Aung San Suu Kyi, incumbent state counsellor of Myanmar, Hamid Karzai former President of Afghanistan, William Kwasi Akuffo former Head of the State of Ghana, Olusegun Obasanjo former President of Nigeria, John Samuel Malecela former PM of Tanzania are few examples,” Mr. Shringla said.

Shringla also said that India witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability in the past five years. “From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, we are heading to become fifth largest economy in the world by end of this year. In Purchasing Power Parity terms, today, India is the third largest economy in the World, after China and USA,” Mr. Shringla said. “India is poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years and aspires to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter.

Due to a stable and predictable regulatory regime, growing economy and strong fundamentals, India could attract massive amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last 5 years – as much as $239 billion. This period also witnessed a rapid liberalisation of the FDI policy, allowing most FDI to come through the automatic route. The last five years also witnessed a wave of next generation structural reforms, which have set the stage for decades of high growth.”

He said India also enjoys a distinct demographic advantage.India’s demographic cycle is about 10-30 years behind that of the other countries, indicating that the next few decades present an opportunity for India to catch up to their per capita income levels.

“India will be the world’s youngest country by 2025 with 985 million people in the workforce. (That is, people in the age group of 15-64 years),” Mr. Shringla said.

The South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, known as SABA GB, celebrated its 15th Anniversary earlier this month.  The event was sponsored and held at Sullivan & Worcester, LLP’s Boston office. The evening featured a keynote address from Justice Sabita Singh, an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Justice Singh is a founding member and the first President of SABA GB. Justice Singh also served as the third president of the South Asian Bar Association of North America.

In her address, Justice Singh reminisced about the early days of the organization when the founding members identified South Asian attorneys through the Massachusetts Lawyers Diary and Manual (i.e. a directory for the approximately 40,000 attorneys in the Commonwealth).

Today, SABA GB has over one hundred active members and supports the development of hundreds of law students and attorneys.  Justice Singh remarked on her immense sense of pride in the organization’s growth and the accomplishments of its members since the organization’s humble beginnings.

In addition to Justice Singh’s address, the 2019 SABA GB President Keerthi Sugumaran spoke about her hopes for the organization’s continued growth. She highlighted the success of SABA GB’s mentorship program for South Asian law students and the award-winning Know Your Right’s program for the South Asian community.  In addition, she announced new initiatives to support and advance the career development of mid-level attorneys and South Asian women attorneys.

As part of the celebration, SABA GB recognized the contributions of the Advisory Board Members and Former Presidents.

The Advisory Board includes Navjeet Bal, Rachna Balakrishna, Rajeev Balakrishna, Manisha Bhatt, Councilor Mehreen Butt, Aloke Chakravarty, Mark Flemming, Chairwoman Sunila Thomas George, Samia Kirmani, the Honorable Maynard Kirpalani, Ameek Ponda, Annapoorni Sankaran, the Honorable Sabita Singh, and the Honorable Neil K. Sheering.

The Former Presidents include Justice Singh, Annapoorni Sankaran, Samia Kirmani, Natasha Varyani, Sa’adiyah Masoud, Manisha Bhatt, Gauri Punjabi, Hinna Upal, Saraa Basaria and Rashima Shukla.  SABA GB sincerely appreciates the tireless efforts of these individuals to grow the organization and to advance the interests of South Asian attorneys and the South Asian community as a whole.

Rutgers University, N.J. which has a significant number of Indian and Indian-American students, signed a memorandum of understanding Feb. 21, with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, to establish an ICCR Visiting Lectureship in Contemporary Indian Studies.

The MOU will remain in force till 2023, a press release from the Indian Consulate in New York, said, adding that this agreement “marks a new phase in academic exchanges between India and Rutgers University.”

ICCR had earlier established a Chair at Rutgers School of Management & Labor Relations in 2017. The new MoU will facilitate “focused short term” visits of reputed experts at Rutgers University.

“The chair is likely to draw immense interest from the student community at Rutgers University in view of the increasing interest in India studies as well as large concentration of Indian diaspora in New Jersey,” the press release said.

The Consul General of India in New York Sandeep Chakravarty, signed the MoU on behalf of ICCR; Rutgers’ Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara A. Lee and Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy,  signed the MoU on behalf of Rutgers University.

Consul General Chakravorty welcomed the signing of the MOU and noted that the focus of Rutgers University on India has increased significantly in recent months. He also extended the help of the Consulate to connect students of Rutgers University to Indian companies present in the U.S. for both jobs and internship opportunities.

Chancellor Molloy welcomed the signing of the MOU and noted that Rutgers is ready to further intensify its partnership with India.

Both sides also welcomed the launch of the 1st ICCR-Rutgers India Conference scheduled for Feb. 22, and expressed confidence that this will become an annual feature. The theme of the Feb. 22 conference will be “Delivering DemocracyThe Indian Experience’.

Sruthi Palaniappan, 20, an Indian American student, has been elected as the president of the Harvard University Undergraduate Council. Her running mate Julia Huesa, 20, was elected as vice president, according to an announcement by the Undergraduate Council Election Commission, According to the Harvard Crimson.

Palaniappan and Huesa plan to work on improving the Council’s communication with the student body in their initial days in office.

“I think from the onset, better structuring the way we communicate with students is something that we need to already set the tone and plan for. I think we’re going to work on it before we even leave for break and just get off the ground running,” Palaniappan told Harvard Crimson.

Palaniappan was also the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July 2016. Palaniappan is currently the council’s education committee chair and she will replace outgoing president Catherine L. Zhang.

The case alleging of discrimination of students of Asian origin by a group that claims Harvard’s admissions office discriminates against Asian applicants in order to boost other racial groups, seen as a referendum on affirmative action hiring practices, opened in a Boston federal district court on October 15th.

The case has been brought by a group from the Washington DC area called Students For Fair Admissions, which ultimately wants courts to rule that race-based decisions in education are a civil rights violation.

Harvard is one of the top-rated and most selective universities in the US, admitting about 1,600 freshman students out of 42,000 applicants each year. Harvard disputes the claim and says race is only one small factor in their secretive student selections process.

The lawsuit claims that the elite university unfairly weighs race when considering an applicant, forcing Asian-Americans to meet a higher bar in order to be accepted. They claim Harvard uses a quota system or a system of “racial balancing” – practices that are illegal under federal law – to limit the number of Asian students on campus in an effort to maintain space for other racial groups. The plaintiffs say that if race was not considered, and if admissions were only based on grades alone, twice as many Asian pupils would be admitted because they perform well academically.

Before the trial, groups of protesters took the streets in the city, either opposing or supporting an admissions policy that includes race as a factor. The case is expected to shed light on admissions practices at universities. Courts have previously allowed universities to examine race as a factor in order to promote diversity on campus, a practice known as affirmative action, or “reverse discrimination”.

Some unexpected revelations could also come out of the trial, such as how the university considers the children of alumni or donors, or the applications of other pupils who are not admitted through the typical process.

Harvard says they use a “holistic” strategy to evaluate students, and that race is only one minor consideration. The institution points out that its population of Asians students has been growing, and now stands at 23% of the student body. Harvard University Dean Rakesh Khurana told WBUR that it takes more than just good grades to be chosen.

“We’re looking for people who are genuinely curious. Not just those who do well on exams but actually want to lean and have an integrative capacity,” he said.

Other Ivy league schools and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are supporting Harvard in the case. In an amicus brief – a court filing supporting Harvard – the ACLU argued that “a whole-person, race-conscious admissions process furthers a university’s academic freedom to assemble a diverse student body”.

The Students For Fair Admissions group was formed by conservative activist Edward Blum – who opposes affirmative action, ie the proactive effort to include minorities that have been historically marginalised due to discrimination.

The Justice Department has also launched a probe into whether Yale University discriminates against Asians – something which it denies. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. But regardless of the outcome, the loser is expected to appeal the verdict to the US Supreme Court.

No Indian institution figures in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) world university rankings 2019, though the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has retained its position as the highest-ranked centre in the country, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore has risen to the highest position behind it.

The rankings, released on Wednesday last week, show Oxford continues to hold the first place, Cambridge second, and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place to number four.

There was some good news for India: number of Indian institutions in the rankings increased from 42 last year to 49, making it the fifth best-represented nation. India is the most-represented country in the table when those in the top 200 are excluded.

The India group in the ranking was again led by the Indian Institute of Science, which retained its position in the 251-300 band. But IIT-Indore became India’s second highest-ranked university – and a global top 400 institution – with its strong score for research volume and research impact.

It overtook the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, which slipped from the 351-400 band to the 401-500 band.

Pradeep Mathur, director of IIT-Indore, told THE: “Our efforts in making research the focus of the institute is now reflected in the form of citations and other impact metrics of research. We continue to make research the focus of all our programmes which is why you see even our undergraduate students are active participants of research projects and collaborations within India and internationally too.”

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (headquartered in Tamil Nadu) saw a rise, from the 801-1000 band to the 601-800 band this year, with a particular improvement in its citation impact (research influence) score.

However, while some institutions gained this year, the majority of India’s universities remained static or declined, struggling amid increased global competition, according to the global list.

Education levels have generally risen since 1980 among the largest U.S. immigrant-origin populations. More than three-in-four immigrants ages 25 and older from India (77.5%) had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2016 – the highest share of any top origin country – up from 66.1% in 1980.

Overall, the estimated 44 million immigrants in the United States are better educated than ever, due in part to rising levels of schooling in many of the countries they came from and an influx of high-skilled workers to the U.S. in recent years, especially from Asia, a Prew Study found recently.

In 2016, 17.2% of immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree and another 12.8% had attained a postgraduate degree, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Both shares are up since 1980, when 7.0% held a bachelor’s degree and another 8.7% held a postgraduate degree.

Compared with the U.S.-born population, immigrants are about as likely to hold bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees, though this varies by country of origin. In 2016, 30.0% of immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 31.6% of the U.S. born.

The educational attainment of U.S. immigrants has improved in recent decades for a variety of reasons. Each year, thousands of immigrants temporarily work in the U.S. under the federal government’s H-1B visa and Optional Practical Training programs, the two largest sources of new temporary high-skilled immigrant workers. Each requires some level of college education. More broadly, education levels have increased in many parts of the world as nations have invested in their educational systems. One result is that global literacy rates among people ages 15 and older have increased from 56% in 1980 to 85% in 2014.

It remains to be seen how changes to H-1B visa application reviews enacted in 2018 – and any other possible changes to the nation’s immigration system – will shape the U.S. immigrant population in the future.

Changes in the origins of U.S. immigrants in recent years have also contributed to the increased share with a college education. In recent years, Asia has surpassed Latin America as the largest source of newly arrived U.S. immigrants, in large part because immigration from India and China has increased steadily while immigration from Mexico has declined sharply. This follows one of the largest mass migrations in modern U.S history, during which more immigrants came to the U.S. from Mexico than any other country in the world. Overall, 11.6 million Mexican immigrants and 11.7 million South and East Asia immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2016.

More than half of immigrants from South and East Asian countries (52.1%) had a bachelor’s degree or more in 2016, which is in part explained by Asian countries being the largest source of foreign college graduates who stay to work in the United States.

Asian immigrants also make up a majority of H-1B visa holders and foreign students. Latin American immigrants, by contrast, tend to have lower levels of education. The vast majority of Mexican immigrants (81.2%) and Central American immigrants (74.6%) had a high school degree or less, the lowest educational attainment level of any origin region.

Immigrants from Korea, which is second to India, have had the biggest increase in educational attainment among those ages 25 and older. The share of Korean immigrants with a bachelor’s degree jumped from 34.4% in 1980 to 53.6% in 2016, a 19-percentage-point increase.

By contrast, the share of Mexican immigrants with a bachelor’s degree or higher has increased by only a few percentage points since 1980, reaching 6.2% in 2016. However, the share of Mexican immigrants ages 25 and older with a high school degree has more than doubled, from 11.4% in 1980 to 25.2% in 2016.

Today, the U.S. has more immigrants than any other nation in the world. About 13.5% of the U.S. population was foreign born in 2016. This share has been on the rise since 1970, when it was at a historic low of 4.8%, but it remains below the record of 14.8%, reached more than a century ago in 1890.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has appointed Dr. Devesh Kapur as Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies and Director of Asia Programs.

“It is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Devesh Kapur to the school’s faculty,” said Dean Vali Nasr. “We will benefit immensely from his extensive scholarship in the study of India and South Asian politics, and his pioneering research on how local-global linkages affect political and economic change in development countries. We look forward to Dr. Kapur’s leadership in deepening the school’s expertise on Asia and expanding the cross-disciplinary nature of Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS,” said Nasr.

Kapur is the author of Diaspora, Democracy and Development: The Impact of International Migration from India on India (Princeton University Press), which earned him a 2012 Distinguished Book Award of the International Studies Association and The Other One Percent: Indians in America (with Sanjoy Chakravorty and Nirvikar Singh) for which he received a Choice Outstanding Title of 2017.

Before joining Johns Hopkins SAIS, Devesh was a professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, holding the Madan Lal Sobti Chair for the Study of Contemporary India at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure at Penn, he was Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Frederick Danziger Associate Professor of Government at Harvard. Kapur received the Joseph R. Levenson Teaching Prize, awarded to the best junior faculty at Harvard College and Outstanding Teaching in Political Science by the American Political Science Association, in 2005. Devesh holds a doctorate from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology at Varanasi.

Former Indian American U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy was recently honored by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education, among 15 others.

Murthy served as the 19th U.S. Surgeon General during President Barack Obama’s administration from 2014 to 2017.

Murthy received the Spectrum Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of recovery, at a July 9 event, themed “The Art of Recovery,” held at the University of Houston.

According to his website, in 2017, Murthy focused his attention on chronic stress and isolation as prevalent problems that have profound implications for health, productivity and happiness.

He then partnered with the Veterans Health Administration and led a meeting that brought together leading thinkers, researchers and practitioners to identify scientifically proven ways we can cultivate emotional well-being and fitness to help us thrive among the most challenging circumstances.

In addition to his role as America’s ‘top doctor’ as the vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Murthy commanded a uniformed service of 6,600 public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations in over 800 locations domestically and abroad.

Murthy received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his medical degree and M.B.A. from Yale University.

Murthy completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and later joined Harvard Medical School as faculty in internal medicine.

Three Indian American kids from across the country were among the 18 winners announced by Population Connection on May 8th in its international “World of 7 Billion” video contest. The victors topped the more than 5,000 students in grades 6 through 12 from 50 countries and 44 U.S. states and territories who participated in the competition.

Ayush Iyer of Lancaster, Pa., came in first in the Feeding 10 Billion middle school category for the video titled, “Feeding 10 Billion People on Earth.”

In the Advancing Women and Girls high school category, Ramya Iyer of Omaha, Neb., was the first-place winner. Iyer’s video was titled, “Child Marriage: There Is a Solution.”

Arjun Agarwal of Lawrenceville, N.J., for the video “Eating Up by Thinking Up,” was the top winner in the high school Feeding 10 Billion category.

Ayush is an eighth grader at Manheim Township Middle School. He heard about the contest from his Excel (gifted) teacher and created his video as an independent project outside of his school work, his bio said.

He chose Feeding 10 Billion as the subject of his video because he cares deeply about global hunger, and says if he “could solve one world problem, that would be it.” He’s written multiple essays, research papers, and presentations on the subject before he entered the World of 7 Billion contest, Population Connection added.

The videos explored population growth as it relates to one of three challenges: Feeding 10 Billion, Preventing Pollution, and Advancing Girls and Women. The contest was organized and promoted during the 2017-18 school year by Population Education, a program of Population Connection. A panel of 61 judges including college and high school educators, filmmakers and topic experts selected the winners.

Population Connection is a national grassroots population organization that educates young people and advocates for progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by earth’s resources.

First- and second-place winners were named in three categories each for middle school and high school levels. The three high school first-place winners each received a $1,000 cash prize, while the three second-place winners each received $500. Six honorable mentions each received $250. Middle school students who claimed first and second place received $500 and $250, respectively.

Ayush was aware of population and its impact, but says that his research for the video made him think more deeply about the future implications for people, the planet, and the demands on our food systems, it said.

He is also a passionate advocate for vegetarianism. He’s raised awareness about the ecological benefits of switching to a plant-based diet by making speeches and producing films for his fellow students. Ayush likes using PowToon and other animation styles to create his videos.

Ramya Iyer is in the ninth grade at Westside High School. The World of 7 Billion contest was forwarded to her in an email, and without any prior filmmaking experience she submitted a winning video, her bio said.

She said it was often difficult to read the stories and experiences of child brides, but it also motivated her to translate their hardship into her video and inspire people to take action. Ramya herself was particularly struck by the fact that over 1 billion women will have been child brides by 2050, according to Population Connection.

As for the population connection, Ramya shared that she never thought about the link between human numbers and women and girls, but it became clearly apparent after doing research for her video, it said.

She recognized that the “symbolism should be strong” in her video because she wanted to represent child brides everywhere but knew she couldn’t “show every child that has gone through this.”

The four faceless girls in her film represent the many millions of girls married off before age 18 worldwide and to accurately portray them, Ramya studied the cultures and proper dress of child brides from different countries, it added.

Arjun Agarwal, a ninth grader at Lawrence High School, found out about the contest through involvement in his school’s STEM club. He felt inspired to tackle the challenge of Feeding 10 Billion with his film because he saw hunger firsthand while traveling in India with his parents, his bio said.

In addition to educating viewers about their chosen topic and how it relates to human population growth, students in the contest had to include at least one idea for a sustainable solution. “These aren’t just great young filmmakers,” said John Seager, president of Population Connection, in a statement. “All of the winners are inspirational voices for a sustainable and compassionate future.”

Five Indian American high school students have been named 2018 Dell Scholars by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Sita Bhandari of Richland Collegiate High School of Math Science in Dallas, Texas; Amrit Chauhan and Manjot Singh, both from River Valley High School in Yuba City, California; Harleen Kaur of Sunnyside High School in Fresno, California and Pooja Patel from Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, were among 500 high school students who have demonstrated the drive to succeed and persist toward achieving a bachelor’s degree.

Dell Scholars has supported more than 4,300 students from across the country over the last 14 years and announced its largest scholars class of 500 this year.

“Our success – 75 percent of our scholars obtain a degree within six years – is primarily attributable to our students’ hard work, perseverance and ability to overcome the substantial obstacles that often derail low-income, first-generation college goers,” Todd Penner wrote on the foundation’s blog.

“As we welcome this new class, we are humbled by working with such amazing students and proud of all they have achieved so far. It’s our mission to provide them with the support they need to complete college and earn their degrees,” he added.

The Dell Scholars program offers $20,000, a laptop and textbook credits along with services and solutions for students and their families, addressing individual and systemic issues that can create major barriers to student success.

The program is looking for students who showed grit “by overcoming personal challenges in your life related to your family, school or community,” potential by participating in college readiness programs, and “seeking out academic rigor” and ambition by “dreaming of obtaining a college degree,” and it will work with students to ensure they have the tools needed to complete college with a degree in hand.

Dr. Nana Banerjee has been appointed as president and chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill Education. Dr. Banerjee, 47, will be based in New York and succeeds Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, who became interim president and CEO in October of 2017 having previously served as president and CEO from June 2012 through April 2014.

“After a thoughtful and thorough search, we chose Nana for his outstanding leadership and stellar management skills. Nana’s deep knowledge of analytics and artificial intelligence, his lifelong passion for education and his demonstrated ability to deliver value for global employees, customers and investors will be instrumental in growing our businesses. He will continue our journey as a learning science company focused on helping students achieve better outcomes,” Larry Berg, senior partner with Apollo Global Management and chairman of the Board of McGraw-Hill Education, said in a press release.

Prior to his appointment Dr. Banerjee was the group president of Verisk Analytics where he had a proven track record of driving global growth and exceptional performance in both public and private companies.

“Nana is a great choice to lead McGraw-Hill Education. His strengths dovetail with exactly what we need as we look ahead – a seasoned leader who understands the critical role that data and technology can play in education. As a learning science company, we are at the forefront of innovation in K-20 and professional education, and Nana’s extensive experience will be invaluable in deepening our relationships with educators,” Waterhouse said in a press release

Dr. Banerjee has also served as the head of Citibank’s credit card business in the United Kingdom as well as the vice president of marketing at GE Capital. He began his career forecasting housing starts at The McGraw-Hill Companies’ FW Dodge unit.

Dr. Banerjee has a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the State University of New York; a master of science degree in mathematics from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Delhi; and a bachelor of science degree with honors in mathematics from St. Stephens College, Delhi.

“I am honored and excited to be a part of McGraw-Hill Education. This iconic brand is founded on the reputation of its people, its content, and its tools, as the finest in the industry. I am looking forward to teaming up with our colleagues and fulfilling the promise of our vision to unlock the full potential of each learner with enhanced access and better quality learning solutions, enabled with scaled technologies and advanced analytics,” Dr. Banerjee said.