GOPIO-IRELAND PRESIDENT RECEIVES CHEMCIAL INDUSTRY'S LAMPITT MEDAL
 
GOPIO Ireland President Dr. Prabhu Kulkarni was presented the prestigious Lampitt Medal in recognition of his service to the UK based 125 year old International Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).  The Award was presented at black tie Dinner held in Society's head quarters in Belgrave Square in London on October 30th, 2008.
 
The SCI was founded in 1881 to advance scientific knowledge to the general Public (www.soci.org ). Several leading people of that period, from Britain and former British Empire, including J. R.D. Tata of India, were involved in foundation of the Society of Chemical Industry. The Society has over 5000 members in 105 countries and very active sections in USA, Canada, Australia and India.

 
Dr. Kulkarni receives Lampitt Medal from the President of International Society of Chemical Industry

 

The Lampitt Medal was established in 1956 to commemorate the SCI President in 1940 and the first medal awarded in 1958. It is given annually in recognition of outstanding service by a member to the Society towards achieving the aims and objectives.  Prabhu is first person o Indian Origin to receive this Award.
 
Dr. Kulkarni has held several positions in the SCI including present as a Member of the Board of Trustees and Chairman, Health and Safety Group. Previous posts have included, member of the Environment Group, Executive Committee, Publication Committee and the Council. He was Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Irish section over the period 1983-1991. Prabhu was awarded the SCI Distinguished Service Medal in 2004.
 
It is the first time the Lampitt Medal has been awarded to the Republic of Ireland Branch member.
 
DR. PRAKASH NARAIN ELECTED AS MAYOR PRO-TEM IN CYPRESS CITY IN CALIFORNIA
 
Cypress, a city of 50,000 people in Orange County, Southern California elected Dr. Prakash Narain M.D and Doug Bailey as Mayor Pro-Tem and Mayor respectively on December 8, 2008.
 
The city of Cypress is 65% Caucasian and 21% Asian with only 0.2% South Asians.
 
Dr. Narain is a physician by profession and has been actively involved in the community, which led him to win a seat on the city council on his first attempt. He is currently chairman of the governing Board of Directors of Los Alamitos Medical Center in Los Alamitos, California.
Dr. Narain is originally from Bihar, India and immigrated to the United States in 1980.He is married with two children and has been living in Cypress for the past 21 years. For more information on Dr. Prakash Narain, see the city of Cypress website at www.ci.cypress.ca.us
 
INDIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS BAG BIG AWARDS AT SIEMENS SCIENCE COMPETITION
 
The winners of 2008-09 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology were announced on December 8th. The nation's brightest minds and the innovators of tomorrow bravely took on groundbreaking research of life-threatening infections and deadly side effects of chemotherapeutics. As a result, Wen Chyan and the team of Sajith M. Wickramasekara and Andrew Y. Guo were named $100,000 Grand Prize winners in the 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. The prestigious Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, is administered by the College Board. The tenth annual awards were presented at New York University, host of the Siemens Competition National Finals.
 
Wen Chyan, a senior at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Texas, won the $100,000 scholarship in the individual category for chemistry research on combating hospital-related infections. Sajith M. Wickramasekara and Andrew Y. Guo, both seniors at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, North Carolina, won the $100,000 prize in the team category, which they will share equally, for genetics research of chemotherapy.  
 
Sajith Wickramasekara and Andrew Guo won the team category and will share a $100,000 scholarship for their genetics research that has the potential to easily identify new chemotherapeutic drugs and greatly improve existing ones. Their project is entitled, A Functional Genomic Framework for Chemotherapeutic Drug Improvement and Identification.
 
"Mr. Wickramasekara and Mr. Guo used a modern way of screening for drugs with yeast to address an important problem regarding the limitations of chemotherapy including resistance, toxicity and discrimination," said Dr. Jeffrey Pollard, Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Women's Cancer Research, Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a competition judge. "The project required a very large amount of work, organization, and discipline to obtain and then fully verify these results, which the team did in three ways. Sophisticated, innovative bioinformatics also enabled them to identify new therapeutic targets and potential drugs. Not only is this a process currently done by many large pharmaceutical companies, with much more resources, but my own graduate students have done similar work for their graduate theses."
 
Mr. Wickramasekara is the team leader and heard about the Siemens Competition in 2006 when seniors from his high school were selected as Regional Finalists. Mr. Wickramasekara is Captain of his school's Science Bowl and has participated in various science competitions including the 2008 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the North Carolina State Science and Engineering Fair as well as the North Carolina Junior Science Humanities Symposium. He is an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and dreams of one day owning his own biotech startup, specializing in personalized medicine.
 
Both team members co-founded the Student Journal of Research of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics; they both serve as Editors of the publication. Additionally, Mr. Wickramasekara and Mr. Guo were recently named 2009 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.
 
The national finals were judged by a panel of nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians headed by lead judge Dr. Joseph Taylor, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Princeton University. Eighteen national finalists competed in this year's national finals, including six individuals and six teams. The finalists previously competed at one of six regional competitions held at leading research universities throughout the month of November.
 
Other Indian American national winners of the 2008-09 Siemens Competition include the following high school students:
 
-- $40,000 scholarship - Nityan Nair, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
-- $20,000 scholarship - Ashok Cutkosky, Columbia, Missouri
 
FOUR INDIAN AMERICANS RECEIVE MARSHALL SCHOLARSHIPS
 
Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission has announced the winners of the 2009 Marshall Scholarships chosen by the eight regional committees. These were confirmed at the meeting of the Ambassador's Advisory Council on 8 December 2008. Four Indian Americans have been selected to Marshal Scholarship for 2008.
 
The scholarships were founded by an Act of British Parliament in 1953 and commemorate the humane ideals of the European Recovery Programme (Marshall Plan). They are funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and administered by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission in the UK (for which the Association of Commonwealth Universities provides the Secretariat). The selection process in the US is managed by the British Council, on behalf of the British Embassy in Washington DC, and the regional Consulates-General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco
 
Among the forty recipients this year, the following are the Indian American winners, with their current affiliation, the school they plant to join in UK and the field they plan to pursue.
 
Dhananjay Jagannathan - University of Texas - Austin
University of Oxford, Ancient Philosophy
 
Rishi Mediratta - Johns Hopkins University
School of Oriental and African Studies, Medical Anthropology
 
Sheela Ramesh - Carnegie Mellon University
Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Opera Studies
 
Anjali Tripathi - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Cambridge, Astronomy
 
INDIAN AMERICAN TO CONDUCT CHARITY CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL TO BENEFIT CHILDREN OF AIDS
 
George Mathew, a Singapore-born Indian-American conductor of Western classical music, will be back on stage to use his talents and to benefit charities. Three times in four years, he has used his talents and connections to help worthy causes. On Jan. 23, 2006, he organized and conducted "Beethoven's Ninth for South Asia" - a major Carnegie Hall fundraiser for the 2005 Kashmir quake. On Jan. 22, 2007, he organized and conducted "Requiem for Dafur," Another Carnegie Hall concert, this time for the victims of the awful atrocities in Darfur.
 
On Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, Mathew is back with the biggest of his charity concerts. "Mahler for the Children of AIDS," at Carnegie Hall, will, "raise funds and public awareness for pediatric AIDS and the Prevention-of-Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV worldwide but especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The evening will serve as a memorial for the millions of mothers and children who have lost their lives, a tribute to the resilience of the survivors, and an urgent call for help to the global community.
 
The performance, organized and led by Mathew, will feature some of the finest orchestral musicians from every continent, which include principal artists from: the New York Philharmonic; The MET Orchestra; The Philadelphia Orchestra; Orchestra of St. Luke's; Buffalo Philharmonic; Minnesota Orchestra; Brooklyn Philharmonic; Emerson String Quartet; students, graduates and faculty of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music; and other major international orchestras and ensembles.
 
Mahler for the Children of AIDS is presented by Catholic Medical Mission Board (www.cmmb.org), a leader in the global HIV/AIDS and humanitarian health care arena.
George Mathew graduated in 2003 from Manhattan School of Music with the Postgraduate Diploma in Conducting after studies under Czech conductor Zdenek Macal and George Manahan.  Mr. Mathew served on the conducting staff at the Manhattan School of Music from 2003 - 2006, and has been assistant conductor for the Brooklyn Philharmonic since January 2007.

CHANDERPAUL COPS THE "CRICKETER-OF-THE-YEAR" AWARD AGAIN!
 
Guyana's internationally-acclaimed prolific middle order batsman Shivnarine 'Tiger' Chanderpaul carted off the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) "Cricketer of the Year" award for the second consecutive year. Chanderpaul, a third generation PIO who played for the West Indies and Durham, was recognized for his outstanding contribution to world cricket at the GCB 2008 Annual Awards ceremony at the Umana Yana