INDIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS WIN TOP PRIZES AT SIEMENS COMPETITION

 

Indian-American school students won a sweeping victory in the 17th annual Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology last week, bagging the top individuals and team prizes, and wining three out of six national individual finalist awards and the top award in a slate of six national finalist teams.

 

Vineet Edupuganti, a high school senior from Portland, Ore., won the $100,000 top individual prize while identical twin sisters Adhya Beesam and Shriya Beesam, both juniors from Plano, Texas, won the $100,000 grand prize in the team category.

 

The honors were presented at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in which 19 high school competitors - winnowed down from an original pool of more than 2,000 - were judged on their research in topics that addressed issues ranging from Alzheimer's disease to levitating cars, and from cancer to planets outside the solar system, the Siemens Foundation announced Dec. 6.

 

Edupuganti, a senior at Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, won the grand prize in the individual category for developing a biodegradable battery that can power ingestible medical devices that can track and diagnose conditions that affect internal organs. The Beesam sisters bagged the honor in the team category for their developing a new approach to diagnose schizophrenia earlier in patients with higher certainty using both brain scans and psychiatric evaluations.

 

"All of the judges, including myself, were very impressed that high school students - even juniors and sophomores - were able to produce such advanced research and with an extremely sound command of the science," said lead judge Megan Leftwich, assistant professor in the Department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the George Washington University.

 

"There was a real passion in what the students presented this year, as was shown by the depth of their research and by the relevance to what is actually being studied and valued in academia and society today. They looked at real problems today - and all tried to go a step further in their own journey and analysis. This was a very difficult group to have to choose a winner from," Leftwich said in a press statement.

 

Manan Shah, a senior from The Harker School in San Jose, Calif., got the $50,000 scholarship, winning the top position in individual finalist category while Prateek Kalakuntla, a senior from Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Texas, got the $30,000 scholarship in the same category and Pranav Sivakumar, a senior from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora got $20,000.

 

The top $50,000 scholarship in the team finalist category went to Nikhil Cheerla, a senior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Calif., and Anika Cheerla, a sophomore at the same school in Cupertino.

 

The competition is the nation's premier science research competition for high school students and seeks to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects.

 

THREE INDIAN AMERICAN RESEARCHERS ELECTED TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE

 

Three Indian Americans, Mukesh K. Jain, Samir Mitragotri and K.M. Venkat Narayan have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

 

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. NAM works with the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions.

 

Mukesh Jain is the chief scientific officer at Harrington Discovery Institute, chief scientific officer at the University Hospitals Health System, chief research officer at University Hospitals Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, the Ellery Sedgwick Jr. He is also the chair at the Case Cardiovascular Research Institute and a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Jain has a Bachelor's degree from the University of Buffalo and a medical degree from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine. He served as a medical intern and medical resident at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Mass., and a chief resident at the Brockton/West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center in Massachusetts.

 

Mitragotri is the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp chair professor in the chemical engineering department at U.C. Santa Barbara.

 

Mitragotrihas a Bachelor's degree from theInstitute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai and Master's and Doctorate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has published more than 200 works, and has invented over 100 patent/patent applications. In 2015, he was honored as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher.

 

VenkatNarayan is director of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center and professor of epidemiology and medicine at Emory University's Hubert Department of Global Health, Atlanta, Georgia. He has served as the chief of the Diabetes Epidemiology and Statistics Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and led a number of large U.S. national epidemiological, health service, intervention and economic studies.

 

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, U.K., Fellow of the American College of Physicians and Fellow of the American Heart Association.

 

Prabhat Jha is a professor of global health and epidemiology at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jha studied medicine at the University of Manitoba and earned his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. He currently serves on the editorial advisory board for the Demography India Journal and is on the board of directors at the University of Toronto Schools.

 

"These newly elected members are outstanding professionals who care deeply about advancing health and healthcare in the U.S. and globally," said National Academy of Medicine president, Victor J. Dzau in a statement. "Their expertise will help our organization address pressing health challenges and improve health, science, and medicine for the benefit of us all."

 

BRITISH INDIAN BUDDHDEV PANDYA INDIAN HONOURED WITH A 'LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD' BY A NATIONAL HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE BME NETWORK

 

Buddhdev Pandya MBE, Director of British Association of Service' was honoured with The EMBRACE AWARD 2016 and was presented at the British Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) by a national Health and Social Care Network on 29th October, 2016 at the Senet House, University of London. The event organised by the national BME Network was attended by the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago and CEOs and Medical Directors of many trusts and other dignitaries. Others who were also recognised in various categories were leaders of communities, nurses, NHS Trusts and Regulatory bodies such as CQC.

 

Pandya who had helped to found one of the national and most influential India doctors' body in the UK received the prestigious award in recognition of his 'Lifelong Service' to Health and Social Care. Pandya, who has served BAPIO for almost two decades which was step for supporting the doctors in difficulties.

 

Mr Pandya currently is Director of Policy and Promotion and holds additional brief as Director for BAPIO Training Academy. He was involved in establishing a unique initiative - Medical Defence Shield and became its Deputy CEO to develop its infrastructure.

 

He has campaigned for many health care awareness initiatives and initiated a number projects including, an Indian Community Centre, a mental health home for black youths, Asian centre for elderly and women refuge and welfare care centres during his forty years of contribution to the public life.

 

MAANASA MENDU IS AMERICA'S TOP YOUNG SCIENTIST 2016

 

Maanasa Mendu's innovation "Harvest" won her the prestigious America's Top Young Scientist award, along with a prize of $25,000.  Harvest is a bio-inspired energy device that captures energy in the form of wind, rain and sun and converts it to power. This innovation was inspired by a visit to India where she discovered that many people lacked basic necessities, such as clean water and lighting.

 

Mendu is a ninth-grader at William Mason High School in Mason City School District and her scientific thinking reflected the competition's goal of applying science to everyday life by creating solutions to improve lives and strengthen communities around the globe.

 

Since its inception in 2008, the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in student prizes and paired students with world-renowned scientists to give them real-world insights and experience.

 

During the past three months, Mendu and the other nine finalists worked with 3M scientists to develop their personal inventions as part of a unique summer mentorship program. Under the guidance of Margaux Mitera, a 3M senior product development engineer, Mendu advanced her idea from a concept to a physical prototype.

 

As America's 2016 Top Young Scientist, Mendu is one of her generation's best and brightest scientific minds. With her innovative spirit, humble attitude and amazing drive, she is sure to make an impact on our world.

 

INDIAN AMERICAN PRADEEP GUPTA IS MAYOR OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO

 

On December 6, 2016, South San Francisco Council members nominated and voted Pradeep Gupta as Mayor and Liza Normandy as Vice Mayor. Gupta served on the city's Planning Commission for three years, before being appointed to the city council.

 

Gupta has been a mainstay in the biotech industry, specializing in the area of energy efficiency and long-term planning of electric utility systems. For more than three decades he has worked with electric utility industries, such as Systems Control Inc., Southern California Edison, Electric Power Research Institute, Decision Systems Inc., and Synergic Resources International.

 

Gupta has a Bachelor's Degree from IIT, Chennai and a Master's degree and a Ph. D from Purdue in Electrical Engineering.