Daily Archives: September 30, 2013

India-US Relations Blog

USINPAC congratulates Indian American students Ankita Ghoshal, Ajay Krishnan, Vaibhav Vavilala, Aashna Mago and Vinay Sriram who are among the 20 bright young people named as Davidson Fellows for 2013

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Five Indian American students were among the 20 bright young people named as Davidson Fellows for 2013, a program that offers $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships to students 18 or younger who have created significant projects that have the potential to benefit society in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature, music and philosophy.

Receiving $25,000 scholarships are Ankita Ghoshal, 18, of Austin, Texas, for her project, “Sustainable 100w Portable Generators for 24/7/365 Power Demand”; and Aashna Mago, 17, of Newtown, Pa., for a project on “A Novel EZH2 Histone Methyltransferase Inhibitor: Potential Advancement in Epigenetic Cancer Therapy.”

Ghoshal attends Princeton University and studies chemical and biological engineering. She hopes to go to business school and eventually start her own technology company. She won the 2012 Outstanding Sustainability Award at I-SWEEEP and won first place in the 2012 ExxonMobile Texas Science and Engineering Fair.

Mago is a freshman at Stanford University and is considering a major in biology with a focus in molecular and cellular biology while also exploring more unfamiliar areas, like computer science and “Symbolic Systems,” an area of study at Stanford that encompasses artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and the human-computer interface.

Receiving $10,000 scholarships are Ajay Krishnan, 17, Portland, Ore., for “Optimizing the Microbial Fuel Cell-Microbial Electrolysis Cell Coupled System for Sustainable Hydrogen Gas”; and Vinay Sriram, 17, of Boyds, Md., for “Quantitative Modeling of Processing Cost and Energy Consumption for Cryptographically Enhanced Secure Internet Routing Protocol.”

Also receiving a $10,000 scholarship is Vaibhav Vavilala, 18, of Indianapolis, Ind., for “Neural Networks: Raising the Storage Capacity Production, Electricity Generation, and Improved Wastewater Treatment.”

Krishnan is a rising senior at the Oregon Episcopal School. His dream career would be to develop efficient and environmentally-friendly energy technologies to help make our planet more sustainable. He won the 2012 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize Competition, was the gold medalist at the 2012 ISWEEEP competition, and was a regional finalist in the 2013 Google Science Fair.

Sriram is a rising senior in the accelerated science, mathematics, and computer science magnet program at Poolesville High School and plans to major in either computer science or electrical engineering in college. He was a finalist at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, where he won a third place grand award in the Computer Science category.

Vavilala is a freshman at Columbia University planning on studying computer science. He has been named a National Merit Finalist, a National AP Scholar, an Intel STS Semifinalist, a Siemens Regional Finalist, an Intel ISEF Finalist, a three-time AIME qualifier, a Congressional Award Gold Medalist and a United Way Outstanding Service Award recipient.

Source: IndiaWest

India-US Relations Blog

USINPAC is delighted for Indian American poet Rafiq Kathwari who has become the first non-Irish person to have won the prestigious 2013 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award

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An Indian-American poet has become the first non-Irish person to have won the prestigious 2013 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for the collection of his debut poems.

Rafiq Kathwari‘s collection of 20 unpublished poems “In Another Country“, was selected for the coveted award amidst 112 contestants from across the world.

The Kavanagh award, which is now in its 41st year is given for a first unpublished collection of poems in English and is open to poets born in Ireland, of Irish nationality, or long-term resident in Ireland.

Kathwari, a Kashmiri by descent has become the first non-Irish to have won the award and will recieve 1,000 euros as the prize money.

“The award is a clear reflection of the new Irish multiculturalism”, Kathwari said, adding, he feels “gobsmacked”.

Kathwari, who divides his time between New York, Dublin and Srinagar, has been writing poems and essays for the last 30 years.

He has translated selected Urdu poems of Alama Iqbal, creating his own version. His poems are mostly inspired by “loss of innocence” in Kashmir and from his mother’s long time illness.

“Pain can be inspiring, and much of my poetry is defined by loss,” he said.

Kathwari graduated from the University of Kashmir in 1969 before studying at the New York University and Columbia University.

Most of his working life has been spent with Ethan Allen, a large manufacturer and retailer of home furnishings based in the United States.

Many of his works have been in print and online in the US, Ireland and Asia.

Previous winners of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry award include Eileán Ní Chuilleanáin, Paul Durcan, Thomas McCarthy, Peter Sirr, Sinead Morrissey, Conor O’Callaghan, Celia de Freine and Joseph Woods.

Source: Indian Express