On November 18, 2013, Congressman Joe Pitts and Congressman Frank Wolf initiated H. Res. 417. This Resolution intended to influence India’s forthcoming elections by focusing on the Gujarat riots in 2002 and Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Narendra Modi. In context to this controversial initiation, USINPAC successfully and relentlessly campaigned at the grassroots level to ensure that this Resolution did not move to the House floor for a vote. Earlier in December, 2013, Chairman Ed Royce of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to which H. Res. 417 was referred, voiced his concerns to USINPAC saying, “As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am focused on the critically important relationship between the United States and India. Our two nations share many common values and strategic interests. India plays a central role in the Asia-Pacific region, and we must do our part to ensure that India is a centerpiece of America’s rebalance to Asia. H. Res. 417 weakens, rather than strengthens, the friendship between the U.S. and India. The resolution runs counter to all the hard work that the American people, particularly those in the Indian-American community, have done to improve the relationship.”

Eni Faleomavaega, Democrat from the Subcommittee on Asia and Pacific echoed a similar sentiment, “For this reason, I feel the need to speak out and reiterate what I am on record as saying shortly after the riots and ever since. Like any other Member of Congress committed to human rights, I see eye to eye with the national and international community that what happened in Gujarat calls for justice and accountability. But India, like the United States, has an independent and transparent Judiciary and, after an investigation that has been on-going for more than a decade, India’s Supreme Court and its Special Investigation Team have not found any evidence against Chief Minister Narendra Modi. This is why I believe the U.S. should shift its attitude and engage in dialogue with Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, just as the European Union and the UK are doing, and many other nations around the world.” He commended USINPAC’s efforts to summon the Indian-American community to oppose the resolution and the former’s work with top members from the House of Representatives to rectify the misinformation as shown by H 417. He added, “India is a multi-cultural and multi-religious Democracy, where the Leader of the Ruling party is of Italian heritage, the Prime Minister is a Sikh and the Vice President is a Muslim in an 80% Hindu country. Chief Minister Modi is a democratically elected leader and has been elected 3 times by the majority of some 60 million constituents. He may well be India’s next Prime Minister and Resolutions like H. Res. 417 do little to help strengthen U.S.-India relations or protect and promote U.S. interests abroad, especially in the Asia Pacific region.”

USINPAC has staunchly opposed this Resolution from going to the House floor for a vote. They stated that they would do all they could to disallow the U.S. Congress from ‘intentionally’ or unintentionally’ making an impact on India’s elections in 2014. They have vocally advocated that ‘India is a sovereign nation and its citizens have a right to choose their leaders’. Their efforts challenge the very nature of the Resolution that misinforms rather than set any situation right. Chief Minister Mr Narendra Modi who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the Gujarat pogrom was denied both business and tourist visas to the U.S under the Immigration and Nationality Act for alleged human rights violations. USINPAC had issued a statement on December 8, 2013 titled Setting the record straight about Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Further with the India elections being round the corner and Mr. Modi’s popularity among the Indian-American community, it is about time for the U.S. State Department to take a stand. He is the slated Prime Ministerial candidate from the BJP, India’s opposition political party. Going forward, this instance will impact U.S.-India ties and mutual decisions between the two nations pertaining to the Asia region.

Two Americans are among the five people from the US who have been selected for India’s prestigious Padma awards this year for their contributions in different fields.

Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, the William Benton Distinguished Service Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago, and Lloyd I. Rudolph, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Chicago, will each receive the prestigious Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India.

Susanne has served as president of the Association of Asian Studies and of the American Political Science Association (2003-2004).

She has co-authored eight books with her husband, Lloyd, including post-modern Gandhi and Other Essays in 2006.

In 2008, OxfordBSE -3.16 % University Press published a three- volume, career-spanning collection of the writings of Lloyd and Susanne, titled Explaining Indian Democracy: A Fifty-Year Perspective.

Lloyd served as Chair of the Committee on International Relations and the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences and as chair of concentrations in Political Science, Public Policy, International Studies and South Asian Studies in the College.

The Rudolphs now divide their time between Kensington, California; Barnard, Vermont; and Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Three Indian-Americans – Ashok Kumar Mago, Dr Siddharth Mukherjee and Dr. Vamsi Mootha – will receive the prestigious Padma Shri awards.

Dallas-based Mago has played a key role in improving India-US relationship not only in trade and business, but was also instrumental in setting up of the Senate-India caucus and played a key role in the Congressional passage of the civil nuclear deal.

India-born American physician-scientist Mukherjee is best known for his book ‘The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer’ that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2011.

He is currently an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and staff physician at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

A Professor of Systems Biology and of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr Mootha has received a number of honours, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Judson Daland Prize of the American Philosophical Society, and the Keilin Medal of the Biochemical Society.

His work has also led to the development of generic, computational strategies that have now been applied successfully to other human diseases.

Source: Economic Times

Arogyaswami Joseph “Paul” Paulraj, professor emeritus at Stanford University, has been named the winner of the prestigious 2014 Marconi Society Prize, which brings with it a $100,000 award.

The Indian American professor’s idea for using multiple antennas at both the transmitting and receiving stations — a concept at the heart of the high-speed WiFi and 4G mobile systems — revolutionized delivery of multimedia services for billions of people, the Marconi Society said.

“Paulraj’s contributions to wireless technology and the resulting benefit to mankind are indisputable,” said Marconi Society vice chairman Vint Cerf in a statement.

“Every WiFi router and 4G phone today uses MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology pioneered by him,” he added.

The Marconi Society, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, was founded by Gioia Marconi Braga. Each year it recognizes one or more scientists who — like her father, radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi – pursue advances in communications and information technology.

After graduating at the age of 15 at the top of his class in high school in India, Paulraj joined the Indian Navy, where he focused on weapons systems.

Self-taught in subjects including information theory and signal processing, he obtained a Ph.D. from IIT-Delhi for his work on non-linear estimation theory. In 1977, the Indian Navy assigned him to head a project to develop advanced sonar and his team pioneered APSOH, a sonar system used in the fleet service in 1983.

On a sabbatical from the Indian Navy, Paulraj joined Prof. Thomas Kailath’s research group at Stanford, where he worked on a multiple-signals directions of arrival estimation problem. The solution he came up with, ESPRIT, led to a mini-revolution in the field, according to the Marconi Society.

Paul returned to India in 1986 and became founding director for three major labs in India. Back at Stanford in 1991, he worked on signal separation experiments for airborne reconnaissance.

This led to his invention of spatial multiplexing, which increased throughput in wireless systems using multiple transmitting and receiving antennas.

Paul applied for a U.S. patent and, despite industry skepticism, founded Iospan Wireless, which developed a MIMO-OFDMA based fixed wireless system. Intel Corp. acquired Iospan’s technology in 2003 and used it to spearhead WiMAX standards.

In 2004, Paulraj co-founded Beceem Communications, which developed WiMAX semiconductors. The company emerged as a market leader and was acquired by Broadcom Corp.

Marconi Fellow and Stanford Prof. John Cioffi said Paulraj’s technical capability is “almost unparalleled in the world. But what impresses me most is how (Paulraj) endured the tremendous pressure, turmoil and stress of people saying his ideas weren’t going to work, and persevered until he found success.”

The 2014 Indian American Marconi winner said in a modest statement, “MIMO technology is today embedded in 4G mobile and WiFi. It has taken the effort of thousands of engineers and researchers around the world, many of them truly eminent, to make this happen. My contribution, in comparison, is indeed small.”

Paulraj was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and received the Padma Bhushan from India in 2010, and the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 2011.

A mentor to post-doctoral students at Stanford and a senior adviser to Broadcom, he lives on the Stanford campus with his wife, Nirmala.

“I have two grown children and four wonderful grandchildren,” he said. “My biggest challenge is finding time for all the things I want to do.”

Source: IndiaWest

Indian-origin academician Rakesh Khurana has been appointed dean of the prestigious Harvard College and will take over his new role in July.

Mr Khurana is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School (HBS), professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and co-master of Cabot House at Harvard.

FAS Dean Michael Smith announced the appointment in an email to the FAS community and praised Mr Khurana as a scholar and teacher with deep experience working with undergraduates and a strong commitment to the College.

Mr Khurana succeeds Evelynn Hammonds, professor of African and African American Studies, who stepped down last June after completing her five-year term. He will assume the role on July 1.

Harvard President Drew Faust said Mr Khurana is a faculty leader who embodies the interconnectedness of Harvard.

“His experiences as a graduate student, an award-winning teacher at HBS, and the master of an undergraduate House give him a unique perspective on the University and his deep respect for the liberal-arts model and the residential education will serve him well as he guides Harvard College,” Faust said.

In announcing the appointment, Smith said Mr Khurana is a distinguished scholar of organizational behaviour and leadership, an award-winning teacher, and a dynamic House master who has also engaged deeply with undergraduate issues on important committees.

“He brings to the deanship an intimate understanding of the Harvard College experience, a profound commitment to the values of a liberal-arts education, and a warm and compassionate personality that accompanies his belief in the importance of community and an inclusive approach to decision-making,” Smith said.

Mr Khurana, who earned his Ph.D. through a joint programme between HBS and Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1998, said he is “honoured” to be appointed as Dean and to “create a transformative educational experience” for the students.

“I am convinced that, working together, we will have a significant and positive impact on the College,” he said.

Harvard Business School’s India-born Dean Nitin Nohria also welcomed Mr Khurana’s appointment saying that his selection is a testament to his skill and vision as a teacher and scholar.

“I think the appointment is wonderful news, and I am looking forward to working with Rakesh to identify and strengthen efforts across the College and HBS that will benefit us all,” Nohria said.

Mr Khurana earned his bachelors from Cornell University and began graduate studies at Harvard in 1993, earning his Ph.D. in 1998.

He was appointed to the HBS faculty in 2000 and became co-master of Cabot in 2010. He taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 1998 and 2000.

Prior to graduate school, he worked as a founding member of Cambridge Technology Partners.

Mr Khurana’s research uses a sociological perspective to focus on the processes by which elites and leaders are selected and developed. He has written extensively about the CEO labour market and business education.

He has been recognised for his commitment to pedagogy, twice earning excellence in teaching awards in 2008 and 2012.

Mr Khurana has co-authored “Handbook for Leadership Theory and Practice” (2010) and “The Handbook for Teaching Leadership” (2012), seminal texts on leadership theory and pedagogical practice.

As a member of the Harvard community, Mr Khurana led or served on a number of policy-making panels, including the Committee on Academic Integrity, Campus Culture, and the Alcohol and Other Drug Services Campus-Community Collaborative.

In 2011-2012, he co-chaired the Committee on Harvard College Alcohol Policy. Most recently, he served on the task force charged by Faust with recommending policies related to the privacy of electronic communications conducted at Harvard.

Last July, Smith announced the creation of an advisory committee consisting of faculty from all FAS academic divisions for selection of the Harvard College Dean.

During the fall semester, the committee solicited input from undergraduates, FAS faculty, and College administrators, holding meetings with House masters, resident deans, College staff, the Undergraduate Council, freshmen, upperclassmen, and faculty members.

The advisory committee developed a short list of candidates, whom they interviewed, and shared their feedback with Smith.

“Khurana came to us with a reputation for exceptional leadership skills, and he certainly handled the interview expertly. He listened carefully, was responsive, and spoke from the heart,” said Professors Louis Menand, Professor of English.

“He was passionate about the College, about the academic side of the student experience, about the importance of liberal education generally,” he said

Mr Khurana joins the growing club of Indian- origin academicians heading prestigious universities in the US.

In 2010, Mr Nohria became the first Indian-origin head of the top ranking Harvard business school. In the same year University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business had named Stanford University professor Sunil Kumar as its Dean.

Noted Indian-American academician Dipak Jain took over as Dean of INSEAD in March 2011.

Before this, Mr Jain was Dean at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management from 2001-2009.

IIT-Delhi alumnus Soumitra Dutta was named Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 2012.

Mr Khurana was named to the deanship after a grueling selection process which started last July when Smith had announced the creation of an advisory committee consisting of faculty from all FAS academic divisions.

During the fall semester, the committee solicited input from undergraduates, FAS faculty, and College administrators, holding meetings with House masters, resident deans, College staff, the Undergraduate Council, students and faculty members.

The committee developed a short list of candidates, whom they interviewed, and shared their feedback with Smith.

Committee member Matthew Nock said Mr Khurana stood out among the “absolutely amazing pool” of candidates under consideration to serve as the next dean of Harvard College.

Nock added that Mr Khurana exemplified all of the “qualities that students, faculty, and staff said are so important in the next dean.”

Source: NDTV

Sanjay Mehrotra, the Indian-American Chief Executive Officer of SanDisk, leading maker of flash memory devices, has been named the 2013 CEO of the Year by the Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).

“The 2013 Powered by EF” CEO of the Year was given to Mehrotra as “a chief executive officer who demonstrates superior commitment to their corporate citizenship programme,” according to the organisation’s website.

“Mehrotra has always demonstrated a strong commitment to SanDisk’s corporate philanthropy programmes,” the citation said.

“In addition to his unwavering support as the executive champion for the programmes, Sanjay rallied his fellow CEOs to participate in Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Corporate Cup Challenge, raising an additional $620,000 in corporate support, and increasing corporate participation by 30 percent,” it said.

“On a corporate level, in the past year, Sanjay co-founded US2020 and committed 20 percent of the US SanDisk workforce to participate in the national STEM engagement programme.”

“With his leadership, SanDisk launched its 25th Anniversary Celebration through Service, a year-long volunteerism campaign; in which Sanjay set the goal of 100 percent employee participation, and over $1.65 million raised in volunteer and cash matching funds.

“Lastly, Sanjay supported the creation of the SanDisk Scholars Fund, which will support underrepresented populations pursuing a STEM-related education.”

Accepting the honour at an event in East Palo Alto, California, Mehrotra said: “Getting involved in our local communities through charitable contributions and employee volunteerism is a cornerstone of SanDisk’s culture.

“I am so encouraged by the level of employee volunteerism and philanthropic support, especially this year, during SanDisk’s 25th Anniversary; and I look forward to increasing SanDisk’s philanthropic support in the coming years.”

Four other companies were also recognised at the event this week. Microsoft was given the “Community Champions Award,” Hewlett-Packard and the Taproot Foundation were joint recipients of the “Impact Award,” Levi Strauss & Co. won the “Global Citizen Award,” and StubHub was recognized as the organization’s “Company of the Year.”

Source: Manorama Online