2022 seems to be the year of young Indian-origin winners in America. It began with Jaskaran Singh having won the Jeopardy! National College Championship. It continues with three budding STEM leaders of Indian origin having finished among the top 10 winners of Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search, America’s oldest and most prestigious STEM competition, helps discover budding scientists among high school seniors across the country. Also known as the US’ Junior Nobel in math and science, this competition “brings together the best and brightest young minds to present their experimental projects, futuristic solutions, scientific innovations, and mind-blowing problem-solving abilities to leading scientists. The US saw the emergence of four Indian-origin teens from the immigrant community, among the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2021 winners, for their scientific creativity and innovative thinking.

Neil Chowdhury, Washington

The Indian community of Washington is rejoicing at Neil Chowdhury’s success in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022. Neil, 18, finished fifth among the top 10 winners of the United States’ Junior Nobel in STEM and received a cash award of $90,000 for his innovative computational method of studying the role of histones implicated in colon cancer. The project he submitted to the Regeneron Science Talent Search shows his finds that histone proteins cause changes to the way a long string of DNA loops and coils itself to fit inside the nucleus of a cell. In his experiment, Neil tried to replicate the method of modulating the DNA’s physical formation using molecular simulations of DNA polymers and coded the simulation in Python, an open-source programming language. His experiment shows that a modification of histone proteins can help with colon cancer by causing changes in the folding of DNA strings.

Pravalika Gayatri Putalapattu, Virginia

Indians of Virginia pride themselves on having a budding Indian-origin scientist among the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022 winners. 17-year-old Pravalika Gayatri, a resident of Centerville, finished seventh and received a cash award of $70,000 for her project on real-time monitoring of laparoscopic surgeries. She designed a video-assisted program that uses machine learning to detect errors, if there is any, in surgical steps that doctors take in the operating room, so that a corrective measure can be taken immediately. A close relative’s accidental death due to a preventable surgical mistake in the operating room prompted Pravalika to take up the challenging project. Her system uses image segmentation and network optimization to help detect errors five times faster than the existing systems.

Neil Rathi, California

Neil Rathi having ended up being one of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022 winners, is a matter of pride for California Indians. He finished at the eighth place and received a $60,000 award for his experimental project on how human minds process and optimize language for efficient communication through the “smallest meaningful unit of a word”; for example, how ‘ed’ in words such as ‘played’, ‘talked’, and ‘studied’ indicate both past tense and word completion. His project was aimed at identifying what linguistic patterns languages have in common. He optimized his machine learning-based model that he developed as part of the project to find ‘patterns of informational fusion’ through syntax datasets in four languages. Indian-origin Neil Rathi’s discovery is a step towards understanding how sophisticated the functional dynamics of human minds are.

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Two Indian American teen students are named among the 10 winners in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, while the news about Kavya Kopparapu winning the National STEM Award for a cancer-related invention has not yet faded from social media. The Regeneron Science Talent Search, the United States’ oldest and most prominent competition for high school seniors in science and math, is also called Junior Nobel. The two Indian American winners of the 2019 Junior Nobel prizes are Eshika Saxena of Washington State and Adam Ardeishar of Virginia. Their achievement is a new feather in the cap of Indian community in America.

Eshika Saxena

One of the top 10 winners in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, Indian American Eshika Saxena of Bellevue, WA has received a cash prize of $40,000. An Artificial Intelligence-driven system for smartphones to help detect blood-related diseases accurately and efficiently earned Eshika a place among the 40 finalists for Junior Nobel Prizes in 2019 and got her selected as one of the winners.

A student at Interlake High School, Eshika Saxena developed the AI software for automatic detection of diseases through end-to-end blood profile screening. Her invention converts a smartphone camera into a microscope so that smartphone users can capture images of blood cells easily and with high-level technical accuracy. Then each of the microscopic blood cells undergoes a profound screening by the AI software, which indicates what blood-related diseases one may be affected with.

Detection of sickle cell disease was the objective of her first experimentation using the AI software. Sickle cell disease is developed by a crescent-shaped cell in the blood. The experiment was a success as she was able to detect sickle blood cells against healthy blood cells ensuring 96% accuracy. Usually, doctors who diagnose blood-related diseases screen one’s blood profile, with a microscope to detect abnormalities in the blood.

A resident of Bellevue across Lake Washington from Seattle, Eshika Saxena is looking to major in electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also keen on leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence in revolutionizing healthcare through easy-to-use applications for masses. She may pursue her passion for teaching, alongside continuing to do research once she earns a PhD degree.

Though she ranks 10^th among the winners in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, her AI-based innovation has been hailed as a revolutionary to healthcare for today’s smartphone generation. She has collaborated with nonprofit organizations in the ‘sickle belt’ region of developing countries including India for an extensive testing of her invention titled HemaCam. A black belt in Taekwondo and Arnis, Eshika heads the AI and machine learning club at Interlake High School.

Adam Ardeishar

Indian American Adam Ardeishar of Virginia has been awarded $150,000 for finishing third in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search. His project linking a mathematical puzzle ‘coupon collector problem’ with extreme value theory, which applies to the process of anticipating the probability of maximal events, like a natural calamity in 100 years or more. Structural engineers also use the extreme value theory to calculate an amount of time for potential collapse of a bridge.

The coupon collector problem is a mathematical application of Markov Chains which search giant Google uses to rank webpages, and hedge fund managers apply to their tracking of fluctuations in the stock market. Adam Ardeishar established a connection between Markov Chains and extreme value theory, in his award-winning project, to estimate the ‘average maximum values of distributional datasets,’ which is used in foreseeing the expected period of time for a maximal event to happen.

A student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA, Adam Ardeishar is a math whiz like Apoorva Panidapu of California. He won a silver medal in the 2018 International Mathematical Olympiad. Creating origami pieces of various shapes is his favorite pastime, as the repeated folding of a piece of paper is “rhythmic, relaxing and meditative” to him.

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A few Indian American teen volunteers in grades 5 to 12 are among the 102 state honorees selected for the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. The national honor is given in recognition of top youth volunteers’ outstanding volunteer service to people with disabilities, homeless kids, teens with mental health disorders, communities affected by winter storms, needy children affected by deadly diseases, and likes.

Each of the 102 state honorees including Indian American teens will receive a cash prize, a silver medallion and a fully-paid trip to Washington DC, where 10 of the state honorees will be selected as the United States’ top youth volunteers of 2019. Each of the top 10 youth volunteers will be felicitated with a cash prize of $5000, a gold medallion, a crystal trophy for the school of their choice, and a $5000 grant for their chosen nonprofit organization.

We at Travel Beats, a community portal for Indians in USA by Indian Eagle Travel, picked five of the Indian American honorees of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and decoded why they deserve to be among America’s top youth volunteers of 2019.

Anish Bikmal from Georgia

Among the Indian American honorees of the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, Anish Bikmal from Georgia is the president of ‘Motivate and Inspire’ academy which raises funds through tutoring of local students by volunteering tutors for charities in India. A 17-year-old senior at South Forsyth High School, Anish Bikmal had had an epiphany about the misery of farmers near Mumbai during one of his trips to India a few years back. The farmers’ helplessness due to inadequate harvests to provide for their families, which could be attributed to their lack of knowledge on modern agricultural techniques, made Anish come up with the nonprofit initiative to benefit poor farmers, hungry children and needy people with cataracts in India.

Anish Bikmal whose parents moved from Hyderabad to the US in 1999 won the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) National competition two year ago and donated the prize money to the Temple of Vedic Planetarium while visiting Mayapur in West Bengal.

A resident of Cumming in the Atlanta metropolitan area, Indian American Anish Bikmal has roped in other high school students as volunteers for ‘Motivate and Inspire’ academy, who provide academic assistance to children in grades 3-12 through coaching classes, counseling and motivational talks on various subjects. Till date, Anish has donated over $50,000 from the proceeds of tutoring in the local community for technical education of 104 farmers, 30,000 meals to poor children, and 44 cataract surgeries in India.

Jothi Ramaswamy from New York   

17-year-old Jothi Ramaswamy from Mohegan Lake in New York is a staunch advocate of STEM skills for girls. In order to encourage girls for STEM careers, she founded ‘ThinkSTEAM’, a nonprofit having an ‘a’ that stands for arts. Jothi believes that art is as important as technology and that one’s artistic traits or creative skills can be combined with technology for better results. When she learned that there were only boys, no girls in her brother’s computer coding class, she gritted her teeth to even the playing field for girls in STEM.

A senior at Lakeland High School, this New Yorker of Indian origin got further inspiration from her mother, an engineer, who restarted her career to provide for the family after Jothi’s father died. The success of her first workshop on wearable technology with focus on the intersection of technology and fashion, in collaboration with IBM, strengthened her confidence and fetched her opportunities to collaborate with school districts for workshops on STEM. Jothi Ramaswamy has conducted over 45 workshops for girls in 3-12 grades so far in partnership with Facebook, Google, Amazon, Columbia University, Stanford University and likes.

The founder of ThinkSTEAM, Jothi Ramaswamy is rightly selected as one of the youth volunteers for the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Mehr Grewal from Washington

A resident of Bellevue in the US state of Washington, 11-year-old Mehr Grewal actively promotes healthy eating habits and correct hand-washing techniques. One of the youth volunteers selected for the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, Indian American Mehr had an epiphany, “A simple measure like correct hand washing can actually save lives,” in the wake of a recent flu epidemic in the United States. With some research on hand hygiene, she made presentations about the importance of hand washing and demonstrate the proper hand-washing technique at schools as well as community centers.

A long-time volunteer for a nonprofit in Seattle, Mehr Grewal is looking to propagate the simple message, “Hand-washing is like a do-it-yourself vaccine which can protect the vulnerable from getting exposed to diseases.”

A sixth-grader at Odle Middle School in Bellevue, Mehr also initiated a nutritional counseling program to educate people about healthy eating habits and healthy die choices. She translates the content of the program in Hindi and Punjabi, whenever needed, in order to benefit a maximum number of people. She does also volunteer at a food bank.

Ishika Gupta from North Dakota

Among the youth volunteers selected for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards 2019, Indian American Ishika Gupta is a budding philanthropist in North Dakota. A senior at Davies High School in Fargo, she is committed towards curbing the infant mortality rate which has improved by 15% from 6.86% to 5.82% in the United States. Her nonprofit organization, Cradle Me Care, donates bassinets to the underprivileged families that can’t afford a bassinet-like secure place for their premature newborn to sleep.

While volunteering at the American Indian Resource Center, Ishika Gupta learned that unsafe sleeping arrangement is one of the reasons for sudden infant death syndrome in the US. Gupta, who herself was born premature, thought of how her parents kept her safe and warm in a bassinet. She has purchased more than 100 so far and donated them to the organizations that parents of newborn seek help from. The founder of Cradle Me Care, Ishika also works towards mitigating disparities in tribal oral health.

Pranav Rajan from Nebraska       

16-year-old Pranav Rajan of Lincoln, Nebraska is a cofounder of CodeForChange which has started making a foray into California and New Jersey. In the ninth grade, he realized that learning by doing is many times more effective than learning by studying. This epiphany is the foundation of his organization where high school students get a taste of experiential learning while voluntarily working on computer-based technology projects for community welfare. CodeForChange is why Indian American Pranav Rajan got selected for the 2019 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Having partnered with two universities and two school district administrators, Pranav Rajan roped in more than 50 students to work on real-life applications of the concepts taught in school. Those include a technological solution for a health nonprofit to help doctors reduce their stress, an automated data processing system for an analytics company, and a website for an entrepreneurship organization.

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Air pollution causes premature death of over 6 million people worldwide a year, including 200,000 in the United States alone, according to some recent researches at leading institutes including the Health Effects Institute in Boston. Public health is highly vulnerable to poor air quality in the world’s rapidly developing economies – India and China. Air pollution in India is the fifth largest threat to public life, according to the WHO. Poor quality air has caused irreversible lung damage to 2.2 million children in Delhi, the capital of India, according to the Wikipedia page on air quality in Delhi.

Let’s thank Indian American Nikhil Devanathan for having developed a low-cost portable air quality sensor which could be a pocket-friendly solution for those who unknowingly breathe pollutants-rich air, both indoors and outdoors. A sophomore at Kennewick High School in the US state of Washington, Nikhil Devanathan has recently won two Grand Champion prizes at the Mid-Columbia Science and Engineering Fair for his invention.

Those two awards earned Nikhil an opportunity to showcase his low-cost portable air quality sensor in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh, PA which will be held on May 18 and 19 this year.

An accomplished inventor from the Washington Indian American community, Nikhil Devanathan demonstrated how his air quality sensor measures the quantity of dust, carbon monoxide, ozone, chemical pollutants and other harmful particles in the air, at the Mid-Columbia Science and Engineering Fair. He also showed how the invention works as a temperature and humidity measuring tool in both outdoor and indoor environments.

Nikhil Devanathan’s air quality sensor is a small device powered by a double-A battery. He also created an app to operate the sensor through smartphones. He envisions reaching out with the device to low-income groups and communities the world over. “We expose ourselves to the health hazards of air pollution by inhaling polluted air at the places or in the areas which are not safe for lungs and hearts. Since prevention is better than cure, my low-cost portable device will help the user measure the air pollution level anywhere and anytime, thereby preventing them from breathing in poor quality air,” says Nikhil.

Nikhil Devanathan’s parents – Ram Devanathan and Subha Narayanan – are scientists from Chennai, India. Naturally, he has been inclined towards science and engineering since his childhood. He is a member of the International Baccalaureate Program at Kennewick High School. He is a brilliant student and outstanding performer, according to the IB program coordinator. One of the Boy Scouts in the US, Nikhil spends time in the school’s robotics and computers club when not busy studying or working on some project.

A resident of Kennewick in Washington, Nikhil aspires to be a research scientist in robotics or computer technology or electrical engineering. We at Travel Beats, a leading Indian American community portal hope that the portable air quality sensor earns him space in Kennewick High School’s Hall of Fame.

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Dr. Kakoli Mitra, a multilingual molecular biophysicist having Ph.D. from Yale University, is one of the leading Indian American philanthropists, social activists, environmentalists and innovators. She is the founder of CEO of Śramani Institute, a non-profit organization, which works to solve five major human-ecological challenges in India and the US. A noted name among the Indians in the Washington DC Metro area, Dr. Mitra has two decades of excellence in highly inter-disciplinary scientific innovation. She is a published author with several articles to her credit in some of the best science journals and a keynote speaker on existential sustainability, innovation and likes at many prestigious universities as well as institutions across the world.

IndianEagle catches up with Dr Kakoli Mitra to share with you her insightful views on threats to human existence and possible solutions, increasing homelessness and food waste in USA, poverty and environmental degradation in India, how her organization works with tribal communities in India, how to prevent identity loss of immigrants and other such crucial facets in the following interview at Travel Beats, a digital publication for Indian Diaspora.

Share something about the mission of the Śramani Institute.

All over the world today billions of people face widespread poverty, disease & ill-health, environmental degradation, violence & unrest, and identity loss. At the Śramani Institute we call these the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges. We human beings have created these challenges, because of the way in which we have over-exploited the earth and certain human communities over the past few centuries. These challenges are all inter-linked. So to effectively solve any one of these major challenges in the long-term we must tackle all of them together. It is the mission of the Śramani Institute to generate and implement sustainable and equitable solutions that are effective in the long-term to solve the 5 major human-ecological challenges simultaneously.

Who or what motivated you to found the Śramani Institute?

As a child I attended a number of schools in different countries in Europe, North America, and Asia, having to learn each local language so I could keep up in class. What struck me was that even though the cultures and the Knowledge & Technologies (KT) of each of the communities we lived in were very different, we were taught pretty much the same syllabus in every country. Everywhere I went to school or university, we were taught to value and promote the culture and KT originating in Europe and North America, while disparaging other types of cultures and KT. Even though I come from India, a country that is home to the oldest, most scientifically advanced civilizations in the world, my people and our knowledge were disregarded as primitive, irrelevant, and unscientific in schools and universities in Europe, North America, and sadly, even in India.

Already in my teens I felt passionately that I had to do something concrete to counter this intolerance towards diversity and this unwillingness to believe in the capabilities of all human beings, regardless of their color. Alongside my training and service as a scientist (at Yale University, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NYU, etc.) and later as an Intellectual Property attorney, I conducted independent, scholarly field research to develop a comprehensive framework for what would later become the Śramani Institute. I found that just as we need genetic diversity to survive as living beings, we need diversity in cultures and Knowledge & Technologies (KT) to ensure our survival in the face of economic, environmental, and cultural changes and disasters. And so I founded the Śramani Institute in 2010 with the objective of revitalizing the KT of various communities, especially tribal communities, across the world and empowering innovators from tribal, rural, and urban communities to work together to use a diverse range of KT to solve the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges.

What challenges did you face during or after the inception of the Śramani Institute?

I have faced many challenges when and since I founded the Śramani Institute. The first was that I was a full-time attorney in the US regularly working 10-12 hour a day but that the fieldwork we were doing was in several states of India. Since I personally trained and oversaw my staff in India and initiated fieldwork with new tribal communities myself, I had to stay awake most nights videoconferencing from the US to India, devote all my weekends to working remotely with my staff, and travel to India whenever I could accumulate enough leave. So for several years I had been holding down two full-time jobs with little sleep and no down time. Every second was worth it though, because we were making significant long-term change in the lives of people who had been sidelined and neglected for decades.

The second challenge I faced was money. My objective was to develop our new methods, refine our innovative approach, and prove our ground-breaking concepts before approaching governments, foundations, and philanthropists for funding. So I saved every penny from my own salary and paid the salaries of my staff in India from my own pocket, set up community funds for the tribal communities we worked with, paid for our equipment, fieldwork and travel expenses, research and infrastructure costs, conference and workshop hosting costs, and the administrative fees. Eventually, when in 2014 I decided to devote myself full-time to growing the Śramani Institute in India and the US, all of the institution’s expenses came out of my personal savings.

My third challenge has been to convince those who believe disenfranchised communities can only be helped through the charity of governments, NGOs and individuals that these communities can in fact be empowered to be self-reliant and come up with their own solutions to have a higher Quality of Life. Gradually, as we show how remarkably effective the Śramani Institute’s approach is in the long-term, how significantly they can self-reliantly increase their Quality of Life within a few years and how much more cost-effective our approach is, people are becoming convinced of the possibility and benefits of our self-reliance based approach versus a charity based approach.

What role do you play in the current functioning of the organization? (Your responsibilities)

Since I founded the Śramani Institute in 2010, I have been and continue to be the principal driving force behind developing our novel framework, initiatives, methodology, innovations, and training programs. I have also been overseeing the legal and administrative matters of the institution in India and North America. In 2014, after I transitioned to growing the Śramani Institute full-time, I became its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). So in addition to my previous responsibilities, I am now also in charge of raising funds, increasing our visibility, and forging strategic partnerships globally.

How unique is the model / framework of the Śramani Institute as a nonprofit institution?

The Śramani Institute is unique because of the combination of the following three aspects of who we are and how we operate. First, we are a vertically integrated institution, in that we conduct our own research, perform our own analysis, and implement our own solutions. Generally, apart from governments and international bodies, like the UN and World Bank, most nonprofit organizations either conduct research (like research institutes), perform analysis (like think tanks), or implement projects (like many NGOs). Sometimes an organization might do two of these activities, but rarely all three simultaneously. The Śramani Institute is thus rare in sense that we collect our own data to conduct our own research, we perform our own analysis to interpret our data and generate effective solutions, and we ourselves implement the solutions we generate.

Second, inter-disciplinary, cross-KT innovation is a cornerstone of our institution. We not only promote the diverse innovations of the communities we work with, but we also develop our own innovations in projects and initiatives (like village revitalization), applied programs (like AVISH), and theoretical models and frameworks to anchor our grassroots work (like the Integrated Sustainable Economic Growth model and the Transformative Economics framework). When we innovate we use cutting-edge concepts and techniques from across disciplines (including science, economics, psychology, environmental studies, law, and anthropology/sociology) and from across various systems of Knowledge & Technologies (KT). We are experts at combining the strengths of different KT systems (tribal, rural, urban from different communities and countries) to generate new Hybrid Knowledge & Technologies (HKT) that can solve the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges. It is the Śramani Institute’s inter-disciplinary and cross-KT approach that enables us to generate effective, long-term solutions to the various problems we address in the field, solutions that are locally relevant and have global impact. It is our inclusive approach that makes our solutions relevant and applicable in any country in the world.

Third, sustainability is a core principle underlying our existence and work. Through AVISH we promote sustainable attitudes and behaviors not only in our own staff, but also in our clients (individuals, corporations, organizations) and the communities we work with. For us, being sustainable means treating all human beings equitably and being environmentally sustainable. And so the Śramani Institute strives to pay competitive, living (not minimum) wages to all of our staff, use biodegradable and responsibly sourced materials whenever possible, consume with minimal waste and pollution, and solicit the services of diverse and local craftspeople, farmers, and professionals for our institutional needs. We strive to lead by example.

Can you brief us about on AVISH?

We originally developed AVISH to train the staff of the Śramani Institute. Postgraduates from the best universities across India were applying for positions at our institution, because we offer challenging and meaningful career opportunities that really can’t be found elsewhere in India. These applicants were bright but many lacked the practical skills, stamina, confidence, out-of-the-box thinking, and empathy necessary to work with poor, marginalized communities at the grassroots level and help our institution solve the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges. AVISH enabled us to draw out the inherent strengths of our trainee staff so that within just a few short weeks they could become real-world problem-solvers, energetic, innovative and professional, and compassionate towards people as well as environment,.

Building on the success of AVISH in unlocking the potential of our trainee staff, we expanded the program so that it was at the very least able to improve mental and physical strength, increase self-confidence and cooperative participation, enhance performance, creativity, and innovation potential, and reduce anxiety, depression, and violent, unsustainable behaviors. We have developed AVISH modules for a variety of applications and clients. A few examples are the AVISH Community Empowerment module serving marginalized communities, the AVISH Performance & Leadership Enhancement module serving individuals, corporations, and organizations, and the AVISH Rape & Sexual Assault Prevention module serving educational institutions and communities.

Poverty is one of the ‘major human-ecological challenges’ facing humanity today. What is your approach on behalf of the institution towards mitigating poverty?

Poverty is indeed one of the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges facing a large percentage of humanity today. Unfortunately, many individuals and communities that are poor are also sick, victims of violence, living in degraded environments, and are in the process of losing their identities. Most of these people have been reduced to be living on charity. Perpetuating this dependence on charity has been a common pattern in national and global development efforts. Governments, NGOs, and individuals shell out hundreds of billions of dollars every year financing social welfare systems that provide free education, free food, free shelter, and other free commodities, keeping large numbers of communities indentured to the charity of others.

As I mentioned earlier, in our grassroots work with poor communities they tell us repeatedly that they want to take care of their own needs through their own efforts. They do not want their wellbeing to depend on the charity of others. So what the Śramani Institute does is to work with each of these communities to help them create a Sustainable Village Autonomous economy based on self-Reliant knowledge & TecHnologies (SVARTH, sva (self) + artha (economy)). In tribal villages we have had remarkable success, because when tribal communities have access to natural resources, they are astonishingly self-sufficient and innovative. Each tribal woman and man is skilled in 3 to 7 different professions, ensuring that even in a small village of 100 adults, there are doctors, pharmacists, architects, engineers, textile manufacturers, artists, advocates, resource managers, scientists, therapists, and other professionals. Thus, they are able to take care of their own needs themselves.

To measure the impact of our work we have developed a Quality of Life or Comprehensive Wellbeing Index. When individuals have a high Comprehensive Wellbeing score, they: (1) acquire relevant and practical education, (2) are rooted in their identities, (3) have equitable resources access, (4) engage in livelihoods and sustainable practices, (5) have opportunities and are treated with and treat others with dignity, (6) have access to basic amenities, (7) ensure good nutrition for themselves, (8) engage in effective health and hygiene practices, and (9) are safe and feel empowered in their civic and innovative capacities.

What have been the successes of your approach?

Our self-reliance based approach enables us to increase the Quality of Life or Comprehensive Wellbeing of a community by 300%-500% in a period of just 1-3 years. We have done an economic analysis on the cost-effectiveness of our self-reliance based approach as opposed to a charity-based approach. If a charity based approach were to be taken to ensure an increase in Quality of Life in all 9 aspects to the extent that the Śramani Institute is able to achieve, for a community of 250 families in India the cost of charity would be $3 million for just 3 years. This means that if the Quality of Life of this community were to be maintained for 10 years, the charitable donations would have to increase to $10 million, and so on. In contrast, for $250,000 the Śramani Institute is able to achieve an increase in Quality of Life in all 9 aspects within just 3 years, after which the community self-reliantly maintains and steadily increases their own Quality of Life without any further external costs. This is a savings of $2.8 million for a 3 year period, and a savings of $9.75 million over a 10 year period.

The United States is grappling with increasing homelessness. Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Hawaii and New York declared emergencies over the rise of homelessness in November, 2015. Nearly 1 million people are living on the streets, according to a report by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. What’s your take on it? What are the possible ways the US can overcome or mitigate this problem, according to you?

The Śramani Institute is about to begin working with the poor communities in the US, at the outset in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. These poor communities include individuals and families living on social welfare and homeless people as well. Long-term poverty and homelessness severely decrease an individual’s optimism, willingness, and ability to rely on herself or himself. Often, in addition to all of the other material challenges these individuals face, they also suffer from severe depression. These factors, along with drug infiltration, gun violence, and disenfranchisement, tend to keep many of these individuals perpetually homeless and/or dependent on charity as well as social welfare.

We are entering into partnerships with local organizations in the Greater Washington, D.C. area to create self-reliant urban village economies in poor neighborhoods here in the US. The plan is to create self-employment opportunities in the food and health sectors in these neighborhoods, which not only solves the problem of food deserts (the reality that there are inner city regions in the US where residents have very limited or no access to quality fresh foods), but increases the health and disposable income of the residents in these poor neighborhoods. AVISH will play an essential role in instilling self-confidence, increasing healthy and cooperative behaviors, decreasing depression and violence, and enhancing the innovativeness and self-reliance of the poor as well as homeless individuals we work with. As we have learned from our work in India, people who are impoverished and homeless often just need someone to believe in them and provide them with real opportunities so that they can increase their Quality of Life with their own efforts. What I have outlined is a solid path to get out of homelessness and dependence on social welfare.

Environmental degradation is one of the key areas that the Śramani Institute works in. Food waste is one of the critical reasons for environmental degradation. Approximately 40% of food in the US goes to waste every year. Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted every year. About 40% of food produced in India is wasted, according to the CSR Journal. How food waste affects the environment is known to us. How can India or US or both countries brave these odds to save the environment? (Your view)

Food waste is certainly a reason for environmental degradation. Unfortunately, however, other factors, including industrial and agricultural pollution, over-exploitation of natural resources, over-consumption of manufactured goods, the widespread adoption and use of unsustainable Knowledge & Technologies (KT), and marginalization of communities with sustainable KT, contribute more heavily to environmental degradation.

One of the reasons that tribal communities are leaders in sustainability is because they live in the lap of nature. They intimately understand and experience the consequences of unsustainable behaviors like resource depletion, food waste, and over-consumption; so they do not engage in these behaviors. Rural and urban communities have partially destroyed the ecosystems (forests, indigenous plants, animals, water bodies, etc.) that once used to exist where their settlements now stand. Thus, these communities are not intuitively connected to nature and hence don’t experience or see the environmental or social consequences of their unsustainable behaviors.

Food wastage occurs due to a combination of cultural, economic, and logistical aspects of rural and urban behaviors. It is a highly complex challenge that will need large-scale interventions to transform the way in which we think and behave. AVISH helps root individuals to themselves, to others, and to nature, thereby unlocking their unique potential to think, act, and innovate in ways that sustainably and cooperatively increase their own wellbeing, the wellbeing of others, and the wellbeing of nature. Thus, AVISH could be an instrumental tool in decreasing food wastage and other unsustainable behaviors worldwide.

The Śramani Institute has been working with different tribal communities in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and other states of India for the past 6 years. What is your experience of working with various tribal communities across India? What difficulties did you face (if any)?   

My interactions with tribal communities, no matter what state or country they are in, keep me grounded and humble. I am in awe of and continuously amazed at these remarkable tribal women and men, who despite the staggering challenges they face, are innovative, kind and ingenious. They have a fervent desire and an astounding ability to be entirely self-sufficient. I have undergone 25 years of education and training in some of the world’s most prestigious formal academic establishments and I have deep expertise in three entirely different fields (science, law, and economic development). But when I am in the presence of tribal people, I feel as though all of my accomplishments and accolades pale in comparison to their achievements.

I encountered one tribal man in his early thirties who can generate rain in a cloudless sky, build houses that withstand extreme weather with completely biodegradable materials, and knows how to locate nutritious tubers growing 8 feet below the ground. I met a tribal woman in her twenties who knows how to manufacture a compostable fibre that is stronger than synthetic industrial rope, knows how to make over 200 types of medicines for various ailments, and likes. She is her community’s chief physician. What is amazing is how different each community is. Each community has an entirely different set of sophisticated Knowledge & Technologies (KT) that they have been developing and using for hundreds or thousands of years. Every moment I get to spend with tribal communities I feel privileged to be able to learn so much from them.

Identity loss is one of the threats to humanity in the world. It results in cultural crisis. Does it exist among the young Indian Americans who were born in the US? To be precise, have you ever come across any instance of identity loss or cultural crisis in the current generation of Indian Americans? 

Identity loss definitely results in cultural crisis. But identity loss also results in all of the other Major Human-Ecological Challenges facing humanity today: poverty, disease & ill-health, environmental degradation, and violence & unrest. When we lose our identities, we lose our rootedness in ourselves, in other human beings, and in nature, and hence begin to think and act in ways that are unhealthy as well as unsustainable.

New immigrants all over the world face a stupendous set of challenges. They not only have to become acquainted with and find a way to make a living in a strange and new environment but also have to find a way to integrate themselves into their adopted society while retaining important aspects of their identities. These are very difficult challenges and I really think new immigrants try their best to balance all of these formidable tasks. It is not possible to keep all of your identity when you move to another country, not only because the people around you are different but also because the natural environment around you is different. Unfortunately, losing a part of your identity means you lose touch with the attitudes and behaviors (culture) and Knowledge & Technologies (KT) of your community. What I’ve noticed among Indian Americans is that in general they tend to remain in touch with their performing arts & culture, especially girls and women. But I don’t see Indian Americans being aware of or giving much value to the KT of their communities. Unfortunately, though, even in India I do not observe much awareness of the KT of their communities among young Indians in urban settings.

How does the Śramani Institute raise funds to execute the projects and reach the institution’s goals? 

I have been self-funding the Śramani Institute since I founded it in 2010, because I wanted to develop and test innovative new approaches. Since neither I nor my family is independently wealthy, this has been quite challenging. I essentially saved every penny I earned from my paying jobs to pay for community funds for the tribal communities, the salaries of my staff in India, our fieldwork and travel costs, administrative and legal fees, and all other costs we have incurred over the past few years. Since 2014 I walked away from my paying job to dedicate myself full-time to the Śramani Institute, so funding has become even more challenging. I am now using my personal savings to fund the work of the Śramani Institute in India and the US in this transition period in which we are gearing to scale up our work, in both countries.

We received a National Geographic Legacy Award for our tribal revitalization work in Tamil Nadu and I am very optimistic about receiving various grants that will enable us to scale up our work. Currently I am meeting community leaders and individual philanthropists to create awareness about our work and to hopefully receive sizable donations so that we can continue doing the innovative and essential work we have been doing.

Any landmark achievements in the journey of the Śramani Institute.…

Our biggest achievement is the successful creation of a new model for Integrated Sustainable Economic Growth that simultaneously revitalizes Knowledge & Technologies (KT) that can solve the 5 Major Human-Ecological Challenges, lifts impoverished communities out of abject poverty based on their own innovations and self-reliant efforts, and through AVISH inspires individuals, communities, and organizations to think, act, and innovate sustainably and equitably. The Śramani Institute’s approach is locally relevant with global impact and can be applied to all countries worldwide.

We achieved several other landmarks during our journey. I’ll just mention three here. We conceptualized and organized a ground-breaking conference on ‘Justice in Intellectual Property (IP): Incorporating Marginalized Voices into Mainstream Discourse’ at IIT-Madras, in Chennai, India. The Chief Justice of the IP Appellate Board of India was the keynote speaker at our conference attended by scientists, policymakers, lawyers, judges, scholars, tribal innovators, students, and professionals from across disciplines. We also conducted several successful outreach workshops and seminars in universities and organizations across India, Canada, and the United States in the past several years. And as I mentioned before, we won the National Geographic Legacy Award for our ground-breaking work in tribal revitalization in South India.

Would you like to give a brief about the future projects that you are eyeing on?  

We are expanding now in three directions. First, we will be working with several communities in Indian states where we have already been working: Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand. We will also launch our tribal revitalization projects in other states of India like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. And we are embarking on urban village revitalization projects first in the Greater Washington, D.C. area and then in other parts of the US.

Second, we are approaching social investors to set up new concept Incubation Centers we call Sustainable Incubation Centers, which will serve as hubs to revitalize and commercialize tribal Knowledge & Technologies (KT), generate and commercialize new types of cost-effective and sustainable Hybrid KT for the benefit of communities worldwide, and offer AVISH workshops, seminars, and conferences to rural and urban individuals, corporations, and organizations in order to enhance performance, leadership, and sustainable innovativeness.

Third, we are going to launch our AVISH Rape & Sexual Assault Prevention programs on campuses to decrease the alarming rates of rape and sexual assaults at colleges and universities. We will be beginning in the Fall semester in universities in the Greater Washington, D.C. area.

Is there anything else you would like to share?  

I’d like to encourage people to go to our newly redesigned website www.sramani.org to learn about our institution and the innovative work we do. Our ability to do our ground-breaking work depends on generous donations and contributions. For individuals interested in making a tax-exempt donation in the US or India, I welcome them to reach out to me directly (donate@sramani.org). And finally, I thank you for taking the time to interview me and for giving me the opportunity to share with you our journey and work.

Travel Beats is a digital publication by IndianEagle, a leading travel organization for Indians in USA. IndianEagle connects with Indian Americans and connects them with India through NRI news, editorial features and interviews on Travel Beats. As part of its CSR activity, IndianEagle writes about philanthropists and social activists from the Indian community to promote their contributions towards community development, social progress and Humanity.

The post Interview of Dr. Kakoli Mitra, Washington-based Śramani Institute Founder and CEO appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

The Seattle Metropolitan Area in the US state of Washington houses nearly 55,000 Indian Americans, according to the 2010 census. The Seattle Metropolitan Area includes Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue where most of the Indian restaurants are located. Out of 80,000 Indian restaurants across the United States, some of the most popular Seattle restaurants serve the best Indian food. We at IndianEagle handpicked 10 best Indian restaurants in Seattle based on our survey on where to get the best Indian food Seattle.  

Taste of India

Taste of India is one of the few restaurants for the best Indian food Seattle offers to Indian expats. Famous for bottomless iced tea, it treats guests to a very traditional Indian menu which is reasonably priced. Indian Americans in Seattle swear by delicious saag with butter naan and butter chicken with garlic naan at Taste of India. The menu is not as varied as that of other Indian restaurants in Seattle, but the dishes are among the best.

Roti

One of the best Seattle restaurants for Indian food, Roti is a great family dining destination. Owned and run by Chef Davinder Kohli, Roti is equally famous for its ambience, food and hospitality. Roti restaurant in Seattle boasts a menu of more than 75 dishes cooked with fresh spices ground every morning. Variety and authenticity are hallmarks of the menu at Roti where 11 types of Indian bread are served with different veg and non-veg curries. The food is accompanied by homemade apricot, mint and tamarind sauces. The interior décor inspired by traditional Indian art and culture makes Roti a must-visit Indian restaurant Seattle.

Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tiger in Seattle is one of the few places where Indian food is prepared according to individual palates. The dishes are seasoned with a blend of fresh herbs and spices. The menu of Bengal Tiger is curated from different regions of India. The most popular dishes at this Indian restaurant Seattle include Madras Curry from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu in South India, and Vindaloo from Goa in West India. The food cooked by Chef Udin boasts northeast Indian culinary influences due to the chef’s ancestry in Bengal. Biryani is a must taste here.

Cedars

A favorite of Indian Americans for the best Indian food Seattle, Cedars has been operating for two generations spanning over 40 years at the same historic location, the Seattle Heritage Home. Each bite of freshly cooked naan breads with succulent tandoori meats is an act of sinful indulgence here. Butter Chicken, Palak Paneer, and Korma Rogan Josh are some of the must tries from the comprehensive menu of Cedars. Many stop by Cedars in Seattle for its bottomless Chai with a secret blend of ingredients in pure milk which is served in a homely way. The best thing is that the restaurant offers free refills to keep your cup full till you have enough of it. No wonder why Cedars has bagged several awards for the best Indian restaurant Seattle.

Travelers Thali House

Frequented by Indian expats in Seattle, Travelers Thali House is the only Indian restaurant where vegetarian thalis (complete meals) from different cuisines of India are available. The menu of Travelers Thali House Seattle changes every month to serve different dishes with different flavors. The restaurant is equally popular for serving chai (tea) with mouth-watering Indian sweets and snacks. It also deserves to be mentioned as a haven of Indian street food including papri chaat, samosa chaat, bhel puri, gol gappa, etc.

Masala of India Cuisine

Among the top 10 Indian restaurants in Seattle, Masala of India Cuisine is known for its warm, homely atmosphere, delicious Indian food and friendly service. The restaurant owner Sanjay Sharma welcomes guests with a hearty smile and treats them to his 100-year-old family recipes. The menu of Masala of India Cuisine is a wide selection of veg and non-veg dishes, most of which are favorites of Indian Americans in Seattle. Rice pudding is a must try among the desserts here.

Bombay Grill

Bombay Grill, one of the top Seattle restaurants for Indian food, has been synonymous with the pleasure of fine dining for 42 years. The executive chef of Bombay Grill Seattle has kept Indian culinary traditions alive away from home. Though seafood is mainstay of the menu, Bazari Chicken seasoned with Indian spices is a must have here. Each of the dishes on the menu bears evidence to the chef’s art of blending traditional spices and flavors for different exclusive tastes. The restaurant also houses a subterranean cocktail lounge.

Maharaja

Among the best Seattle restaurants for Indian food, Maharaja is a most frequented haven of Punjabi cuisine. It is popular for serving Punjabi dishes with bold flavors in an inviting ambience. Cooked with traditional spices and ingredients, the food is full of euphoria here. Dining at Maharaja Seattle is a joyous culinary ride.

Garam Masala

Garam Masala is one of the answers to where to get the best Indian food Seattle. Stop by Garam Masala to savor such traditional Indian delicacies as Bombay Fish Curry with tangy flavor and spicy essence. This Indian restaurant in Seattle is synonymous with Fish Biryani, a dish of Indian basmati rice with boneless pieces of fish cooked in a blend of exotic spices. You can order food from Garam Masala’s menu online.

Saffron Grill

Saffron Grill is one of the few Indian restaurants that make Seattle a home away from home for NRIs. Equally known for its delicious food and sophisticated interior décor, the restaurant is a must visit for its signature dish, Butter Chicken dipped in smooth tomato creamy butter sauce. Traditional Tikka Masala from the menu of Saffron Grill Seattle is a must mention for its rich flavor. Such uncommon dishes as Jaipuri Masala from the City of Jaipur make Saffron Grill the best Indian restaurant Seattle for foodies in love with traditional Indian menus.

Travel Beats is a digital portal for Indians and NRIs by IndianEagle, a leading international organization booking travel from Seattle to India. It publishes the latest news, interesting features, inspirational stories and useful tips about travel, tourism, culture, entertainment, food and philanthropy.

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Two Indian American scientists, Ramesh Raliya and Pratim Biswas, at Washington University in St Louis have found a sustainable way to boost agricultural production in keeping with the increasing global population, during their research on the use of nanoparticle technology in agriculture. Their epoch-making invention of an eco-friendly alternative to conventional phosphorus-rich fertilizers is expected to usher in a new age of organic farming.

Pratim Biswas at Washington University in St Louis is a professor of environmental engineering science and Ramesh Raliya is a research scientist. Both in the School of Engineering and Applied Science discovered that the use of zinc oxide nanoparticles in farming would not only improve the growth of food crops but also save water bodies from the polluting effects of phosphorus deposits.

Professor Pratim Biswas (left) and Scientist Ramesh Raliya (right)

Conventional fertilizers rich in rock phosphorus are either applied to the soil or mixed with water used for irrigation in order to nourish plants with nutrients for growth. Studies reveal that plants absorb only 42% of phosphorus from fertilizers, and the rest is drained into water bodies. Thus phosphorus builds up in water bodies and pollutes water by growing algae. Since farmers are using a plenty of phosphorus-rich fertilizer, which equals to 85% of the world’s mined phosphorus, natural phosphorus has become a limited resource and may run out of supply in the next 80 years.

Published in Washington University’s Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, the research by Ramesh Raliya and Pratim Biswas is the first study to highlight drawbacks of using conventional fertilizers in farming and benefits of using zinc oxide nanoparticles in fertilization of plants. Prevention of food crisis and water pollution is the greatest benefit of replacing nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers with zinc oxide nanoparticles.

Research scientist Ramesh Raliya, Pratim Biswas at Washington University in St Louis and their collaborators including Jagadish Chandra Tarafdar at Central Arid Zone Research Institute in Jodhpur, India, created zinc oxide nanoparticles from a fungus around the roots of mung bean (green gram) plants to show how it helps plants absorb nutrients from the soil in an environment-friendly way. Zinc, one of the essential nutrients for growth of plants, stimulates three enzymes to transform the complex structure of natural phosphorus into a form that plants can easily take in from the soil without any fertilizer.

Extreme atmospheric conditions due to climate change make it difficult for plants to absorb phosphorus from the soil. That’s why farmers apply more and more external phosphorus to ensure sufficient growth of plants, without realizing its consequences on environment and nature. The Indian American scientist duo at Washington University aims to help farmers grow food crops without fertilizers, and that is what their successful experiment has proven.

Their use of zinc oxide nanoparticles increased the green gram plants’ intake of phosphorus from the soil by 11% by stimulating the activity of three enzymes from 84% to 108%. The promising results of the experiment include a 27% increase in biomass and a 6% increase in production of beans.

Professor Pratim Biswas at Washington University in St Louis says that 45% of the worldwide use of phosphorus for farming is reported in India and China. Developing countries including India and China import much of this phosphorus from the United States. If both India and China adopt this revolutionary innovation of nanoparticle technology, they will be able not only to reduce import of phosphorus but also to export surplus food, fight food crisis and contribute towards sustainability of environment at the same time.

Travel Beats is a digital news portal for Indians and NRIs by IndianEagle, a leading international organization booking travel between the US and India. It publishes the latest news and stories from India and USA.

Also Read

• Washington University Bothell Lecturer Keya Sen
• New York’s Columbia University Scientist Arnab De  
• Indian American Neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta
• 9-year-old Indian American Oyon Ganguli
• Indian American Philanthropist Frank Islam   

The post Washington University’s Indian American Scientists Invent a Solution to Prevent Food Crisis & Water Pollution appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Indian American lecturer Keya Sen, a master of science from the University College of Science in Kolkata, is awarded the Fulbright Global Scholar grant for her research on public health in India, Bangladesh and China. Keya Sen is a lecturer and scientific adviser in the University of Washington Bothell (UW Bothell), one of the three campuses of Washington University.

Keya Sen began her public health research project in 2014 in Bothell campus of the university. She did research on pathogen campylobacter, a type of bacteria, carried by crows that nestle in the university campus. Those infected by the bacteria can suffer from gastroenteritis, a nausea-causing inflammation, diarrhea and abdominal cramp. But the infection may not necessarily be spread by the crow. Keya Sen explores this theory at the genetic level in her research.

She is a public health microbiologist too, with a PhD degree in biological science from the School of Medicine, New York University. She previously worked for the US’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food & Drug Administration.

Lecturer Keya Sen, a resident of greater Seattle area, is the 7^th recipient of the Fulbright Global Scholar award from the University of Washington Bothell. Given in recognition of one’s academic achievement, the award supports teaching and research professionals’ academic trips to three countries in pursuit of globally relevant topics.

Also Check Stories of Indians in America

Travel Beats is a digital news portal for Indians and NRIs by IndianEagle, a leading international organization booking travel from the US to India. It publishes the latest news and stories from India and USA.

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