In Love With Robotics 3D Entrepreneur Blending Art and Tech
MARCH/APRIL 2019 Rs. 20
Full
STE(A)M Ahead!
Educators at the
Rhode Island School of Design highlight the benefits of adding creative arts to traditional STEM studies.
ProblemSolving by
Design
DAVID O'CONNOR
By MICHAEL GALLANT
Rhode Island School of Design’s furniture design majors carry projects to the studio. The course helps students explore ways to take advantage of changing technologies and new materials.
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V O LU M E L X N U M B E R 2
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CONTENTS 2 2 8 10 14
Problem-Solving by Design The Arts Effect Hidden No More Bridging the Gender Gap
32 26
Communicating Care
28
In Love With Robotics
32
3D Entrepreneur
34
36
Helping Women ADVANCE in STEM Deciphering the Past, Predicting the Future
Store Right, Save More
20
Scanning the Depths
38
Integrated Waste Management
22
Science of Conservation
40
Blending Art and Tech
Courtesy Silky Agrawal
17
20 Editor in Chief Conrad W. Turner
Reviewing Editor Karl M. Adam
Editor Deepanjali Kakati Associate Editor Suparna Mukherji Hindi Editor Giriraj Agarwal Urdu Editor Syed Sulaiman Akhtar Copy Editor Shah Md. Tahsin Usmani
Art Director/ Production Chief Hemant Bhatnagar Deputy Art Directors / Production Assistants Qasim Raza, Shah Faisal Khan Editorial Assistant Justina Bosco
Courtesy Jasmeet Kaur
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ccording to politicians, economists and industry leaders around the world, the effective teaching of STEM subjects— science, technology, engineering and mathematics—will be key to success, both technological and financial, locally and internationally, for decades to come. But a growing movement says that the acronym is incomplete. By integrating the arts into more traditional scientific and
March/April 2019
Front cover: Photograph by Hemant Bhatnagar; graphics from Getty Images.
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technical studies, transforming STEM into STEAM, innovative educators are showing just how powerful a creative approach to sciencerelated subjects can be. Babette Allina serves as the executive director of government relations at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The institution teaches disciplines like painting, sculpture, industrial design, architecture and textiles, and has been at the forefront of the STEM-to-STEAM movement since it began. Starting in 2011, Allina and colleagues from RISD have been working closely with Democratic and Republican congresspeople to integrate the arts into STEM curricula and make federal funding for STEM studies available for art and design programs as well, from kindergarten to postgraduate studies. Their efforts also include transforming research policy to include art and design, and encouraging industry leaders to drive innovation by hiring dedicated artists and designers. Allina describes the STEM-to-STEAM movement as gaining momentum not just on the 4 MARCH/APRIL 2019
national, lawmaking front, but also within a growing number of educational institutions around the world. Several colleges and universities are creating STEAM programs of their own. It’s a trend she expects to only increase with every passing year.
Roots of STEAM As a movement, STEM-to-STEAM began from the ground up. “Our efforts to integrate the arts into traditional STEM studies is really based on student interest in advocating for creativity in the world and in their careers,” says Allina. “Many of our students, and RISD’s leadership, shared concerns about how there seemed to be a hyper-focus within the United States on STEM, including government investment in those subjects, as a way to make the country globally competitive, especially in the face of jobs moving overseas for manufacturing.” “We all felt that there was something important missing from that equation,” she says. Allina sees the blending of the arts and STEM subjects as a key to economic and technological
Above: A student works in the illustration studio of the Rhode Island School of Design. Whether painting at the easel, drawing on a computer screen or making 3D characters, illustration majors learn the skills and techniques needed for effective visual storytelling, often blending art and technology. Above right: A student at work in RISD’s furniture design studio, which provides access to a range of state-of-the-art design and production resources and tools. Right: All first-year students at RISD take three studio courses—drawing, design and spatial dynamics—meeting three days a week for six hours a day.
Photographs by JO SITTENFELD
success, both for individual students and nations as a whole. In particular, such a fusion is required, she says, due to the ever-increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into our daily life and business. “How are we going to interface with robots as they become more and more ubiquitous?” asks Allina. “Creative and technologically-skilled designers are becoming increasingly important, as we see more AI. A key question always is: ‘How do we humanize technology in an increasingly automated world?’ ‘How do we build empathy into the design process of new technologies?’ ” “These are scientific and engineering questions,” she continues, “but they’re inherently art- and design-based questions as well.” Allina has seen the potential of STEAM not just in the technological horizon, but also with her own student interns at RISD. In particular, she points to two graduates who participated in the school’s political efforts and are now successfully involved in the design aspects of creating new finance-oriented technology. A third student, Sarah Pease, studied at RISD as a “hands-on maker,” says Allina, focusing on furniture design. “She was very accomplished and became a designer for a small software start-up after she graduated in 2015,” says Allina. “She now works as a designer on the Civic Engagement team at Facebook, focusing on how users interact with
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 5
Rhode Island School of Design’s central campus resource serves as a hub for exploring design in nature and the natural connections between art and science, offering students hands-on access to more than 80,000 specimens, along with high-end microscopes and aquatic tanks.
JO SITTENFELD
“
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Adding the ‘A’ in STEM has powerful, real-w world results that can touch millions of people.
www.risd.edu
Arvind Gupta www.arvindguptatoys.com
Facebook regarding elections. Stories like hers help prove the point that adding the ‘A’ in STEM has powerful, real-world results that can touch millions of people.”
STEAM for India The STEM-to-STEAM evolution transcends languages and locations, with fascinating progress happening not just within the United States, but in India as well. During a recent STEAM conference in Barcelona, Spain, for example, Allina was introduced to the work of Arvind Gupta, an Indian toy inventor, whom she calls a wonderful popularizer of science for kids. “Gupta creates learning tools that teach engineering concepts to children through hands-on experiences,” says Allina, “and the experiments are conducted with objects, sometimes even pieces of trash, which are readily available anywhere in India.” These toy-based explorations, which have been distributed widely throughout the country via
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Rhode Island School of Design
newspapers, magazines, books and television, include “How Does an Aircraft Fly?”, which uses drinking straws to teach principles of aerodynamics. Another, called “Pumps from the Dump,” shows how to create a variety of functional water and air pumps using tools like discarded PVC (polyvinyl chloride) piping and film canisters. “Gupta has come up with an incredibly creative, fun, STEAM- and design-based way to put science in the hands of students,” says Allina. “His experiments are such thoughtful ways to introduce these concepts to even the poorest kids, so that those who don’t have access to iPads and other technology can still learn about STEM subjects.” Whether teaching the principles of physics to the needy or reshaping the face of the world’s largest social media networks, the STEAM movement shows no signs of losing its own proverbial steam. Michael Gallant is the founder and chief executive officer of Gallant Music. He lives in New York City.
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The Arts Effect
I Courtesy Ruth Catchen
By STEVE FOX
Adding the
arts to STEM education can make these disciplines more attractive to women from an early age.
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t’s no secret that job opportunities abound in the fast-growing STEM industries, making these fields a pathway to greater economic opportunities for women, their families and their communities. However, a 2018 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center found that while employment in STEM occupations, since 1990, has outpaced overall U.S. job growth, women still remain underrepresented in several key STEM fields. STEM is the acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Expanding the concept of STEM subjects by adding the arts—what’s known as STEAM education—can make these disciplines more attractive to women from an early age, says educator Ruth Catchen. She leads Enhancing STEM: Exploring the Arts Effect, which develops curriculum for STEAM education. “Women are nurturers—they want to feel they are doing something good for society, for the world. So, we have to show them that doing good is a piece of STEM,” says Catchen. “Girls tend to shy away from STEM as they don’t connect immediately with these fields as something to help others,” she continues. “By opening the door through the arts, girls may discover how interesting the world is and how much they can do through discovery to make it better, which is what science is about. For instance, by making things to solve a problem—engineering—they improve the world. Showing them this through the arts allows them to be creative, try things that are accessible to them and open the doors to more complex academic content.” The Pew study echoes Catchen’s views, finding that while women make up a full 75 percent of health care practitioners and technicians, they remain underrepresented in engineering (14 percent), computer (25 percent) and physical science (39 percent) occupations. Catchen, who holds a master’s degree in
music in vocal performance, has been on stage with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States. She later turned her attention to education and, in 2007, received her second master’s degree from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in Curriculum and Instruction. She is currently the artist-in-residence at Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy in Colorado Springs, which works to improve student and teacher proficiency in STEAM. “If students create art from what they see under a microscope, for instance, they may get interested in ways to solve health problems and create a vaccine or medicine,” says Catchen. “If they learn about what it takes to live in outer space by designing a space suit, they may want to pursue a career in engineering.” Catchen believes that STEAM education can be valuable not only to students but also to employers who hire workers with the flexibility and open-mindedness that this approach fosters. “Someone with a STEAM background might try more things, have more ideas, think more creatively,” she says. “They might be better communicators, better team players. All these qualities would be beneficial to an employer. It’s difficult to quantify qualities like critical thinking or creativity or being more willing to take risks, but I can tell you from observation that these are all attributes that a STEAM approach develops in students.” Approaching STEM through the arts can also help women understand that it’s good to try different approaches to solving problems and that it’s all right to fail, notes Catchen. “A lot of young girls are told that they need to be perfect, that they have to meet other people’s needs,” she says. “We don’t tell them that trial and error is how we learn, that it’s okay to brainstorm and throw out 10 or 15 ideas on how to approach a problem, even if half of them are ridiculous. The arts can help
COD Newsroom/Courtesy Flickr Courtesy Ruth Catchen
jacoblund/iStock/Getty Images
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Enhancing STEM: Exploring The Arts Effect www.stemartseffect.com
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
“ ”
If students create art from what they see under a microscope, they may get interested in ways to solve health problems and create a vaccine or medicine.
www.uccs.edu
Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy www.d11.org/Swigert develop that kind of mind-set, so women know that it’s better to try and see what happens than not to try.” STEAM courses, which are aimed primarily at students in elementary and middle schools, have become more widespread in the United States in recent years, says Catchen. She notes that over time, this may help address misconceptions that keep women from pursuing STEM careers. “Sometimes, girls who like artistic things, who are creative, may turn away from science because they picture a brainy-looking person
Left: Two of the 19 “future engineers” from Girl Scouts Troops 50303 and 51085 at College of DuPage, Illinois, take part in activities promoting engineering, guided by members of the Society for Women Engineers chapter at the college. Below left: Students at Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy, Colorado, use Legos to understand the science and engineering involved in building a base station on the moon. Below far left: Educator Ruth Catchen (far left), who leads Enhancing STEM: Exploring the Arts Effect, says that adding the arts to STEM allows girls to be creative and open the doors to more complex academic content.
in a lab coat,” she says. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. Some of this is about breaking down stereotypes.” Today’s fast-changing world requires that people learn how to adapt to new challenges throughout their careers. “If you don’t have problem-solving skills, creativity and critical thinking, you’re not going to succeed in today’s world,” says Catchen. “The arts can help women with this.” Steve Fox is a freelance writer, former newspaper publisher and reporter based in Ventura, California.
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F
or Nandita Jayaraj, science writing was an accidental discovery. “All through my childhood, I wrote, but never harbored any dreams of making a profession out of it,” she says. After earning a degree in journalism, she joined The Hindu, writing for the children as well as the science sections of the newspaper. But it was at Brainwave, a Bengaluru-based children’s science magazine, where she
realized that science journalism was a viable profession and found her true niche. She met science editor Aashima Dogra and together, they created The Life of Science project. The website focuses on women scientists in India, chronicling their work and experiences. In 2018, Jayaraj was selected to be part of a multiregional project of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership
Hidden No By PAROMITA PAIN
Science writer
Nandita Jayaraj
ANNA FUCIKOVA
shares her experience of participating in the U.S. State Department’s IVLP project on advancing women in STEAM fields.
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Program (IVLP) on “Advancing Women in STEAM Fields.” The exchange program provided an opportunity to explore organizational and educational policies designed to champion the interests of women in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics—a grouping commonly referred to by the acronym STEAM. It brought together 50 women working in STEAM fields
in 50 countries and territories around the world for the one-of-a-kind exchange program, “Hidden No More,” in the United States. The early sessions on the structures and functioning of the U.S. government and federalism, says Jayaraj, helped put into context the different experiences and conversations they had over the next few
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Science writer Nandita Jayaraj (left) and other International Visitor Leadership Program participants at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.
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Courtesy Nandita Jayaraj
weeks of the program. “The policies and gender equality programs [related to STEAM fields] were different depending on the state and institution, but the one thing they had in common was a sensitive approach to women’s issues and an acknowledgment of gender bias,” she says. “I was particularly impressed by the National Institutes of Health’s Scientific Workforce Diversity office, headed by Chief Officer Dr. Hannah Valantine.” Dr. Valantine works to diversify the biomedical research workforce by expanding recruitment and retention, and promoting inclusiveness and equity. Jayaraj was also heartened to learn that several grants, like those offered by the National Geographic Society, have provisions to encourage and support the participation of women. “For example, dependent care
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assistance, which allows the grantees to use the funds to cover childcare or eldercare expenses, is one,” she says. “This is important because it is directly linked to productivity and will go a long way in nurturing potential and talent.” For Jayaraj, the program was also a chance to examine the close links between diversity and effective policymaking. “Dana Hurley, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, reminded us that ‘in diverse crowds, people are more considerate of different viewpoints,’” she says. The various sessions examined the effects of the current exclusionary policies and infrastructure existing worldwide in science, which are most likely the result of a nondiverse body of policymakers. “We end up
“
In diverse crowds, people are more considerate of different viewpoints.
“Talking to them about what has worked and what hasn’t gave me a better idea of what can work in India. There are several collaborations underway. The underlying idea is that we need not try and reinvent the wheel unless we absolutely have to.” Her many interviews with women scientists for The Life of Science have shown that women in science have to work several times as hard as men to accomplish the same thing. “This is true for members of all marginalized groups around the world,” she says. Jayaraj believes, her understanding of the situation has become more nuanced and she looks forward to sharing her insights from the exchange visit with the scientific community in India.
losing huge amounts of talent and diversity of thought,” says Jayaraj. “It’s not just certain individuals or women who suffer because of this. It is science; the entire field.” The participants also interacted with people from the film and entertainment industry and learned how they use science and scientific content in their work. “Since the program was, after all, inspired from a Hollywood movie ‘Hidden Figures,’ this made sense,” says Jayaraj. Although most of the program involved meetings with people at U.S. institutions, there were also opportunities to exchange views and ideas with the 49 other women working in STEAM fields. “This was really important for us from developing nations because, often, we had more in common with each other than those from the United States,” she explains.
Paromita Pain is an assistant professor of Global Media Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. ANNA FUCIKOVA
Left: The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on “Advancing Women in STEAM Fields” brought together 50 women working in STEAM fields in 50 countries and territories around the world for the one-of-akind exchange program, “Hidden No More,” in the United States. Below: Nandita Jayaraj (third from right) and other IVLP participants with Shirley Ballard Foster (center), who worked as an intern with NASA and witnessed the launch of Gemini V on August 21, 1965.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 13
Bridging
Gender Gap the
By MICHAEL GALLANT
Educators
are clearing the path for new generations of female scientists, mathematicians, engineers and more.
14 MARCH/APRIL 2019
STEAM Master of Education, University of San Diego
F
https://bit.ly/2AXG2PP
Rice University
www.rice.edu
rom Katherine Johnson’s groundbreaking space travel calculations to Barbara McClintock’s Nobel Prize-winning role in the discovery of mobile genetic elements, women have contributed tremendously to the worlds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics—a grouping commonly referred to by the acronym STEM. Yet, even today, women who pursue STEM-related careers are greatly outnumbered by their male counterparts. It’s a disturbing gap that many educators, politicians and global leaders are working hard to make a remnant of the past. But why might girls avoid STEM subjects in the first place? According to Pratibha Varma-Nelson, professor of chemistry and the founding executive director of the STEM Education, Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, many families, even today, tell young girls that “they don’t belong in the sciences. Low-income and first-generation students especially get this message a lot.”
Changing the picture Varma-Nelson also points out that STEM disciplines are often taught using outdated methods that are not friendly to students who may already feel hesitant. Furthermore, she says, the disciplines carry an incorrect reputation of being harshly competitive rather than collaborative, and reinforce unhelpful, male-centric stereotypes. For instance, “Pictures of scientists still portray a white male in a beard, working alone,” she says. Through SEIRI, Varma-Nelson has helped promote a number of initiatives that break down these obstacles. Through To share articles go to https://span.state.gov
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https://seiri.iupui.edu/
REETA ASMAI/UC Davis DANIELPENFIELD
the Peer-Led Team Learning mode of teaching, for example, STEM students meet in small groups in tandem with regular lectures, working together closely to solve problems, under the guidance of peer leaders. The model “has shown to increase success rates of all students,” she says, “male, female, minority and majority.”
New guidelines
Top: A participant of the 2018 UC Davis C-STEM Girls in Robotics Leadership (GIRL) Camp, which took place at UC Davis and 11 other sites across California and Ohio. The one-week-long camps motivate girls in middle school, through peer mentoring by female college and high school students, to learn leadership and STEM concepts through a robotics-based curriculum. Above: Educational institutions are working hard to encourage more girls and women to engage in STEM and STEAM disciplines like robotics.
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Bobbi Hansen, an associate professor at the University of San Diego, says that recent changes in educational guidelines within the United States have already begun to impact female STEM participation. She is a faculty member of the university’s online Master of Education in STEAM program, as well as the author of “The Heart and Science of Teaching: Powerful Applications for Every Classroom.” “In 2016, most states in the United States adopted new science teaching standards for all school-aged children,” she says. “These emphasize process over content. So, when kids learn science, they aren’t just memorizing information; they are the ones in the driver’s seat, experimenting and discovering. This is a huge and fundamental change that is helping girls, and other underrepresented students, to have a growth mind-set, and to understand, from their very first year in school, that they are scientists and that they can do science.”
Tackling biases India-born scientist Asmita Banerjee moved to the United States in 2017 to pursue a doctoral degree in earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Rice University, Texas.
To Banerjee, who has done both her bachelor’s and master’s studies in her native country, STEM subjects have been fascinating for as long as she can remember. “Playing with numbers was a big part of my childhood,” she recalls. “However, I think, my biggest influences were National Geographic magazines and shows, where scientists would collect molten lava or go to Antarctica to understand our planet better. These just seemed like the coolest things that I could possibly do.” Banerjee describes her family as valuing education above all else. “So, there was never any gender bias or discrimination there,” she says. But later on, she had to deal with people “implicitly hinting that girls are incapable of doing science.” She has also heard, on multiple occasions, when women outperformed men, the assumption that “it is only because of their gender, or that they somehow used their sexuality to get an advantage.” Casual sexism is so ingrained in societies around the world, she continues, that people participate in it without realizing the pain that they may be causing. “Inappropriate comments, slight remarks in the lab, inappropriate behavior on field trips and comments about how women are a distraction in the workspace are big obstacles for women,” she says.
Speak up! Hansen acknowledges that despite notable progress, and stringent university guidelines supporting equitable treatment of both sexes, these undercurrents still exist. What should young female scientists, mathematicians and engineers do if they encounter such friction? “Speak up,” says Hansen. “The law is on your side now and, even though this wasn’t the case in the past, the zeitgeist is on your side. If there are problems, if you feel cut down or discriminated against because you are a woman, make your voice heard.” Banerjee also advises aspiring female STEM pioneers to persevere. “Never let anyone make you feel that you are not good enough or that STEM studies are not for you,” she says. “You are no less than anyone else, and if someone tells you otherwise, take it as a challenge. Do brilliant work to prove them wrong, but more importantly, to prove to yourself that you are capable of everything that you dream of.” Michael Gallant is the founder and chief executive officer of Gallant Music. He lives in New York City.
Photographs courtesy Shravani Ladkat
Store Right,
Above left: Shravani Ladkat (above), director of Sanjeevani Disaster Equipments, learns laboratory techniques of food analysis. Top: Samples of rice in Ladkat’s storage system remained free of insect infestation during the testing period of four months.
Save More
A
ccording to experts, 30 to 40 percent of the food produced in India gets wasted. Most of the losses are attributed to spoilage caused by inefficient supply chain management. Lack of proper storage facilities for perishables, like fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat, is a major cause for concern. Shravani Ladkat plans to help alleviate that problem. The doctoral student and young entrepreneur is working to develop a technology to capture the waste heat produced by cooling systems and use it to dry fruits or vegetables for long durations or keep baked
By BURTON BOLLAG
Nexus-trained
Shravani Ladkat works on technologies to reduce food losses in India.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 17
https://startupnexus.net/
American Center New Delhi https://bit.ly/2QIzPw1
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Nexus
IC² Institute
http://ic2.utexas.edu/
Millennium Alliance
https://mill-all.com/
National Institute of Nutrition
www.ninindia.org
Above: Using the “hot and cold” storage system (above right), one kilogram of onions reduces to about 67 grams post drying. Right: Tomatoes drying in the “hot and cold” storage system. The process can help farmers reduce wastage and get around Rs. 600 a kilogram for dried tomatoes. Far right: A farmer shows the bins she uses for storing her produce. Lack of efficient storage facilities is a major reason for food spoilage in India.
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goods warm and dry in food stores. She is a director at the Pune-based Sanjeevani Disaster Equipments.
Heating the right target Ladkat’s technology could prove to be a boon for farmers and food retailers across India. The system, she says, saves about 80 percent of the costs of running a food heating or drying system, providing producers with a new way to add value to their products at very low costs. “For example, farmers throw away lots of tomatoes due to spoilage,” says Ladkat. “But, they can get around Rs. 600 per kilogram for dried tomatoes!” With a grant from the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India, a small prototype of the “hot and cold” storage system was built at the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad. The prototype was studied for its use for grain storage by Ladkat. It showed a key benefit: grains kept in hot storage remained free of insect infestation.
Ladkat is now working on a larger prototype, with a grant from the Millennium Alliance, a partnership between the governments of the United States and India, which provides support to innovators. The technology is relatively simple. Cooling systems, like air conditioners or cold storage rooms, have a condenser that lowers the temperature of a fluid in a pipe. The heat produced as an unwanted byproduct is usually dissipated into the air. But the “hot and cold” system blows that heat into a closed system that takes it to a heating room for farm produce or, on a smaller scale, to shop display cases, where food products like samosas can be kept warm and crisp. The heating system can be retrofitted onto existing cooling systems, like those owned by farmers’ cooperatives or bakeries.
Born innovator Ladkat was born and raised in Pune.
New skills, new partners In 2018, Ladkat won a place in the Nexus Incubator for the company. The start-up hub is a collaboration between the American Center New Delhi and the IC² Institute of The University of Texas at Austin. She says the 10-week training and mentoring program was very useful. “Nexus helped us better understand the market,” says Ladkat. “A lot of research takes place, but [the resulting innovations] don’t fit the needs of the market.” American and Indian mentors took her to visit
bakeries, for instance, where she determined that her system could save them about 30 percent of their electricity bills. The program taught her a variety of entrepreneurial skills, including “how to negotiate with angel investors.” Ladkat has a series of meetings planned with rural women’s organizations and agricultural groups to present her “hot and cold” storage system. She believes there is great potential for expanding the production of dried tomatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms and numerous other crops, which is a relatively new concept in India. Ladkat’s focus is on being a social entrepreneur: making a business out of providing innovative technology to improve the earnings and lives of India’s small farmers. “Farmers have a hard time,” she says. “I really want to help them reduce food losses.” Burton Bollag is a freelance journalist living in Washington, D.C.
Above: Shravani Ladkat was part of a 10-week training and mentoring program of the Nexus Incubator start-up hub at the American Center New Delhi, in 2018. Below: A cold storage facility used for ripening fruits and vegetables. Ladkat’s heating system can be retrofitted onto such existing systems. Bottom: Ladkat (right) interacts with farmers to better understand their storage needs. Photographs courtesy Shravani Ladkat
With her interest in developing technologies relevant to the needs of the country’s farmers and small entrepreneurs, Ladkat has followed in her father’s footsteps. Rajendra Ladkat, a former air-conditioning contractor, founded Sanjeevani Disaster Equipments in 2012. The company, codirected by them, has developed a number of innovations in disaster relief, food and waste management, water harvesting and road safety.
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Scanning the
G By JASON CHIANG
Silky Agrawal’s GeoCarte provides innovative geoexploratory services using GPR technology.
Top right: Silky Agrawal (first from left), founder of GeoCarte Radar Technology. The start-up provides professional services for various non-destructive geoexplorations (above right, right and bottom right), ranging from utility mapping to archaeological investigations, using ground penetrating radar.
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round penetrating radar (GPR) is considered a great tool to detect metallic or non-metallic objects in soil, water, ice, concrete and other domains. Compared to other non-destructive techniques, like infrared thermography, ultrasonic or microwave, GPR, which is based on the principle of scattering of electromagnetic waves, offers more penetrating power. This enables the detection of defects and deteriorations at greater depths. The technology can, thus, be used in applications like utility mapping, transport infrastructure monitoring, estimation of groundwater level and archaeological investigations. One of the key players in this field in India is GeoCarte Radar Technology. Founded by Silky Agrawal and incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, the start-up provides advanced geoexploratory services using GPR technology. Agrawal, who holds a master of technology degree in civil engineering from IIT Gandhinagar, participated in the All-India Road Show on Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE 2.0), a Public Affairs New Delhi grant program implemented by the U.S.-based nonprofit organization The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Inc.) and its India chapters. Excerpts from an interview. How did you become interested in radar technology? How did GeoCarte Radar Technology come together? I was a student of civil engineering at IIT Gandhinagar. With the soul of an engineer and heart of an entrepreneur, I initiated the start-up GeoCarte Radar Technology Private Limited, working in the field of nondestructive geo-exploration using GPR. We are currently incubated at IIT Gandhinagar. Being a girl from a traditional family,
starting a company as a single founder and working in the infrastructure domain in India were a big deal. I faced issues to start it up, but the motivation and support from my mentor, Professor Amit Prashant, kept me moving forward. What are some of the skills you deem crucial to achieving success as an entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship requires a high risktaking capability, the ability to think big and to take your idea to new heights, as well as possessing equally high patience to tolerate the downfalls. Another important skill is to know a little bit about everything in your business. But, hard work is the key to success. To achieve something, one has to come out of their comfort zone. The harder you work for something, the better the result you will achieve for it. Could you briefly share some of the successful applications of your technology? I was working in Dholavira in Gujarat, one of the largest Harappan civilization sites, using GPR technology during my master’s at IIT Gandhinagar. While learning this technology, we came across its limitations and, eventually, developed an advanced analysis tool. We realized its commercial potential and decided to start a company to provide quality services for complex projects in underground scanning. At GeoCarte, we provide comprehensive professional services for all kinds of nondestructive geo-explorations, ranging from utility mapping to archaeological investigations and many more domains, using GPR. With our advanced technology, we can map the underground utility services without digging, and detect leaks in existing pipes. This can save huge amount of time and money, and can considerably reduce the
Photographs courtesy Silky Agrawal
Depths undesirable delays in a project. We have successfully completed several projects for utility mapping, road inspection, railway ballast investigation and archaeological investigation. What were some of the your biggest takeaways from the All India Roadshow on Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE 2.0)? I got to meet amazing and inspiring female mentors. At AIRSWEEE 2.0, I got to learn about the difficulties that woman entrepreneurs could face. My takeaways were to just give your 100 percent to anything you want to do, and you will always find a way for it. Don’t get constrained by the surrounding environment; it is ok to go against the common thinking sometimes, you will always be appreciated at a later stage for all your hard work. There is nothing impossible, and nothing that females can’t do that males can.
GeoCarte
www.geocarte.in
IIT Gandhinagar www.iitgn.ac.in
Project AIRSWEEE
http://women.tie.org
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Do careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) have a glass ceiling for women? What issues would you like to see improved? I am a civil engineer, part of a field where, even today, you will not find many females. In spite of all the stereotypes, I go on sites myself, at nights on roads, to supervise. In the infrastructure domain, this is very uncommon for a woman. We ourselves put constraints on what a woman could do. There is nothing you can’t do. You need to have confidence, will and courage; nothing can stop you. It’s all about your wish and desire to do something. Jason Chiang is a freelance writer based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 21
of Science Conservation By NATASA MILAS
Fulbright-Nehru Fellow
Uma Ramakrishnan works to conserve the tiger population in India using population genetics.
22 MARCH/APRIL 2019
Photographs courtesy Uma Ramakrishnan
Above and right: Uma Ramakrishnan and her student, Kaushal Patel, search for and collect tiger hair samples. Above right: Ramakrishnan and her team members collect tiger fecal samples for DNA analysis.
U
ma Ramakrishnan is an assistant professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru. Her work focuses on population genetics and the evolutionary history of mammals. She is one of India’s leading scientists endeavoring to preserve the tiger population in the subcontinent. Data from her work has been used for creating and improving plans for conservation of tigers in a rapidly-urbanizing India. In 2013, Ramakrishnan and her team’s data was used as evidence in the Supreme Court to petition for an underpass for the widened National Highway 7, to enable tiger connectivity between Kanha and Pench tiger reserves. Ramakrishnan was a 2015-2016 Fulbright-
Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellow at Stanford University, California. She is the first Indian to win the Parker/Gentry Award, administered by The Field Museum in Chicago, in recognition of her work using genetic data from tigers to inform conservation efforts. Excerpts from an interview. How did you become interested in population genetics? I was always interested in the natural world and in understanding animal behavior. I was lucky to grow up on the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bengaluru. My curiosity as a child always extended beyond simply
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 23
Below right: As part of her Fulbright-Nehru fellowship, Ramakrishnan (left) and her host Elizabeth Hadly (second from left), professor of environmental biology at Stanford University, visited and sampled captive tigers at Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to test the new methods, which could make tiger conservation genetics cheaper, faster and applicable across tiger range.
Photographs courtesy Uma Ramakrishnan
Below: Uma Ramakrishnan (left) receives the Parker/Gentry Award, administered by The Field Museum in Chicago, in recognition of her work using genetic data from tigers to inform conservation efforts. Right: Ramakrishnan’s students, Meghana Natesh (left) and Anubhab Khan (center), during their visit to the Oakland Zoo to collect tiger DNA samples.
“ ”
The methods we developed while at Stanford are going to be generalizable across tiger range countries.
24 MARCH/APRIL 2019
observing the natural world. I asked myself: Why do animals behave the way they do? What is actually transpiring in these animal populations? Early on, I realized that there was a hidden layer of information that we were not considering—DNA and genetic variation. After high school, I accompanied my family to Princeton University [New Jersey], where my father was on a sabbatical. At Princeton, I audited a variety of courses and spent time in a molecular ecology lab. I learnt that I could gain deep insights into biology by understanding this hidden information layer. I knew then that I wanted to use a genetics lens to study wildlife populations. After my studies, I was very lucky to get a job at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, which is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bengaluru, and jumped into this empowering environment. I was their first hire in the ecology and evolution area. Soon after I joined, I got a call from [conservation zoologist and tiger expert] Ullas Karanth, asking if I was interested in
working on tigers and their genetics. The rest, as they say, is history. My journey over the last 15 years or so at NCBS, understanding tigers and other Indian biodiversity, has been incredibly exciting. How is your work helping to preserve the tiger population in India? The future of tigers is really in our hands. Thanks to the efforts of the Government of India, several tiger populations have recovered. The viability and future survival of these populations will be contingent on our ability to maintain connectivity between them. I am really proud that our work in 2013 was used as evidence in the Supreme Court to petition for an underpass on the widened National Highway 7 to enable tiger connectivity between Kanha and Pench tiger reserves. We only did the science, many individuals and NGOs made this science impactful in that context. But, I think, the fact that the science and data existed was important. I hope our research has and will continue to
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Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship https://bit.ly/2TzdrXJ
NCBS www.ncbs.res.in fill the gap between science, management and policy. We are currently working on an isolated population of tigers in Rajasthan, and I hope our research insights will help plan what may be the best way to ensure long-term survival of this population. In 2015-2016 you went to Stanford University, California, as a FulbrightNehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellow. How does that experience help your current work in India? This was a really great opportunity for me. I had been at NCBS for nine years or so, had addressed many research questions here in India, and had become absorbed in the academic trajectory of tenure, students, grants and institutional activities. A sabbatical sounded great. I was outside my comfort zone at Stanford University, the academic mecca for population genetics. Additionally, Stanford is nestled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where many conservation NGOs and start-up companies at the forefront of new genomic technologies are based. The amazing thing about being outside your comfort zone is that it is empowering. With colleagues at Stanford, we turned what has typically been a challenge for conservation genetics—non-invasive or poor-quality DNA samples—into a strength. We asked whether we could develop cheap, reliable and fast methods that used novel genomic technologies to work on poor-quality samples. We successfully developed and tested these methods, between the United States and India, on tigers and on a marine species, queen conch. While at Stanford, my colleagues and I set up the Program for Conservation Genomics. Our goal was to provide simple-to-use genetic approaches to on-ground conservationists. We
are still working together to make this a reality. Our work is in the peer review process, but I hope it will be out soon, and will provide a way to empower on-ground conservationists. What are some of the biggest challenges in your work? Permissions to work in protected areas are always very challenging. Then, there are the things you really have no influence over. It rains and, well, your samples collected over the next few days are unlikely to have DNA or yield results. Sometimes, we work with large teams or in areas which are very difficult (for example, high elevation), inaccessible or not very politically stable.
Stanford University www.stanford.edu
Parker/Gentry Award https://bit.ly/2SV3IOM
What are your future research plans? I would really like to build partnerships with other tiger researchers across Asia. The methods we developed while at Stanford are going to be generalizable across tiger range countries. One of the goals is that everyone across the world can use a common platform for analyses, so that the data is comparable. Critical to this effort, however, is that each country builds an ecosystem to generate and analyze their genetic data on tigers locally. We are working hard to understand the impacts of inbreeding or mating between relatives on small and isolated tiger populations. This is a big ask for a species like tiger, but I am hoping the detailed work we are doing could shed some light on this problem, which is sure to become more common with time. There’s lots of exciting research to do. I hope that our research can contribute in whatever small way to reverse biodiversity loss. Natasa Milas is a freelance journalist based in New York City. MARCH/APRIL 2019 25
Communicating Care
D American FulbrightNehru Scholar Dr.
Gita Mehta
Irina_Strelnikova/iStock/Getty Images
believes that empowering physicians with effective communication skills can help improve patient care and outcomes.
26 MARCH/APRIL 2019
r. Gita Mehta believes in imparting a personal touch in the health care regime to achieve better results. A Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award Scholar, she is working with senior faculty at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, to develop a curriculum for medical residents on professionalism and medical communication. Dr. Mehta believes that raising competence in communication skills and increasing resilience will better equip medical trainees to meet the challenges of health care delivery in India. Dr. Mehta is a professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), where she was on the faculty since 1988, as a clinician-educator. At UCSD, she led a patientcentered clinical practice in internal medicine. Dr. Mehta also developed and implemented a training program utilizing simulation to train junior and mid-level faculty and residents in the Department of Medicine in communication skills, mentoring and providing feedback. Originally from Punjab, she completed her medical degree in 1980, and later emigrated to the United States. Excerpts from an interview. In your opinion, what role can effective communication with patients play in achieving better results? Effective communication, which incorporates a patient’s values and preferences and ensures understanding, has been shown to build trust in the physician. Lack of trust compels people to seek multiple opinions, and leads to poor adherence to treatment, worse outcomes, and
By RANJITA BISWAS
retaliation and litigation if there is an adverse event. Communication with people who are increasingly suspicious of physicians’ motives and with low health literacy, especially in resource-poor situations, actually requires better skills to build trust and improve health care outcomes. Communication, like any medical procedure, is a skill that can be taught. In India, unfortunately, until recently, the focus of medical teaching has been on medical knowledge alone, and teaching communication skills has been considered irrelevant. Now, it is imperative that all physicians are well-versed in this subject. In India, we have the concept of a family physician, who is trusted and is like a family friend. But, people now complain that this concept is getting replaced by “specialists,” who offer less scope for interpersonal exchange. What is your opinion about this? Yes, this is a huge loss to the public, and has led to fragmented and poorly-coordinated care. To fill this void, we need two approaches. The patient community needs to appreciate, and appropriately compensate, the family physician, and not seek specialty care for minor complaints. Fresh MBBS graduates cannot do this work effectively, and need enhanced training to rise to the level of a specialist. A skilled family physician can provide timely diagnosis and continuity of care, as well as reduce risks from self-medication. This is especially true for antibiotic overuse, which is partially responsible for high levels of antibiotic resistance in people today. In the United States, where physicians are
www.cies.org/resource-page-india
University of California San Diego
https://ucsd.edu/
PGIMER
Photographs courtesy Dr. Gita Mehta
http://pgimer.edu.in
Top: Fulbright-Nehru Scholar Dr. Gita Mehta at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, where she is developing a curriculum for medical residents on professionalism and medical communication.
Above: Dr. Mehta (right) delivers a talk, organized by Rotary Club Chandigarh, on the need for patients to effectively communicate with their doctors regarding medical problems. Top right: University of California San Diego, where Dr. Mehta was on the faculty as a clinician-educator.
trained as primary care providers, health insurance plans require all enrollees to pick a primary care physician. This ensures that people get the necessary preventative care, such as immunizations and care coordination. Additionally, a referral system to specialists helps reduce cost by cutting down on unnecessary procedures and multiple opinions. You are developing a program on communication skills to empower faculty at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research to build a sustainable curriculum for trainees. How are you drawing on your experience of working in the United States and India, as well as your cultural sensibilities? My work in India was limited to my training as an intern after completing medical school. However, I do understand local cultural norms and, following my interaction with medical professionals in India through family, I have a deep appreciation for the myriad challenges physicians face in the country. Culturally-competent care is critical as people seeking health care services in India have significant diversity not only in ethnicity, but also in sociocultural beliefs, choice of communication style and preferred level of autonomy. Health care providers need to assess core cultural issues, and also have the skills to personalize care according to the patient’s choice, involving him or her in it to the degree that he or she desires. Ultimately, everyone, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, wants care that is provided with respect and compassion. Ranjita Biswas is a Kolkata-based journalist. She also translates fiction and writes short stories.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 27
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Fulbright-Nehru Scholar program
In LoveWith
Robotics
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty Images
By RANJITA BISWAS
Dimple Verma’s WHIZROBO works to provide STEM education through innovative and creative ideas in robotics.
Top: WHIZROBO founder Dimple Verma (second from left) with a young awardee at a robotics competition in New Delhi. Top right: WHIZROBO introduces children to STEM education through robotics. It inculcates an interest in science and teaches basic life skills like problem solving, goal setting and logical thinking. Top far right: WHIZROBO allows children to explore objects in the world around them, as well as build and play with models to help them understand concepts like balance, stability, shapes and structures.
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Photographs courtesy WHIZROBO
D
imple Verma’s journey as an entrepreneur happened by a lucky accident. For this mother of two, it began as a way to engage her son’s interest in technology. “I have a degree in software and have always been interested in developing a happy medium for my children to grow up learning and understanding the sciences,” she says.
She taught her son about technology from an early age. Soon, she realized that he was fascinated with gadgets and was experimenting with those available to him. He then showed interest in robotics. “We faced our first big challenge—there was nothing related to robotics in our city, Ludhiana. I started traveling from one city to
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 29
Right: WHIZROBO helps school students understand how science and technology are impacting the world through innovative implementation. Above: Students learn to design, program and control fully-functional models. They use customized software to test and modify the instructions for a variety of robotic behaviors. Above right: Dimple Verma (second from left) participated in AIRSWEEE 2.0.
Go Online WHIZROBO
www.whizrobo.com
AIRSWEEE 2.0 https://bit.ly/2RKoOLb
30 MARCH/APRIL 2019
another to get the best possible training for my son. To my utter surprise, I found myself getting involved in the whole process, and discovered my own passion for robotics education,” recalls Verma. It was a turning point for her. She decided to open a robotics institute to create awareness among the young about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education through robotics. Thus was born WHIZROBO (Institute of Robotics Science & Technology). Verma participated in the All-India Road Show on Women’s Economic Empowerment
through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE 2.0), a Public Affairs New Delhi grant program implemented by the U.S.-based nonprofit organization The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Inc.) and its India chapters. As a woman entrepreneur, Verma says, she faced “the challenges of making the business profitable along with the extra dosage of gender bias and discrimination.” Being a part of Project AIRSWEEE 2.0 offered her a supportive environment to grow and evolve. “The expert advice from my mentors helped me develop systems which have been extremely helpful,” she says. “I have been able to target my
Photographs courtesy WHIZROBO
audience (schools) in a more effective way, which has resulted in successful collaborations.” “WHIZROBO is a pioneer in setting up robotics labs and clubs, providing specialized training and workshops in schools all over Punjab and training more than 5,000 students. It was awarded Gold in Education Category by the Government of Punjab.” WHIZROBO has represented India at various national and international championships for robotics. The company also develops projects and robots for industries according to their requirements. Recently, it developed a multipurpose robot, Dream Machine, for the Indian Army. It can also be used by health departments and other industries. Verma plans to step into artificial intelligence soon. “It’s important to be ready to learn, innovate and to keep an open mind,” she says. There has, of course, been debate on the use of robotics, especially in a country like India with a huge labor force. “I have faced questions from people wondering if it’s wise to step into the field of robotics as India already has a huge labor force available at a fraction of a cost. To this, I point out that robotics is not eroding the labor force, but it’s adding another dimension to the scenario,” asserts Verma. “For example, during the Industrial Revolution, people were
apprehensive that machines would take away employment from humans. Robotics is viewed in a similar way by many. In reality, it’s an additional factor in the normal course of events that has led to the ‘human revolution.’” She believes that robotics has untapped and unimaginable potential to change the way we work. “It has the latent power to create a brand new revolution, which is going to reshape society as we know it,” says Verma. “It will provide backup to the labor force in the coming years and will be ready to take up the slack when the current labor force ages. India will face labor shortage like Europe and Japan now. Instead of taking away jobs, it is going to create whole new vistas, unexplored till now.” She advises aspiring women entrepreneurs to be open to the opportunities life brings. “They may come disguised as challenges, but take them on even if you are not prepared,” says Verma. “Criticisms, failures and disappointments might make you want to give up. But, don’t!” “The most important thing, which helped me in the darkest times, was my support system,” she continues. “So, have a support system, someone who can see your vision and help you achieve it.”
“ ”
Robotics
is not eroding the labor force, but it’s adding another dimension to the scenario.
Ranjita Biswas is a Kolkata-based journalist. She also translates fiction and writes short stories. MARCH/APRIL 2019 31
ENTREPRENEUR
AlexLMX/iStock/Getty Images
By JASON CHIANG
O
Morphedo co-founder
Manya Jha
shares her experience of launching an entrepreneurial career in STEM.
32 MARCH/APRIL 2019
nce considered an element of science fiction, 3D printing—producing material objects ondemand via computers—has become a reality. And, it is transforming various sectors across the world, from health care to aerospace. One key player in this field in India is Morphedo. Founded by two friends in 2015, Morphedo is an online 3D printing services platform for rapid prototyping and customized part manufacturing for businesses. The Indian government recognized Morphedo as an innovative start-up under its flagship Startup India initiative, aimed at building a strong ecosystem conducive for the growth of start-up businesses in the country. Morphedo is supported by Nexus Incubator start-up hub at the American Center New Delhi, a collaboration with the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin. Excerpts from an interview with Manya Jha, Morphedo’s co-founder. Please tell us about your start-up, Morphedo. Morphedo provides businesses access to
design and manufacturing services, ranging from manufacturing of high-quality prototypes and custom parts on demand to mass-manufactured products. We cater to industries like IoT [Internet of Things], drones, robotics, aviation, automotive and packaging. We work closely with product development and R&D [research and development] departments of start-ups, established companies and government bodies, helping them reduce their new product development cycle time and go-to-market time. Our 3D design services and 3D printing consultancy give our clients an unparalleled experience in their new product development phase. We utilize a nationwide network of manufacturing facilities to cater to all 3D printing and mass manufacturing requirements. Apart from the industries that we target, like IoT, drones, robotics, aviation and automotive, we have served the prototyping needs for clients ranging from oil and gas industry like the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. to knowledge industry
Morphedo
https://morphedo.com
Nexus Incubator https://startupnexus.net
are open to working with start-ups now. What are some of the interesting projects that Morphedo is working on right now? One of our current projects is for OYO Rooms. We are designing and manufacturing devices which, when successful, will be deployed across their network worldwide. We are also working on making concrete 3D printers, which would be launched in April. The first machines will be deployed in Bihar for 3D printing toilets, in response to the Indian government’s Swachh Bharat Mission. What advice would you give to women and girls interested in an entrepreneurial career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields? Every day, our entrepreneurial journey brings in a lot of lessons. Some of the most important ones that I abide by are: Your customers will always give you a signal; it can be good or bad. If it is good, make your efforts to build on it and make it better. If it is bad, improve it immediately. If you do not learn new things every day, you will become obsolete. Everyone’s journey is different; do not compare yours with others’. Very often, you might need to re-align yourself to your vision; stay focused, keep making your trials, learn your lessons and keep moving on. Everything is possible—you will fail only if you quit.
Jason Chiang is a freelance writer based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.
Photographs courtesy Manya Jha
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clients like McKinsey Knowledge Centre India Pvt. Ltd. How did Morphedo first come to be? What were some of the biggest obstacles you had to overcome in order to start the company? I started Morphedo along with my friend, Sushil Baranwal, while we were pursuing our Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. After the first year, when we thought that we were confident enough to move into business and understood commercialization, we started evaluating technologies of the future. That is when we decided that our first venture had to be 3D printing. We, then, jumped into our fieldwork research, and Morphedo came into being. Starting as student entrepreneurs, the biggest challenge was to manage full-time classes along with self-skilling ourselves about the technology—3D printing and designing—and venturing into an industry that was at a very nascent stage in India. Could you share some of the biggest takeaways from your association with the Nexus Incubator? Nexus mentored Morphedo to re-position our offerings in a way that helped us multiply our customer base. When we started back in 2015, the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India was just taking shape. Currently, ecosystem builders like Nexus and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) bring in a lot of exposure and mentorship for budding entrepreneurs. There is appreciation, support and recognition from the Indian government as well. Industrial giants and government bodies
Top left: The Morphedo team. Above left and above: Manya Jha’s work has been recognized by organizations like Women Economic Forum and The Indus Entrepreneurs. Left: Morphedo is supported by and incubated at Nexus Incubator start-up hub at the American Center New Delhi.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 33
F Initiatives at
Syracuse University could serve as models for supporting and encouraging women in STEM fields.
or the first 15 years of her time as a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Syracuse University in New York, Shobha K. Bhatia was the only female faculty member in its College of Engineering & Computer Science. By 1997, she and her women colleagues comprised only six percent of the college’s faculty roster. It’s not an uncommon situation: A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, examining faculty diversity at U.S. universities, found that in the 2015-2016 academic year, women accounted for 18.1 to 31.1 percent of faculty in STEM fields. STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Informed by her experience of working without a network of women peers, Bhatia knew what needed to be done. In 1999, she and her colleague, Cathryn R. Newton, then-chair of the Department of Earth Sciences at the university, co-facilitated its Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) initiative, which still serves the university’s women in STEM. WiSE began with three key goals in mind, which continue to drive the project. They are: To increase representation of women in STEM fields and to increase their job retention in these disciplines; to highlight women STEM scholars through a lecture series; and to provide advising and mentoring programs to women at all levels of study—undergraduate, graduate, postdoctorate and faculty. The program is faculty-led, and has achieved great success. “I’m very proud of the WiSE program,” says Bhatia. “It is very useful for students, not only because they need to do excellent academic work, but they also need to develop certain soft skills, like communication skills, to be successful. Through mentoring, they learn these collaborative skills; how to work
with teams as leaders and members. Through programs at WiSE, we talk about these things, and they have a chance to write and speak about their experiences, which is something we don’t typically see in science and engineering, in particular,” she adds. In 2010, Bhatia and her WiSE colleagues received a $3.4 million [Rs. 24 crores approximately] grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation collaborative agreement, commonly known as SU ADVANCE. The SU ADVANCE initiative enabled Syracuse University to focus on several aspects of women’s educational and professional experiences. For instance, the university directed its efforts toward recruiting more women faculty in STEM, especially those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, as well as women with disabilities. It worked to build networks for women STEM faculty, connecting them with each other and to mentors, research centers and the campus resources needed to ensure their progress toward tenure and full professorships. Faculty had access to one-on-one coaching and skillbuilding workshops. SU ADVANCE provided support for cross-sector research, extending opportunities to other university departments and industry researchers. Finally, the initiative focused heavily on institutional change at the level of male-female equity and female inclusion. It engaged male faculty as partners and provided resources for researching and gaining understanding of the career experiences of men and women in STEM, including how social network ties influence career outcomes. The results were outstanding. “When the SU ADVANCE initiative started, we only had about 49 women faculty
Helping Women ADVANCE in STEM By CARRIE LOEWENTHAL MASSEY
34 MARCH/APRIL 2019
undergraduate women of color. The initiative is critical, says Bhatia, as “we lose these students because they are a very small number and they need mentoring.” She emphasizes that the university wants to recruit women of color, and also retain and promote them. It’s a mission that Bhatia thinks is possible to accomplish. “I’m very happy that for the next couple of years, we will be able to continue these programs at Syracuse University, because of our track record and ongoing support from our upper administration,” she says. “I would next like to see these programs at a national level.”
Photographs ourtesy Shobha Bhatia
Far left: Shobha Bhatia, codirector of the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) initiative of Syracuse University, New York. Above: Bhatia (center) teaches science to middle school students. Right: Bhatia (third from left) at the testing of geotextile tubes, large sludge dewatering bags or geocontainers, at the university.
Syracuse University
www.syracuse.edu
WiSE
http://suwise.syr.edu
National Science Foundation
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in STEM at the university. By the time we finished, we had 100 women faculty in the STEM areas,” says Bhatia. “We recruited some very bright young women. Many people were promoted. All of them were connected. People now know each other and they work together writing proposals and grants, and serve each other as mentors.” Based on the success of SU ADVANCE, Bhatia and her WiSE colleagues are now working on mitigating the disparity between the representation of men and women in STEM fields. “We’ve made a lot of improvement in the last 20 years with programs like SU ADVANCE or WiSE, but we still can’t say, demographically, things are equal,” says Bhatia. “There’s still a significant gap in certain areas of STEM, like in mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering. These undergraduate programs have, on average, 20 to 25 percent women, and that number has not gone up. In environmental engineering or biology, women undergrads make up 30 to 40 percent now. But, at the graduate or faculty level, that percentage goes down to 10 percent.” Bhatia hopes that the work they have done through SU ADVANCE, and are continuing to do through WiSE, will become models for other universities. WiSE has launched a program for
www.nsf.gov
Carrie Loewenthal Massey is a New York Citybased freelance writer. To share articles go to https://span.state.gov
MARCH/APRIL 2019 35
Shital Paulu Godad’s
Fulbrighter
project at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, focuses on paleoceanography and geochemistry of the eastern Indian Ocean.
Deciphering the Past,
Predicting By PAROMITA PAIN
B
orn in Goa, Shital Paulu Godad was inspired by the childhood memories of the beaches around her to study the history, sedimentation patterns and geology of the Indian Ocean to understand their influences on the monsoons in India. “During my undergraduate studies, I visited the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa for a study project,” she says. “That was my first encounter with studies on oceans. It was fascinating.” Hooked on to the study of oceans and their roles in climate patterns, she pursued a master’s and a Ph.D. degree in marine science at Goa University. She was a researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography, working on an independent project financed by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, when she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship. Today, as a Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellow at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Godad hopes to extend her research by understanding how temperatures and water densities influence
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water flow and circulation between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans (Indonesian throughflow), sea surface temperatures and the Indian monsoon. Oceans and seas play an important role in regulating the climate and buffering the rising levels of greenhouse gases and increasing global temperatures. “The Indonesian throughflow is a system of surface currents flowing from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian Sea. Flowing between the southern extremity of the Asia mainland and Australia,” explains Godad, “it is one of the primary links in the global exchange of water and heat between ocean basins and an essential element of the global climate system.” She focuses on this area since this has a direct bearing on the sea surface temperatures of the south equatorial Indian Ocean which, in turn, plays a significant role in the onset and intensity of the southwest monsoon. For countries like India, the monsoon is vital for sustenance and development. “The monsoon system in the Indian Ocean
Photographs courtesy Shital Paulu Godad
Left: Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellow Shital Paulu Godad (left) with her adviser, Yair Rosenthal, distinguished professor at the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Far left and below far left: Godad believes that understanding and predicting monsoon behavior in response to global climate change is a high scientific priority.
the Future Congress, held in 2017, where she won the Young Scientist Award, she focused on the relationship between Greenland and North Atlantic temperatures and northeast monsoon winds, which influence the winter cooling in the northern Arabian Sea. Godad’s research is a crucial step toward establishing the connections between the northern hemisphere and the northeast monsoons in India. Her work is designed to also inspire and encourage the next generation of scientists to explore such questions and extend the field further. Godad hopes her Fulbright research will open up new avenues and areas to explore in the area of ocean and paleoceanography, for understanding Earth’s past climate is important for us to recognize the changes in climate over time. “The Fulbright fellowship is something that aspiring scientists vie for,” she says. “The exposure and experience have opened up global opportunities and I’m looking forward to some great collaborations.”
Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship https://bit.ly/1pH7qK2
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey www.rutgers.edu
National Institute of Oceanography www.nio.org
Paromita Pain is an assistant professor of Global Media Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. To share articles go to https://span.state.gov
MARCH/APRIL 2019 37
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exerts a strong influence upon the climatic conditions in South and Southeast Asia,” says Godad. “The associated monsoon rainfall has a great impact on the socioeconomic and agricultural development in South Asia, particularly in India. Therefore, understanding and predicting the monsoon behavior in response to global climate change is a high scientific priority.” Various climate models predict that the average summer rainfall for all India will increase by about 10 percent by the end of the century because of the rising temperatures in the Indian Ocean. As Godad points out, some other models indicate that the intensity of heavy rainfall events may increase and cause floods, while the number of rainy days may decrease. “To reduce the uncertainties in such model projections, it is important to understand the monsoon variability at centennial to millennial timescale resolution,” she says. “Marine sediments provide valuable information on natural monsoon changes.” Godad enjoys examining such complex concepts. At the 104th Indian Science
Integrated
Waste Manag
E
By HILLARY HOPPOCK
fficient waste management is one of the biggest challenges in today’s world. The waste processing industry is transitioning from dumping to redirecting modern civilization’s garbage, in many parts of the world. However, the sticky problems of exponential waste increase and environmental pollution from overflowing landfills are not going away anytime soon. Nevertheless, Jasmeet Kaur’s Palta Engineering Works, with its mission of helping to create “zero waste” cities and the vision of a clean environment achieved by managing and exploiting the latent potential of waste, seems to have a solution.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Jasmeet Kaur’s Nexus-incubated start-up designs and creates effective waste management solutions.
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Kaur is the manager of technical and business development at the Punjab-based start-up. It has designed and created a sortingcum-composting machine, named XAPER, to segregate different waste streams into biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials. The former are processed into compost while the latter, together with recyclables, emerge out at the far end. Palta’s initial trials for the patented machine yielded an impressive 70 to 85 percent reduction in waste going to the landfill. This translates into reduced landfill transportation and dumping costs, along with substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from trucks. Additional benefits include decrease in air and groundwater pollution as well as a marked increase in the retrieval rate of recyclables. Kaur credits the Nexus Incubator with reinvigorating them to move in the right direction; helping them to critically segment and then target their market. The Nexus Incubator at the American Center New Delhi is a collaboration with IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. It supports innovative, promising start-ups with training, mentoring and networking with industry and government experts from the United States and India. With a background in biotechnology and
waste management, Kaur calls it “serendipity” that she began Palta. “Nature arranges for disposal of anything it creates. Dung beetles, for instance, carry out the job of scavengers in a natural habitat, cycling nutrients in the soil as they bury dung or carrion,” she says. “Ancient Egyptians revered the dung beetle god ‘xpr’ and, fascinated by this creature, we named our waste processor XAPER.”
Decentralized management According to Kaur, the beauty of XAPER is its simplicity. “There is a need for a compact, covered, quick and decentralized waste processing system,” she says. One XAPER machine can serve a population of 25,000 people, with the capacity to process 100 to 30,000 kilograms of waste per day. Locating the machine close to the source of waste generation is key. XAPER separates waste into three different waste streams, while simultaneously decomposing wet food waste into bio-dried compost material within 24 hours. Palta’s machine is engineered for aerobic decomposition, where organic materials decompose in the presence of oxygen. The machine ensures there is no chance of leachate percolating into the groundwater or greenhouse gas generation. It can be installed for bulk waste generators in residential areas, at institutes and at collection or transfer points. “XAPER is above ground, while the machine’s underground storage and feeding system envelops and covers all the garbage, with no odor or harmful emissions to the surrounding area,” says Kaur.
XAPER advantage To segregate the waste streams, XAPER replaces the traditional multiple trommel screening system with a single system, which uses both a 100 millimeter and a 12 millimeter screen. The 100 millimeter screen is placed inside a drum composter, open on both ends to eliminate plastics, cloth and other wastes above that size from the wet waste stream as
Photographs courtesy Jasmeet Kaur
ement
Right: XAPER, a sorting and composting machine, which reduces over 70 percent of the waste going to landfills through segregation. Below right: Jasmeet Kaur (from left), manager of technical and business development, with Ajay Palta, director, and Govind Palta, CEO of Palta Engineering Works Pvt. Ltd.
Nexus
https://startupnexus.net
IC² Institute
http://ic2.utexas.edu
well as provide air to decompose biodegradable waste. Wet food waste becomes dried compost, while paper, plastics and other non-biodegradables fall out of the drum as recyclables and rejects. An added bonus of the system is that the rejected material, like nonrecyclable plastics and cloth, can go on to become combustibles for waste-to-energy plants or get converted into fuel. The efficiency of the XAPER system not only leads to reduced costs for the waste processor, but also boosts green livelihood opportunities for workers. “Palta was able to demonstrate a 70 percent savings in transportation and dumping fees for the municipal services of Delhi Cantonment Board, with a promise for the recovery of capital within two years of XAPER installation,” says Kaur. But, she adds, “the bigger bonus was XAPER’s 90 to 95 percent retrieval rate for recyclables. Waste pickers experienced three times the earning power from the volume of recyclables
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XAPER
www.xaper.in
they can gather and sell to scrap collectors.”
Next steps Kaur and her team at Palta plan to replicate the success of their pilot program throughout Delhi and use the model in other regions of India as well as other countries. “There are immense opportunities across the globe, as we all face the same problem with 80 to 90 percent of our garbage going to landfills. We need to synchronize with nature. We generate waste and it is our fundamental duty to get it decomposed in an environment-friendly manner,” she says. “Soon, through the application of Palta’s breakthrough technology, we will have a reason to smile because we will manage waste to our advantage.” Hillary Hoppock is a freelance writer, former newspaper publisher and reporter based in Orinda, California.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 39
Art and Blending
CalArts’ animation programs are designed for students seeking to understand and meld the worlds of art and technology.
L
“CalArts is the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something.” —Walt Disney, a pioneer of the American animation industry. ate in his career, Disney mulled over the idea of a utopian, collaborative environment for working artists to learn and share ideas, free from the conventions of traditional art schools. He and his brother, Roy Disney, began turning this idea into reality in 1961
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when they formed the California Institute of the Arts by merging two existing art and music schools in Los Angeles. In 1970, the fully-formed CalArts college opened its doors to offer programs in art, design, film, music, theater and dance. CalArts graduates have since then gone on to pioneer artistic advances and practices, from the high-brow to the most popular, often blending art and technology. These include computer game music, feminist design and art, conceptualism, the “renaissance” at Disney that brought animated classics like
Tech
“Beauty and the Beast” to life, Pixar’s groundbreaking efforts in digital animation, and a little yellow creature who lives in a pineapple house under the sea: SpongeBob SquarePants. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has called CalArts “one of the truly successful experiments in American arts education.” It has six academic schools that offer undergraduate and graduate degrees: art, critical studies, dance, film/video, music and theater.
Animating the world
MYLES PETTENGILL
SCOTT GROLLER
Photographs by RAFAEL HERNANDEZ
By CANDICE YACONO
Above left: Interview day for Master of Fine Arts students at the California Institute of the Arts. Top: An experimental animation class at the CalArts School of Film/Video. Above: The CalArts main building at its campus in Valencia, California. Left: Ravi S. Rajan, fourth president of the California Institute of the Arts.
The world of animation begins with a solid To share articles go to https://span.state.gov
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Photographs by RAFAEL HERNANDEZ
Above: Exhibition of work by students of the experimental animation program in the School of Film/Video at the California Institute of the Arts. Top right: Artwork by students of the experimental animation class. Above right and right: The experimental animation program at CalArts (bottom right) allows innovative artists to cultivate their personal aesthetic in a progressive, demanding atmosphere.
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grounding in the traditional arts and progresses to computer animation technologies and techniques. CalArts students receive comprehensive artistic and technical training to develop themselves as full-fledged animation artists. “Our graduates are talented and innovative,” says Maureen Furniss, director, experimental animation, at CalArts. “People have come to expect interesting work from the people who study here.” After all, the works of many of its alumni have won critical acclaim and international fame. The Oscar category for Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2002 for films released in 2001. Since then, 12 of the winning films have been directed by CalArts animation alumni. Animated features by CalArts directors have generated more than $46 billion [Rs. 3,26,600 crores approximately] in box office returns between 1985 and 2018. While its alumni are said to be the generators of animation as the world knows it, its faculty members are industry leaders. Furniss, for
example, is an animation historian, the founding editor of Animation Journal, and founding member and past chairperson of the board of the Society for Animation Studies, an international organization dedicated to the study of animation history, theory and practice.
Animation courses CalArts offers a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree in character animation and both bachelor’s and master’s (MFA) degrees in experimental animation. “There are two animation programs at CalArts,” says Furniss. “One is mostly oriented toward 2D animation and learning industrial studio processes. That’s character animation, offering a BFA. The experimental program is broad in its focus, including stop motion, drawn and painted, virtual reality, interactive, installations and performance animation. It offers both a BFA and an MFA.” In the character animation program, students focus on character performance and storytelling. They receive rigorous technical training in
addition to building their artistic skills, from life drawing classes to computer graphics studies. Elements such as dialogue and sound effects are woven in as well. The experimental animation program allows innovative artists to cultivate their personal aesthetic in a progressive, demanding atmosphere. Bachelor’s degree students study a range of animation styles, from 2D drawing to computer animation. They work closely with mentors and visiting artists. They are also encouraged to study abroad and take part in annual portfolio reviews by leading animation studios. Master’s students delve further into their experimentation, complete a thesis project and receive training in the business side of animation. The training includes aspects like how to submit to film festivals and take advantage of professional opportunities. “The experimental animation program brings together talented artists who have an interest in time-based media, specifically animation,” says Furniss. “They influence each other as they present their own ideas or work in progress, and critique each other’s works in classes. Our program is very competitive from an admissions standpoint. Every student is very creative in his or her own way. We have a very strong alumni network and a history of works that win festival awards.”
Seeking admission To apply to CalArts, international students have to submit an application, translated transcripts, and proof of English language proficiency. One out of five students at the institute is international. Students from nearly 50 countries, including India, attend CalArts. Many faculty also come from international backgrounds. International students are eligible for competitive scholarships and/or work-study opportunities. “Admission to experimental animation is granted to applicants who display a strong personal aesthetic,” says Furniss. “We discourage landscapes, traditional portraiture, architectural rendering, perspective drawing or any kind of generic character drawings. We look for applicants who have the potential to influence the art world.” The character animation program, she says, has different priorities. “It is very interested in life drawing, and applicants should be able to draw figures that reflect personal style and personality in some respect.” Candice Yacono is a magazine and newspaper writer based in southern California. MARCH/APRIL 2019 43
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CalArts
https://calarts.edu
“
CalArts animation programs
https://filmvideo.calarts.edu
We look for
applicants who art world.
Top: The Digital Arts Expo at California Institute of the Arts (above) features technologically adventurous and imaginative new work from students, faculty, alumni and guest artists who practice across all disciplines.
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have the potential to influence the
