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US SPECIAL

India Abroad June 21, 2013

Ambassador Rao salutes whiz kid Ritankar Das

AZIZ HANIFFA

A world of achievements in just 18 years

At Berkeley, Ritankar Das helped manage a $1.7 billion budget as an academic senator, founded the Berkeley Chemical Review research journal, designed a chemistry DeCal course, and was a graduate student instructor. He founded See Your Future, a student-run nonprofit that presents scientific content to middle and high school students through in-class demonstrations, videos, interactive activities and games. Ritankar, a published alternative energy researcher since age 12, has received awards from the major scientific societies in chemistry, physics, biology, and from the National Science Foundation. He also analyzed entries for the Presidential Green Chemistry Award at the Environmental Protection Agency. He is currently writing a book on education reform with contributions from Fortune 50 CEOs, Nobel Laureates, US cabinet secretaries and university presidents, and is a founding member of the Youth Ambassador Program at Americas Promise Alliance. He has won more than 40 awards totaling more than $300,000 including the prestigious Goldwater, Udall, and Pearson awards, as well as a Congressional Certificate of Recognition. He has also been inducted into the Berkeley Wall of Fame, alongside Aaron Rodgers, Gregory Peck and Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs. Ritankar has served on advisory boards to State Farm, City of New Berlin, DoSomething.org and Dell, as well as on the IJSA journal editorial board. Aziz Haniffa

ndian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao last week accorded a rousing felicitation at the Indian embassy to Kolkataborn whiz kid Ritankar Das, 18. It is indeed a great pleasure, Rao said, to note that Ritankar has become the youngest graduate topper of the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, in more than a century. We feel extremely proud to know your exceptional achievements as a young Indian American as, at the age of 18, you are the youngest University Medalist at UC Berkeley, amongst over 6,000 graduates, and that too with a double major in

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Ritankar Das with Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao.

KIND COURTESY: INDIAN EMBASSY

We must follow our ideas, even if it sounds crazy or impossible

RITU JHA

ets not let fear prevent us from trying, Ritankar Das told the class of 2013 during his commencement convocation speech at the University of California, Berkeley, May 18. Ritankar, 18, is the youngest student at Berkeley in a century to earn a bioengineering and chemical biology double major in just three years. He also received a university medal, which is awarded to an exemplary graduating student with a minimum GPA of 3.96. Das graduated with more than 200 credits and a GPA of 3.99, which includes eight A+ marks. During his freshman year, he started a journal focused on chemical research conducted by undergraduates. This will never work was the response he got from many in the campus. In the first eight months, there were no submissions, but he continued it with the help of friends and two professors. Despite the journals gloomy outlook we doubled our effort and in the end received over 50 submissions, enough to fill not one but four journals, he said. And because we never gave in, the Berkeley Chemical Review can be found around the world today. He said society tends to put everything into two boxes: Success or failure. But I believe there is a third box and its called not trying. We must follow our ideas even if it sounds crazy or impossible, he added. Ritankars early interest in energy started

when he was in high school. I have always encouraged young people to follow their curiosity, he told India Abroad, During a high school biology class, I began wondering about how the current worldwide energy crisis could effectively be solved if humans were able to extract energy from the sun as efficiently as plants do. That led him to try to create a device that could harvest solar energy. After consulting several books, teachers at school, and the Internet, I began using a blender and other kitchen supplies, to perform experiments that would lead to this device, he explained. My interest in this quirky idea of artificial photosynthesis came about from an intellectual encounter of applying classroom knowledge to solve a real-world challenge, On being honored with the University Medal, he said, It is both an honor and a responsibility to be a part of this list of distinguished individuals who have included Nobel Laureates. He added that he was thrilled when he spoke alongside Steve Wozniak, one of the founders of Apple, at the university commencement. Born in Kolkata, Ritankar came to the US at age 7. He said a double major was possible because of his dedicated parents, educators and other mentors, who helped and guided him. He will be going to Oxford University to

Ritankar Das pursue a masters degree in biomedical engineering with a fully funded Whitaker Fellowship. He will then continue his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the long term, he said, I hope to work towards an area where I help people achieve their full potential. I am not sure how that will happen, but as long as I can work on that, Ill be happy.

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US SPECIAL

India Abroad June 21, 2013

Spark! Labs go to India

AZIZ HANIFFA

PHOTOGRAPHS KIND COURTESY: INDIAN EMBASSY

Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao with Indian-American schoolchildren who attended an exhibition of Spark! Lab equipment. successful program operating in the US since 2008, Molella said. These labs, he said, would encourage inventive creativity in Indias young people and help to create its next generation of innovators. The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 through a generous gift from American inventor Jerome Lemelson and his family. Molella also made a strong pitch to the Indian-American community to contribute to what he called an unparalleled opportunity to give back to their home country by becoming part of this public-private partnership and helping to adopt Spark! Labs. The high-tech Indian-American companies, as part of their corporate responsibility initiatives, could help particularly, he said. Most importantly, Molella added, Spark! Lab provides the opportunity for its visitors who are mostly children of ages 6-12 to develop the skills and knowledge that these companies need in future employees. Spark! Lab can help feed the pipeline.

t the event where she felicitated Ritankar Das, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao also launched the Spark! Lab India projects, in association with the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The Spark! Lab India projects, Rao said, bring out the best of innovation and cooperation between India and the US. Arthur Molella, director, Lemelson Center, and Tricia Edwards, education specialist at the center, gave a presentation about the projects. The Lemelson Center proposes to open a network of hands-on invention activity spaces, called Spark! Labs, throughout India and operating as a public-private partnership. The Center envisages opening 10 pilot sites, with the goal of jumpstarting an Indian-run network of up to 100 labs.

Arthur Molella Over the next two years, the Lemelson Center will work to establish the initial 10 labs throughout India, while training science, education, and museum professionals in the Spark! Lab philosophy and methodology and identifying leaders to spearhead the expansion of the network.

Tricia Edwards Molella and Edwards said the activities will incorporate relevant topics and themes to the individual communities in India. With 100 labs in operation, more than 3 million children could participate in Spark! Labs hand-on invention activities annually. The activities are modeled on the highly

Ambassador Rao salutes whiz kid Ritankar Das

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bioengineering and chemical biology and a minor in creative writing with 3.99 GPA. Rao added, Your wider interests and initiative resulting in the founding of Berkeley Chemical Review research journal and the See Your Future nonprofit organization to promote science as a career among school students, and your poetry book Silent Moon are commendable. She said told the guests, In this span of just 18 years, he has been able to achieve so much, and he has put all of us to shame after coming out with such flying colors at UC Berkeley and breaking all records over a century. He has not only brought glory to this country, but also to his mother country. Ritankar is headed to Oxford University in the United Kingdom, to pursue a masters in biomedical engineering with a fully funded Whitaker Fellowship. Then, he will study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been admitted to the chemistry PhD program. Ritankar said he draws his inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi believed that everybody had a right to a beautiful life, he said. And without his efforts, I can say I would not have been here today. Without people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, without their efforts, I would not be here.