NGI Stars

Three Indian-origin teenagers, including identical twin sisters, in the US have bagged a scholarship worth $100,000 in a science competition for their innovative research that will help doctors diagnose health problems like schizophrenia. Shriya and Adhya Beesam, 16, who are grade 11 students in Plano, Texas won the competition in the 17th annual Siemens Math, Science and Technology Competition on Tuesday for their project entitled, ‘Linked Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System: A Novel Approach to Schizophrenia Diagnosis’. Vineet Edupuganti, a senior at Oregon Episcopal School, won the top individual award for developing an ingestible battery that could transform the way doctors diagnose ...

An Indian schoolgirl based in UAE has won this year’s International Children’s Peace Prize for her fight to save the planet. Kehkashan Basu, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was presented the award by Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus at a ceremony held in The Hague. At the age of eight, Basu organised an awareness-raising campaign for the recycling of waste in her Dubai neighbourhood. In 2012, she founded her own organisation, Green Hope, which carries out environment-focused campaigns. Basu went on to become the youngest ever Global Coordinator for the Major Group for Children and Youth of the UN Environmental Programme. Basu ...

Nikki Haley was named as US envoy to the United Nations by President-elect Donald Trump, as she scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any US administration. “Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” Trump said, referring to his former critic with whom he had sparred bitterly during the campaign. 44-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants from Punjab, Haley is the first woman tapped by Trump for a top-level ...

A 58-year-old Indian-origin man was honoured in Singapore with Public Spiritedness Award for his life-saving efforts to help an elderly unconscious Chinese man. U Silvakumar, a military expert, put his life-saving instincts to practice and used cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) process to help the Chinese man who was lying unconscious near a Hindu temple before the ambulance arrived. News of Silvakumar’s efforts made rounds online after a Facebook photo of him and other Hindu devotees helping the elderly man was posted on the social networking site. For his efforts, Silvakumar was honoured with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Public Spiritedness ...

A one of its kind handmade pavilion, believed to be Australia’s largest bamboo structure designed by an Indian architect using all organic materials from India, opened in Melbourne in Queen Victoria Gardens. The third annual summer pavilion, designed by Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, officially opened. Claimed as Australia’s largest bamboo structure, MPavilion 2016 has been included as a part of the programme for the ongoing Indian fest ‘Confluence: Festival of India’ that is running across major Australian cities. MPavilion 2016, a handmade architectural piece, uses seven km of bamboo, 50 tonnes of stone and 26 km of rope ...

Kiara Nirghin, a 16-year-old Indian-origin South African teen of Grade 11 student at private school St Martin’s, submitted her project titled ‘No More Thirsty Crops’ which was aimed at alleviating the severe drought plaguing South Africa. She has won a USD 50,000 scholarship at the annual Google Science Fair in the US for using orange peel to develop a cheaper “super-absorbent material” that helps soil retain water. Her solution to the problem of drought uses the peels from orange and avocado fruits, which were normally discarded. The Google Science Fair is a programme for any budding scientists between the ages of ...

One Indian-American along with two Indians are among the 17 people appointed as the inaugural class of UN Young Leaders for Sustainable Development Goals. They were chosen for their leadership and contribution to end poverty, fight against inequality and injustice, and tackling climate change by 2030. An Indian-American scientist and innovator Karan Jerath, 19, who designed the path-breaking device that shuts down undersea spills has also found place among the UN Young Leaders for SDGs. Ankit Kawatra, Founder and Chairman of Feeding India — an organization that addresses food wastage and hunger, and Trisha Shetty, Founder and CEO of ‘SheSays’ ...

Indian-American physician-author Abraham Verghese, whose work focused empathy in medicine, has been selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal, the White House has announced. US President Barack Obama would confer the honour upon Verghese, along with 11 others, and the recipients of 2015 National Medal of Arts at ceremony on September 21. Currently a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, 61-year-old Verghese has authored several acclaimed books, including “My Own Country” and “Cutting for Stone”. Inaugurated in 1997, the National Humanities Medal honours individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human ...

Indian-born researcher Dinesh Bharadia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has won the prestigious Young Scholar award of the US-based Marconi Society for his contribution to radio waves. Bharadia will receive the award at a ceremony in Mountain View, California, on November 2. In a statement released by the society said, “Bharadia has been chosen for the 2016 Paul Baran Young Scholar Award for his contribution to send and receive radio (wireless) signals, including mobile telephony and data on the same channel (wave).” A doctorate from Stanford University and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at ...