group of well settled professionals having a casual chat about the state of science education and research in India. Soon it struck them that despite the presence of world renowned institutions the state of science education and research in India is far from satisfactory. Then followed the brainstorming session to find out the reasons for the same. Interestingly, they found out the fundamental reasons by looking back to their own choices made during their studies and subsequent career. They noted that
1) They opted for engineering or other professional streams despite having keen interest in science during school studies.
2) Their own interest/exposure of science was limited mainly to theoretical science with little exposure to experiments.
3) They had very little information about career opportunities and scholarship programs in the field of science. They also recalled how some of the popular books of science were full of errors. Then followed the urge to make some endeavor towards making things better in this backdrop. And this is the genesis of “Society for CREATING A DIFFERENCE-(CAD)”. ROADMAP: To begin with, a wide range of activities are on the agenda of CAD. To name a few:
1) To provide science related articles & problems
2) To provide articles related to scientists & scientific discoveries which will attract young students to science and motivate them to pursue a career in it
3) To provide information related to various scholarship programs such as KVPY, NTSE etc which will enable willing students to pursue career in science
4) To provide information related to various financial support programs and career opportunities in science education & research etc
These articles/problems etc will also benefit the students in preparation of various entrance examinations/tests such as JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, AIPMT, Olympiad etc. To begin with, CAD seeks to realise its vision through intervention at the formative and most crucial stage of class IX to XII. In the beginning, the aforesaid activities are envisaged to be undertaken mainly through online platforms like this Facebook Group. The activities will be fine tuned based on feedback/learning from these activities. As and when the NGO grows in terms of experience and resources, the activities will be expanded to various other streams of education through all kinds of online and offline tools, platforms and mechanisms. PROFILE: A brief profile of the professionals behind the formation and activities of CAD is given below. Pawan Kumar: Pawan did B. in Material Science & Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2005. He is an educational consultant & motivator. He has been involved in the field of education from last more than nine years. His ability to understand needs of students individually coupled with the ability to develop their skills accordingly makes him highly popular among students. Abhishek Kumar: Abhishek did B. in Computer Science & Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2005. Thereafter he joined Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in 2006. He has deep interests in science. He authored the book “Mathematics for Learning Physics”, for facilitating smooth transition from class X to XI. Vikas Kumar: Vikas did Masters, M. Phil. & Ph.D. from Delhi University. He was one of the gold medalists in the university during Masters in Zoology. He has published many research papers in drug designing & development. He is Assistant Professor in the University of Delhi. Sushil Kumar Singh: Sushil did B. Tech. & M. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2006. Sushil is an Investment Banking professional and Philanthropist. He has been associated with many top banking institutions like Bank of America, Royal Bank of Scotland, BNY Mellon, Nomura etc. Sushil has volunteered for many NGOs such as Sankalp, Khushi, Shiksha Sopan etc. Santosh Kumar: Santosh did B. in Computer Science & Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2004 and MBA from INSEAD/France in 2013. Most recently, he has been working at Facebook as a Data Scientist enhancing product features, roadmap and strategy based on the insights gleaned from one of the largest data infrastructure of the world. Amit Kumar: Amit is involved in the field of education from last more than 20 years. Braving resource crunch he achieved commendable success in the field of education by guiding students in Mathematics for school studies, Mathematics Olympiad, various scholarship examinations like NTSE, KVPY etc, various entrance examinations like JEE Mains, JEE Advanced etc. Jyoti: Jyoti did B. in Computer Science & Engineering in 2012. She has been closely associated with Saksham Trust for dissemination of SmartCane - an electronic travel aid for visually impaired. Currently she is leading a major project at IIT Delhi which aims at creating accessible mathematical and scientific tools for the blind. Ramji Tripathi: Ramji did B. in Computer Science & Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2005 and MBA from ISB, Hyderabad. He worked in companies such as Mentor Graphics, Microsoft, Times Group etc. He has been associated with many NGOs involved in empowerment of people through education. Vishal Shrivastava: Vishal did Masters and Ph.D. from IIT Delhi. He was a post doc fellow at University of Houston, USA. He is Assistant Professor in Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering Department at Thapar University, Patiala.
