June
Sukanya Roy, left
Sukanya Roy, 14, became the
fourth desi kid in a row to win the Scripps
National Spelling Bee, the 11th Indian
American to win the Bee. The Pennsylvania
eighth grader and daughter of two university
professors won the contest with a perfect
spelling of cymotrichous (meaning: Having
wavy hair).
; Floyd Cardoz, the chef behind the New York restaurant
Tabla, wins Top Chef Master Season 3 with his recipe for
the Upma.
MOLLY RILEY/REU TERS
; Pratima Dharm becomes Pentagon’s first Hindu
Chaplain.
; Sohail Mohammed was
sworn in as a Passaic
County Superior Court
Judge, making him New
Jersey’s first Indian-American judge.
; Jamshed Bharucha
became President, Cooper
Union for the Advancement
of Science and Art, while
Geeta Menon took over as
Dean — the first Indian-American woman to do so
— of the Stern
Undergraduate College.
; Nikhil Arora of Back to
the Roots and Neil
Thanedar of Avomeen
Analytical Services made it
to CNN Money’s list of 10
young entrepreneurs to
watch out for.
; Mitul Desai was
appointed Senior Advisor
for Outreach, State
Department, to liaise with
the community.
Lieutenant Colonel Ravi Chaudhary, second from right
July
COURTES Y: USAF
Lieutenant Colonel Ravi Chaudhary, a US Air Force officer, became
one of the highest ranking Indian-Americans in the US defense forces when he took
command of the 317th Recruiting Squadron in Washington, DC. A C-17 pilot
Chaudhary has 3,000 flying hours under his belt and 700 combat hours.
