India Abroad - December 30, 2016

By George Joseph

he National Academy of
Inventors (NAI) has
awarded the distinction
of Fellow to 175 aca-
demic inventors,
Election as an NAI Fellow is a
high honor bestowed on academ-
ic innovators and inventors who
have made a tangible impact on
quality of life, economic develop-
ment and the welfare of society.

The Fellows will be inducted on April 6, 2017, as part of the Sixth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Fellows will be presented with a special trophy, medal and rosette pin.

Academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Fellow were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society and support and enhancement of innovation.

Somasundaran, a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada, is a pio-
neer in academic and research
areas in several fields.

A member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science since 1970, Somasundaran was named the first LaVon Duddleson Krumb Professor in

1983.

He was one of the youngest members to be elected in 1985 to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest possible distinction then in engineering in the US.

He was the chairman of the Henry Krumb School from 1988

Science and Mining from 1992 to 1997 and is currently director of the National Science Foundation I/UCR Center for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants and Langmuir Center for Colloids and Interfaces.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 2010 and received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1990.

“Looking back, I feel amazed and humbled. Coming from a middle class Indian family in a remote village from which nobody had even gone to a college at that time, I could not even have dreamed that I would reach this far,” Somasundaran said.

“I believe that constant sup-
port and inspiration from my
parents and teachers combined
with hard work and a good dol-
lop of luck got me where I am
today. My father, a freedom
fighter, taught me that with dedi-
cated effort one can climb any
mountain one chose. He also
taught me the nishkam karma
tenet. I hope I have managed to
pass on the best of what I have
learned from my elders to my
own students.”
“Though I am still deeply
interested in my own field and its
application for solving some of
the knotty problems facing us
today, I no longer have any spe-
cific achievements for myself in
mind, though I would cherish the
sight of my students conquering
all the top mountains in their
own careers.”
He came to the U.S. as a grad-
uate student at the University of
California, Berkeley on a scholar-
ship.

“Initially I stayed because there were not that many opportunities or freedom in those days in India to follow your dreams in research in academia or industry.

When I stayed on, it was never
meant it to be permanent. But
the initial couple of years became
five, then five more, and soon
careers were too well established
to change and families were too
well rooted here to transplant.”
He thinks that his work on
molecular self-assembly that is
basic to life processes and train-
ing top rate cadres of students
who have gone on to become
leaders in academia and industry
could probably be considered his
greatest contributions.
“I must confess, though, that I
owe a great deal to the lessons
taught by nature. Whenever pos-
sible I try to mimic nature, as
'nature does it best' in many
areas such as nano processes and
even climate and environmental
control.”
Ponisseril Somasundaran to be Inducted as

Fellow of National Academy of Inventors

Pioneering researcher is one of 175 to receive the distinction

By Ritu Jha

he developer of a low-cost
drip irrigation system and
foot-powered water pump
that can help poor farmers in
India was one of several hon-
orees at the recent 16th annual
gala hosted by Applied Materials
in San Jose, California.

IDE-India (International Development Enterprises) was honored in the Tech Awards 2016 - Sobrato Organization Economic Development Category.

A signature program of the Tech Museum of Innovation, the awards honor individuals, comp-nies and nonprofits from around the world for their work applying technology to benefit humanity. The technology can be a creative use of something that already exists – or can be a wholly new invention.

Each laureate receives a $50,000 unrestricted cash prize.

"It helps build credibility to the organization and the credibility of the work we do,” Amitabha Sadanghi, IDE-India (International Development Enterprises ) chief executive.

IDE-India won a Tech Awards prize in 2004 for its innovative drip irrigation technology and in

2010 for a Treadle Pump.

Sadanghi said IDE-India has several projects but this particular award is for the water pump which currently reaches 1. 5 million households and 7. 4 million people in India, leading to cumulative additional net income generation exceeding $1.4 billion.

“We help poor farmers in India,” Sadanghi said. He said farmers who have money can afford bank loan but it’s hard for small poor farmers.

He said the award money will help in the development of a solar pump. “I hope to make it more productive and stop the migration of people from villages,” he said.

When asked about how the farmers pay if poor, Sadanghi said they take loans from family and friends.

They need $30 credit and pay post-harvest there are other schemes by the government but doesn’t reach the poor consumers and government schemes are for big farmers.

Shveta Bakshi, executive vice president for programs and donor relations, IDE-India, said the farmers own less than a hector of land and the key constraint for these farmers are accessing water for year round agriculture because they are dependent on monsoon.

They are engaged in agriculture just once a year mainly in monsoon and the rest of the months they migrant to make basic money for living.

They work as laborers.

By using the paddle pump these farmers have shifted from one-season crop cultivation to three-season crop cultivation. And as a result, generate more than $400 as net additional income annually.

“We just don’t sell the pump and done, we stay with the farmers after that,” said Bakshi and added they encourage them to cultivate vegetables and grow high-value cash crop and so every three months the farmers generate money and so they get into the cycle of irrigating, harvesting and generating money as well.