Dear ASEI Members,
  
To drive our mission forward, ASEI needs dedicated volunteers and Board members who take pride in our past and are forward thinking and belive in taking action and make a difference. All chapters of ASEI need to conduct their annual election to fill the 2023-2024 Board of Directors open positions.
 
In accordance with ASEI constitution, we have appointed the following Board members to the Election Committee: 
Silicon Valley Chapter Board of Election Committee Chairs: Raju Shreewastava & Kanakshila Tandon
Washington DC  Chapter Board of Election Committee Chairs: Venkat Gururathnam & Lekha
SoCal Chapter Board of Election Committee Chairs:  Sanjay Dalal & Vrunda
Seattle Chapter Board of Election Committee Chair: Srini Vemula
Dallas  Chapter  Board of Election Committee Chairs : Puneet Dixit   &  Jayati 
 
Hence, the purpose of this communication is to request nominations from the membership for the ASEI Chapter Board of Directors. There are several open positions in each chapter that will be filled through this nomination process.
 
You can self-nominate or nominate someone else for the ASEI Chapter Board position. If nominating someone else, please get concurrence from your nominee before submitting the nomination.
 
To be eligible to become a board member, the nominee must be an ASEI paid member (Annual Professional or Life) in good standing, must have participated in ASEI volunteer activities at local or national level, and must have exhibited leadership qualities from experiences that would add significant value to the board and ASEI. The nominee must be ready and willing to participate in all (or almost all) board meetings and contribute by participating in ASEI activities including membership of various committees of ASEI. The nominees should become familiar with ASEI membership types and Constitution and Bylaws available at www.aseiusa.org   
 
Please click here to submit your nomination. The deadline to submit nominations is Jan 15, 2023.

Dear ASEI Members,
  
The National Board of ASEI is conducting its election to fill the 2023 Board of Directors open positions. By section VI.2 of the constitution, we have appointed the following Board members to the Election Committee:
 
Election Committee Chairperson: Rakesh Patel
Election Committee Members:  Surbhi Kaul  & Shreekant Agrawal
 
Hence, the purpose of this communication is to request nominations from the membership for the ASEI National Board of Directors. Five open positions will be filled through this nomination process.
 
You can self-nominate or nominate someone else for the ASEI National Board position. If nominating someone else, please get concurrence from your nominee before submitting the nomination.
 
To be eligible to become a board member, the nominee must be an ASEI-paid member in good standing for one year, must have participated in ASEI activities at the local or national level, and must have exhibited leadership qualities from experiences that would add significant value to the board and ASEI. The nominee must be ready and willing to participate in all (or almost all) board meetings and contribute by participating in ASEI activities, including membership in various committees of ASEI. The nominees should become familiar with ASEI Constitution and Bylaws available at www.ASEIUSA.Org
 
Please Click here to submit your nomination. The deadline to submit nominations is December 11th, 2022.
 
Sincerely,
Executive Committee of the ASEI National Board of Directors:
Piyush Malik - President
Ram Ramanujam - Vice President
Jwalant Lakhia - Treasurer
Vatsala Upadhyaya - Secretary & IT Director
 
 

The latest edition of the newsletter has been sent to all members on the  first of November  and the online edition is available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society.
Highlights from November:
✅ASEI Awards Nominations Open  - Last Date November 10th Check out further on our website and nominate someone today✅ASEI Making grassroots level efforts for STEM in Indian schools though partnerships✅ ASEI Elections: Board Positions are open for nominations for forming the 2023 board. Nominations Due by Nov 27    ✅Engineering Entrepreneurship & Mentoring in full flow at FalconX Accelerator✅ University Connect makes progress with new campus Ambassadors-  Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, Ph.D. and Ashdeep Seth✅  Replay of Engineering tales #8 with Rajeev Kapur ✅  New Mobility Summit  coming up in Michigan on Nov 19th ✅  Youth Corner with Aditya and Ashdeep Seth on Nov 26th 💥Do provide feedback as to what activities and programs you would like to see more of.💥Also, do tag your friends and ask them to follow this American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) page so as not to miss any of our upcoming exciting activities and updates.💥A big THANK You to  all our achievers, expert speakers, content contributors, community builders and collaborators highlighted  in this editionPiyush Malik Rajeev Kapur Dr TV Nagendra Prasad Solomon Darwin Srini Vemula Murali Chirala JP(JayaPrasad) Vejendla Jim Spohrer Sanjay B Dalal Veejay C Patell Aditya Vatsala Upadhyay #engineeringexcellence #leadership #mentorconnect #youthempowerment #newsletter

Ashdeep Seth is an independent designer, engineer, and educator who works on social innovation projects in Africa and Asia, with a focus on India. She designs and develops hardware and software technologies in agriculture and healthcare for low-resource communities. She is also a university connect ambassador for ASEI and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Development Engineering at UC Berkeley.
 
Ashdeep is North Indian; born and raised in Dubai, she moved to the United States in 2015 to study Product Design at Stanford University. She discovered her passion for social innovation while at IIT Madras Research Park working in their Healthcare Technology Innovation Center. Her motivation from working at IIT spawned her interest in several other similar projects. Currently, she designs affordable greenhouses for Indian smallholder farmers in association with Kheyti in Hyderabad. She works with Clinic+O in Guinea developing a mobile application used by a network of local community health workers to provide primary care services to marginalized communities. She is also a Senior Expert Fellow at Engineering for Change.
 
As Ashdeep says, growing up in an international expat area like Dubai allowed her to encounter various cultures and outlooks at a young age, and made her wonder who she wants to be. Her parents' work as architects and community builders also laid her career foundations and made her realize what she wanted to do, what her interests were, and how she wished to apply herself in society. This foundation has eventually led her to apply herself at the intersection of technology and social impact.
 
Her message to young people is to 'stay hungry and stay humble': be deeply curious, be grounded, find opportunities, especially amidst seeming difficulties, and nurture relationships. She attributes her success to the great relationships she has developed over the years. If you wish to take her advice, ASEI is one of the organizations that can help you build connections with industry professionals and leaders.
 
Website: www.ashseth.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashdeepseth/
 
** This Article is contributed by Aditya Guthey - ASEI youth coordinator. He is available via linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaguthey/  **

 
If you are not a Lifetime member of ASEI, this is a great time to become one at a one time $500 .
 
The next best thing is to become a Professional Member of ASEI and still enjoy all the benefits ASEI offers. Why you ask? The Professional Membership dues are a bargain at just $50 per annum.
 
And the timing couldn't be better than now!  We have made a change in the way this annual professional membership is considered valid. It used to be that this annual membership would expire on December 31st of the year regardless of when someone became a member. We have changed this to a rolling membership which means that members will get one full year from the day dues are paid. This will allow the members not to lose the benefits of ASEI membership on December 31st. We look forward to seeing everyone taking advantage of this change and not holding out from becoming ASEI Professional Member. ASEI membership provides a unique opportunity to be a part of many activities such as Mentor Connect, University Connect, National ASEI Conventions, ASEI Chapter networking events, and many more. For more details and to sign up for ASEI Membership, please visit http://www.aseiusa.org/Account/CreateMember 
 
- Jwalant Lakhia
Treasurer - National ASEI 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwalant-lakhia-6b83274/
 
 

Dear ASEI Members,
 
ASEI continues to build and grow on its foundational principles of nurturing, mentoring connecting, and developing networks of technology and STEM professionals. The ASEI National and Chapter Boards are now taking nominations for 3-year board membership, starting in the calendar year 2023.
 
Those who may be interested in serving in leadership positions in the different chapters or at the National level, please approach your chapter leaders. By the ASEI constitution, we will appoint the Board members to the Election Committee soon who will carry out the election/nomination process.
 
 
There will be additional information on the nomination process forthcoming soon.
 
ASEI 

The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) is a national organization of professionals of Asian Indian diaspora in the USA that shares knowledge among its members, shapes the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists and technologists and performs community service helping the disadvantaged and underprivileged.
 
American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) is hosting the 35th National ASEI National Convention focusing on Emerging Technology Innovations. This virtual convention will be held on Dec 10, 2022. The objective of this convention is to provide a forum to promote and share advancements related to technologies that contribute to our society with innovations. Keynotes, Fireside chats and Panel discussions covering some of the most pressing problems our world is facing today. The convention is expected to be attended by over 1000 professionals including scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders across the USA. This convention will feature multiple interactive sessions with prominent business owners, technologists, media personalities, educators, policy makers, and venture capitalists. This event will be covered by the local and national media outlets and leading social media platforms.
 
The convention will culminate with award announcements where those who have made outstanding achievements in engineering and technology and those who have contributed to society at large and to ASEI organization will be recognized. An award dinner banquet shall follow keeping current pandemic protocols in mind.
 
NOMINATION PROCESS
Please fill in the appropriate nomination form and send it in with a bio and other supporting documents such as press cuttings of any achievement or previous awards. Nominations can be for self or by a colleague, except for ASEI Service Excellence and Lifetime Achievement Awards, which have to be nominated as instructed in the nomination forms. All nominations must be received before November 10th, 2022.
 
ASEI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (CLICK TO NOMINATE)
This award is presented to an individual who has been a member of ASEI for at least 15 years, served and participated in various capacities in the activities of local and national chapters and contributed significantly to promote the vision and goals of the ASEI organization. This candidate is selected by the recommendation of the Award Committee and approval by the Chairman of the ASEI board.
 
ASEI PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD CATEGORIES (CLICK TO NOMINATE)





 


ASEI ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD




 


This award recognizes the achievements of an ASEI member, who best exemplifies the ideals of entrepreneurship by starting and successfully managing one or more businesses in a way that demonstrates notable entrepreneurial characteristics and achievements. An Intrapreneur who works along the same line but within the umbrella of a larger organization and has scaled innovations and business may be considered as well




 


-The company should demonstrate profitability.
-The company should demonstrate significant growth and long-term potential.
-The entrepreneur should note contributions to the community through charitable or leadership roles.
-The company should demonstrate innovative employee programs and corporate culture.
-The entrepreneur should demonstrate the ability to overcome adversity.




 


ASEI ENGINEER/SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR AWARD




 


The nominee should have demonstrated significant achievements in cutting-edge technology in their field of engineering or related science, managed and directed an organization or founded a company and made noteworthy contributions in design, manufacturing, production or service through the use of engineering principles and applications.





 
ASEI SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD (CLICK TO NOMINATE)
This is the highest recognition that ASEI bestows upon an individual who has exhibited exemplary leadership that has benefited ASEI organization and ASEI members at large. The recipient should have been responsible for one or more major initiatives, which have resulted in notable and/or highly innovative achievements or expansions of the ASEI mission (ASEI Mission: "To promote growth and development of programs and initiatives that foster career and professional development for ASEI members and cultivate engineering, scientific, and technical exchanges between USA and India”). The recipient is required to have served in one or more responsible positions within ASEI. The award honors an individual who has:
 
-Played a key role in establishing and building the ASEI Value.
-Made notable contributions to the advancement in the field of engineering.
-Given selflessly his/her time and energy to the ASEI national and local chapters.
 
ASEI FOUNDER’S AWARD (CLICK TO NOMINATE)
Open to the ASEI national officers and committee members. The person who has contributed the most in the previous year will be recognized. Recommendation has to come from previous year’s officers as well as current officers and sent to Dr Neeraj Bindal and ASEI National President to finalize the award. The award consists of a plaque, memento and a cash award of $1,000 presented at the ASEI Annual National Convention banquet event.
 
ASEI CORPORATE EXCELLENCE RECOGNITION PROGRAM (CERP) (CLICK TO NOMINATE)
Developed in 2005, the CERP awards are a result of ASEI collaborating with leading US corporations. The vision of CERP is to salute the innovative strength that comes from a diversity of human capital. This award recognizes corporate excellence of outstanding engineers of Indian origin who are employed in industry, academia or government entities. Candidates are nominated by their managers and approved by their Human Resources department.
 
The CERP awards are presented for five categories as follows:





 


1.Corporate Engineering Excellence Award (Professional achievement)




 


2.Corporate Woman Engineer of the Year Award (Gender specific)




 


3.Corporate Young Engineer of the year Award (under 35 age, less than 10 years experience)




 


4.Corporate Outstanding Achievement Award




 


5.Corporate Service Excellence Award





 
The CERP awards criteria is based on achievements, innovation, leadership, teamwork, integrity, community service, and leadership roles in other professional societies such as SAE, AIAA, ASME, TiE, ISSIP etc.
 

Instituted in 2005 by the ASEI board, these awards are administered under the auspices of the ASEI Award Committee and in cooperation with the Corporate Selection Committee. The awards will consist of a plaque and recognition during the ASEI Annual National Convention banquet. Applications for the CERP awards are submitted by the sponsoring company.

ASEI mentors have supported NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AIC) program for several years now producing several winners amongst our high student members. For those who wish to know more, here is a primer

Who is NCWIT? 
NCWIT (National Center for Women in Technology) is a non-profit community that convenes, equips, and unites change leader organizations to increase the meaningful participation of all women — at the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, and disability status — in the influential field of computing, particularly in terms of innovation and development.
Before NCWIT was chartered in 2004 by the National Science Foundation, programs focusing on women and computing existed mostly in isolation — without the benefit of shared best practices, effective resources, communication with others, or national reach. Today, these programs are part of the NCWIT community, creating a far greater impact than if institutions acted alone.
What is AIC?
The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing (AiC) honors 9th-12th grade women, genderqueer, or non-binary students for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and future plans. Since 2007, more than 20,000 students have received an Award for AiC.
The multi-tiered award structure includes Winner, Honorable Mention, and Rising Star designations at National and Regional Affiliate levels, serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, all U.S. overseas military bases, and Canada. Regional Affiliate Award programs are hosted in 79 locations nationwide by NCWIT Alliance member organizations—a powerful, national network of universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations working to increase the influence and meaningful participation of girls and women from every community.
Why does ASEI partner with NCWIT?
ASEI promotes youth empowerment in STEM and stands for gender equity and non-dicrimination.. We encourage our community to get active and be seen. We highly encourage High Schoolers all across the US to apply for the Aspirations in Computing award 2023. The deadline is now extended till Oct 27th.
 
 Click here to encourage High schoolers to apply 
 
 

This grassroots impact program is being championed in collaboration with an Edtech company {igebra.ai} as a pilot. We welcome any suggestions from members on scaling and collaboration opportunities that further ASEI's mission


Our research shows that many students at the grassroot level across the world don’t receive even the necessary math education. The Indian education system in rural areas has its own set of challenges like lack of teachers, right studying material, quality of lesson delivery and many more which leads to increased fear of math and eventually kids either fail or leave math after 10th grade.
 
A lot needs to be done to provide better quality math education for all children at the grassroot level. Because the importance of math in the modern world cannot be overstated. It has applications in every profession, scientific discovery, digital data and AI apart from daily life.
 
ASEI in the past conducted a few STEM workshops in the US in collaboration with {igebra.ai} which has recently initiated the  “Math4ALL”  grassroots impact program which aims to solve the above pressing problem by providing well trained teachers who care for kids and make them fall in love with Math.
 
ASEI is strengthening partnership with {igebra.ai} to take “Math4ALL” outreach to the next level by bringing awareness of this collaboration with members of ASEI and enterprise leaders and Corporate Social responsibility initiatives.
 
Along with providing math education at grassroot society this partnership is also creating local employment opportunities to the unemployed youth. {igebra.ai} will recruit, train and deploy hundreds of math teachers at grassroot level schools to achieve the outreach mission.
 
Recently, team {igebra.ai} with support from ASEI conducted a successful Math4ALL workshop in a government school at Bendapudi, Andhra Pradesh, India. 
 
The program also got the attention of collector of Kakinada district Dr. Kritika Shukla, IAS who invited the {igebra.ai} team to meet and understand the program. Dr. Kritika Shukla, IAS was thrilled by the feedback and extended her support to implement the program across the district.
 
ASEI and {igebra.ai} are in discussion with supporters and exploring the possibility of implementing across the district in phases. Here is a small glimpse of these Math4ALL workshops and kids sharing their experiences.
 
Bendapudi Math Workshop
 
ZPHSl, Kammeta Math Workshop  
 
The mission to make math inclusive has just begun! ASEI and {igebra.ai} are exploring partnerships with interested organizations and individuals to reach out to more schools and communities across India and US to Make Kids Fall in Love with Math/STEM.
 
*** Contributed by ASEI Lifemember Sreeni Vemula, who has been on the Silicon Valley Chapter board for several  years and also served as founding treasurer ***

University Connect is one of the pillars of our strategy to help students and early career engineers by forging strong relationships with Universities, student bodies and academics hailing from the Indian diaspora. As part of our focus on  youth empowerment and helping them find internships and jobs, we have been organizing events across many of our chapters over past  years. 
 
As Mother Teresa aptly put it once:
 ✅“I alone can not change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples”
 
So we at ASEI  Silicon Valley Chapter thought of making a bigger ripple impact by coordinating a Career Fair across multiple campuses and got many of our professional chapters including Washington DC, Dallas and SoCal reach out to universities and academics in their region and beyond to come together along with inviting recruiters from several companies.   The result was an engaging program with 6 speakers and multiple recruiters from our sponsors and supporters. 
 
The students were thrilled to know about open opportunities while recruiters were able to showcase their companies and the process to go about applying to those. At this event, we were fortunate enough to get the support from Juniper Network’s CTO Dr Raj Yavatkar who shared  tips from his illustrious career journey as he rose from an engineer to a technology manager to a powerful silicon valley executive across iconic companies such as Intel, VMware, Google and now as CTO at Juniper Networks. A holder of 45+ patents and 60+ publications and a book, Dr Yavatkar emphasized the importance of saying yes and developing soft skills in addition to strengthening the technical competencies.
 
Diliip Saraf, who is also an IIT alum has had the distinction of reinventing himself and pivoting 6 times before becoming “Linkedin’s #1 Leadership reinvention guru /coach”   and  now advises senior managers on their journey to executive and C level roles. He talked about the “The Magical Power of Storytelling” in communicating professionally, especially making oneself more attractive to prospective employers. The frameworks and ideas he shared are useful to not only his paying clients (a few of them were actually in the audience!) but also to students and early tenure ASEI members.
 
Since Linkedin is a tool that most job seekers and recruiters rely on in today’s world, we had a career coach Padma Kulkarni from Canada share her tips on optimizing resumes and profiles on  Linkedin. Padma used her own profile to make a point how even students with limited experience can make their profile attractive by including volunteer and professional affiliations (such as ASEI ) in their profiles. As it is, employers today prefer  a strong personal brand and encourage  “bring your whole self to work” so it was quite nice to hear the reinforcing messages from recruiters from Emerson, Veridic and Juniper as well in that context.
 
Veridic Solutions’ CEO Vikas Aditya while giving an overview of the cloud technology innovation solutions startup that he leads made an offer to provide free platform for career building - AI driven  job search, resume building and technical assessment tools to attendees and anyone affiliated with ASEI as they opened their cutting edge  internal tools to benefit our student members. Veridic also sponsored $25 Gift cards to 10 lucky attendees while O'reilly was kind enough to sponsor  books for five of our winners.
 
Emerson was represented by Vice president Sam Ladva and Smita Patel who in turn talked about what their company does and how they have been able to successfully recruit ASEI members in the past and offered a glimpse into the plethora of career options they provide.   Romi , Hong Trinh and Benjamin Chong  from Juniper’s HR team shared their opportunities as well. After the formal presentations, the students had an opportunity to interface with the recruiters and company representatives in smaller groups both online and at our in person locations. Our biggest in person location gathering was at UT Dallas facilitated by Prof Gaurav Shekhar and ASEI Dallas Chapter president Pueet Dixit. The students were able to network with recruiters from Veridic Solutions as well as ASEI Board members present
  
As former US President - Ronald Reagan said  ✅“We can’t help everyone but everyone can help some.”  In that spirit we will continue to make a difference one event , one step and one student at a time and encourage you to join hands in this mission to make a positive impact.
 
Here is the list of winners of door prizes.
 
Ten Winners of $25 Amazon Gift Cards sponsored by Veridic Solutions:Sachin Chodavarapu Amith Inturi Keerthi Reddy JagapathiChetana AnandAnjali MurthySreedevi Rajitha MalladiSuhpriya VenkateshwaranSai TaraNihar KhillarSiddhi Wadgaonkar
 
O'REILLY Book Prize Winners need to confirm your book choice per the notification:Sumeet L. Ram Deb BiswasSmita PatelPurva PuranikSai Sandeep Adapa
 




Our  announcement on Linkedin garnered some good community reactions and we encourage you to share your views too there. - Piyush Malik

As a CX leader, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to build customer focus in our products and solutions as well as  how to delight our customers. I want to ensure that our customers can trust us and rely upon us with their business critical networks and infrastructure. How can I achieve that? Do I have to simplify my products to 1-click installations or ZTP (zero touch provisioning)? Do I have to make the buying journey really simple? Should I focus on post sales product installation and adoption through amazing customer success teams? And we cannot lose site of omnichannel personalized interactions.
 
Well, the simple answer is that it has to be all of the above and then some. The way we do it is by focusing on the business outcomes - not ours but our customers. What do I mean by that?
 
Well, our customers don’t want to run the network or manage the infrastructure anymore. In the age of automation and self-driving cars, expectations from the underlying networks & infrastructure are set very high. It should just work! Self driving networks like self-driving cars should assess network health, predict anomalies, take corrective action and hum like a well oiled machine with no need for operators to be constantly tinkering with CLI, UI, or any control point software that gives observability or telemetry. 
 
So if we only focus on personalized omnichannel engagement, product experience improvements,  and easy buying journeys, we are missing the big picture of the customer’s business outcome. Don’t get me wrong - each of those aspects is critical and needs investment of company funds to achieve CX leadership in the market. However, to be a true CX differentiator, we have to up-level that thinking to focus not on just on those touchpoints or own business outcomes. We need to take it a step further and into understanding and co-owning the customer’s objectives and goals. Building real empathy for the customer’s business challenges and focusing on the impact that we can have on their bottom line is essential. The focus on delightful and impactful experiences  we can bring  to our costomer's customers is an absolute must!
 
Recently, Juniper CDO, AE Natarajan shared a story with me that brought this point home. He was on a business trip to meet one of his customers and decided to pay a visit to his old aunt who happened to be in the same town. She gave him an earful about all the challenges she was having with her mobile service, her internet as well as her TV cable company - all of which happened to be served by the customer that he was visiting. Little did his aunt know that the ability to impact and maybe improve all of those aspects is a responsibility we vendors share with our customers.  
 
So the plan to achieve CX impact is by keeping the focus on the end user. In consumer companies and B2C models this is a given as companies can see the direct impact of their products on consumers and end users. But it becomes a bit trickier for B2B companies that traditionally have focused on their customers and how to engage and provide good CX to their enterprise customers. But today, we are not just B2B (business to business) anymore but stepping closer to the end user and expanding our customer empathy to the end customer (business to business to consumer). The goal has shifted to strategic alignment with our customer’s business outcomes and building empathy for their customers.
 
Product management as well as engineering teams need to be cognizant of that mindset during product design and development as well, understanding where and how our products are having that end user impact through usability and serviceability aspects of the products. 
 
One of my customers put it very succinctly, “the network needs to be an enabler for my business”, ensuring that its not depleting  resources in upkeep and maintenance. By changing the focus, we become a partner and a trusted advisor to our customers. If we can give that assurance to our customers, we can free them to focus on their business. They can invest their time and effort in their area of expertise whether its healthcare, retail or education and providing better CX to their own users. It's a beautiful CX cycle that we have set in motion! 
***************Surbhi Kaul is an ASEI life member serving on the ASEI Silicon valley and National Board. She is active with non-profits in the community as well as currently serves as  Vice President at Juniper Networks, having had successful stints at iconic companies like Google,Youtube and Netflix among others.  

The latest edition of the newsletter was sent to all members during the first week of September  but the online edition is  available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society.
 
Here are the highlights from September newsletter : 
✅BioEngineering gets a massive boost with AlphaFold AI   - A recent upgrade to solve one of the grand challenges to understand 3D structure of 200Million proteins 
✅ ASEI Celebrating India at @75 with celebrations with Indian Ambassador Amb Sandhu and Consul General TVN in Sanford & Fremont and Amit Kumar in Chicago 
✅ASEI President Piyush Malik honored with NAAAP100 award  by @NAAP for exemplary leadership and contributions of profession and Asian community 
✅“Reshaping the World in Transition” Musings from the IIT Bay Area  Alumni Conference by Piyush Malik with ASEI members @surbhi Kaul  @nidhi Mathihali and awardees @jyoti bansal Shalini Govil Pai 
✅ Climbing greater heights - ASEI CERP awardee  NASA;s @kavya Manyapu climbs virgin peak on a trailblazing mission in Ladakh and gets to name a mountain
✅  Engineering tales #7 with ASEI Awardee Padmasree Warrior 
✅Breaking the Glass Ceiling - a panel discussion  with Aastha Verma Geetha Ravishankar Rosemary Cox ,Archana Gharpuray, Alka Bhave , Neeta Pavle, Lorrie A Krebs
at UMD moderated by Sujita Venkat and DC chapter team

✅Pack a Box Community activity in Orange county with SoCal Chapter @sanjay Dalal @vrinda @mahesh reddy @jay patel
 
✅Mentor Connect Fireside chat  between Rpphin and Preetha by @divva ashok 
💥 Upcoming Event : ASEI Golf outting Sept18
💥 Upcoming Event : ASEI UniversityConnect Multi Campus Event Sept19
💥Do provide feedback in the comments below as to what activities and programs you would like to see more of.
 
💥Also, do tag your friends and ask them to follow this American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) page so as not to miss any of our upcoming exciting activities and updates.
 
💥A big THANKS to  all our achievers, expert speakers, content contributors, community builders and collaborators highlighted  in August :
 
Editorial /Content team 
Sunita Dublish Vatsala Upadhyaya Puneet Dixit Amrish Chopra Devika Dixit Surbhi Paul Syna Sharma Krrish Mujjoo Isha Jagadish Nidhi Mathihalli Muthu Sivanantham Santosh Ankola Raju Shreewastava
 
#engineeringexcellence #leadership #mentorconnect #youthempowerment #newsletter
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate
 

Conferences are usually avenues for networking but during the pandemic most events went virtual and we started to miss the camraderie. As the world is opening up, slowly in-person events are making a comeback and ASEI Silicon Valley chapter had an opportunity to partner with the IIT Bay area alumni association on Aug 27th for a full day of learning and networking. 
 
What value did it offer? Well, if you combine  learning cutting- edge  topics along with  meeting  industry colleagues and  reconnecting with college alumni networks all in one, then  that event becomes  exponentially valuable. 
 
The  IIT Bay Area team did a fantastic job putting together an event taglined “Reshaping the World” that brought together over 50 speakers - some of them very well known names in the industry. At the event, the ASEI Board was represented by Piyush Malik, Surbhi Kaul and Student member Nidhi Mathihali. Along with Surbhi hosting a fireside chat, we also got to hear from  past ASEI Awardees : Unicorn creator & entrepreneur of the year 2020 Jyoti Bansal and Intrapreneur of the Year 2021 Google TV GM & VP Shalini Govil Pai.
 
Read the insider scoop and key takeaways in this candid blog by ASEI President Piyush Malik

We had a wonderful fireside chat with Rophin and Preetha as part of the ASEI MentorConnect program on Saturday, Aug 27, 2022
 
Divya Ashok, VP of Strategy and Innovation at Salesforce kicked off the meeting by sharing the vision of ASEI and its programs. She shared details about MentorConnect as one of the four focus programs of ASEI, which serves as a platform to connect its members to help each other as both mentors and mentees in their professional success.
 
Today's panelists included Rophin Paul and Preetha Ram. Rophin is the CEO of Wipro Pari Robotics, USA, a company that works with key automotive partners in providing manufacturing automation. Preetha is a member of the ASEI National Board and also a VC, Educator, and Entrepreneur. Both have a passion for travel to Europe - Rophin to get close to nature and Preetha for its history, food, and culture.
 
Here are a few highlights from the chat:
 
What is one lesson learned in the context of leadership and mentoring based on varied experiences?
Rophin: Integrity is at the absolute top of the list and shows how you work with and uphold the team. It often comes into play when you are pressured
Preetha: Creating an inclusive space is a key observation. This helps bring the conversations open and helpful
 
On how culture plays a role in mentoring.
Rophin: Culture plays an important role based on Eastern or Western origins. Eastern culture emphasizes the leader and mentor as the sage. One follows the leader for their deep experience and insights learned - more as followers. Western culture is based more on being open and communicating. Many questions from the mentees are very relevant and the relationship is successful when there is openness and learning in both directions.
 
There is an element of match-making between the mentor and mentee. What makes for a good relationship?
Rophin: Map your values and your goals from both mentor and mentee perspectives. Try to get alignment in 3 or 4 and that will work well.  The alignment of goals between the mentor and mentee is the most effective method for a good relationship. If in the first couple of meetings, you don't get that alignment, it's okay to move on and look for a different mentor/mentee.
Preetha: Make a 3-point set of goals and get an agreement at your first meeting. At the end of a relationship, this will help to understand if the mentoring relationship was successful.
 
Is any time too early to be a mentor?
Rophin: Some leaders tend to naturally influence like a captain without actually being called a mentor. It is never too soon to take an active role and help someone else.
Preetha: Peer-to-peer mentoring can work very well if the mentor-mentee goals are matched.
 
How do you deal with a leader you do not agree with in a corporate setting?
Rophin: Disagree politely, articulate your position, and lay the facts out there. If there is still disagreement, you have to go with the leader if they are the decision maker - don't get emotional. If you are the decision maker, let your values guide you.
 
How do we work with people that don't report to you and still solve difficult issues?
Rophin: First align people to the problem, either the business or a bigger picture issue. Put yourself in their shoes and understand that they might have unique problems themselves. Play the role of understanding both sides.
 
What sort of difficulties do mentors face?
Rophin and Preetha: The mentee is not stepping up and taking actions to recommend. Articulating that delicately is important. It sometimes gets trickier if it is across teams. Sometimes mentees do not show up for a meeting or cancel at the last moment: both parties need to understand and respect each other's time. Another challenging situation is when mentee does not articulate their goals well - this is when some time needs to be spent on alignment and clarification.
 
Any take on small-group mentoring v/s 1-1 mentoring?
Rophin and Preetha: Both have their space. Small group mentoring is more generic advice. It also creates a bonding between the mentees. It is very effective for entry-level employees. It is almost like coaching as you are broadcasting and creating high-level goals.  1-1 mentoring is targeted for career goals and personal development. When the mentee's success becomes the mentor's success that will provide the best outcomes.
 
Conclusion Kush Shah, Organizational Excellence, and Quality Executive summarized the event: One can be successful in leadership by being inclusive. Personal and professional integrity is a top value to serve as an effective mentor and leader. Continue to take advantage of your professional networks such as the ASEI MentorConnect to connect with senior leaders and help others in your networks by acting as a mentor. 

What does one have to do with GOLF and Engineering?
 
Do you know an engineer can swing the golf club and convert it into speed...because they know pendulum theory and concept. The faster a golfer can make a golf ball go, the farther it will travel. How does a golfer get a ball to go faster? It's science and engineering.
 
Check out different engineering and scientific theory on September 18th at HillTop Golf course. 
 
Register ASAP at http://www.aseiusa.org/EventPage?eventId=1137

In the Indo-American community, who doesn’t  know Padmasree Warrior? Well at least in the silicon valley, her name is synonymous with womanpower. 
 
For those who are from a different generation or my not be familiar, let's give a brief introduction.
 
Padmasree Warrior is the Founder, President and CEO of Fable, a mobile-first company that brings stories for everyone, anywhere. Previously, Padma was the Chief Executive Officer of NIO U.S., Chief Development Officer and Board Member of NIO Inc., a manufacturer of smart, electric and autonomous vehicles. In this role she scaled the company from start-up to a successful IPO NYSE:NIO in 3 years.
Padmasree Warrior has been widely recognized for her creative, visionary leadership. Forbes has named her one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” for three years running. In 2013, The International Alliance for Women gave her the World of Difference Award. In 2012, Business Insider called her one of the “25 Most Influential Women in Wireless”. The Wall Street Journal has called her one of “50 Women to Watch.” Fast Company included her among the “100 Most Creative People in Business.” The Economic Times listed her as “the 11th Most Influential Global Indian.”
 
Originally from south India, after graduating from IIT Delhi, she came to the US for her masters at Cornell. Padma  has been a member of Microsoft's board of directors since December 2015. She is also a board member at Spotify .She was a member of the Gap Inc. board from 2013 to 2016[23] and the Box board from 2014 to 2016. 
 
Apart from numerous commercial accolades and those from ASEI, she was recognized by National Association of Asian American Professionals NAAAP with a Lifetime achievement award NAAAP100 in 2021  
 
In our Engineering Tales Episode 7 last week, Padma spoke with ASEI members and complemented us on continuing to inspire the next generation of technologists amongst the indo-american diaspora. She thanked ASEI for her 2013 Engineer of the Year award. Then she shared pertinent learnings from her career especially embracing change:
 
“Throughout my career, I have journeyed as an engineer to a technology executive to a CEO, not only changing roles along the way, but also industries—from Motorola to Cisco to Nio, and now Fable.”
 
As she has embraced change herself  along the way, she also observed an evolution of how people learn and interact with one another, which inspired her  to think about how we 1) apply technology to bring humanity back to each of us, and 2) make mental wellness through reading a priority.
 
She further shared the inspiration behind her  current venture, as the founder and CEO of Fable - a social reading app platform. She also added that Indian-American Titans of Industry—like Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, and Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo—curating book recommendations which you can find on Fable.
She invites all ASEI members  to read along with  her  in her own club, or join one of the many other free clubs you can find in the Fable app.
Additionally, she mentioned that they  have amazing Career Development Book Clubs, which are designed to help you get to the next professional level, and are reimbursable through your company. In these clubs, you’ll study must-read books, get coaching from world-renowned leaders and authors, and connect with like-minded professionals, all on your schedule. You can learn more about these clubs at fable.co/career-development
In closing, Padma left us  with her  top 3 pieces of advice to young students or budding engineers and the importance of building networks through organizations like ASEI:
Invest in upskilling and reskilling yourself -  (eg making career coaching available through our Career Dev clubs) 
Seek new opportunities - don’t wait for the perfect job to land in your lap
Growth mindset - be curious and expand your areas of expertise
 
We are thankful for Padmasree Warrior in continuing to be a friend of ASEI as much as being a role model for not only all women of color but all Asian American Professionals
Join Padma in your reading journey with her featured club on Fable for free to learn about her career journey as well as leadership tips.

Celebrating an important milestone today.... 75 years ago on 15th August 1947 India became independent from the British colonial rule.
 
Since then, the vision, enterprising spirit and innovative ideas along with hard work of over a billion Indians have propelled us to hold our head high in the world as the largest functioning running democracy and significant progress in technology, innovation and self sufficiency.
 
ASEI (American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin) has stood for not only a safe space for diaspora scientists, engineers and technologists to grow, share knowledge and help develop the next generation, but also strengthening Indo-US technological relations and collaborations since inception.
 
We greet all our members and well wishers and proud to celebrate the #azadikaamritmahotsav2022 with our Motherland! #jaihind
 
Piyush Malik Jwalant Lakhia Ram Ramanujam Vatsala Upadhyay Rakesh Patel Neeraj Bindal Shreekant Agrawal Subba Rao Gopavarapu Jag Kottha Sanjay B Dalal Muthu Sivanantham Puneet Dixit Venkat Gurunathan Rakesh Guliani Amit Kumar Dr TV Nagendra Prasad

The latest edition of the newsletter has been sent to all members  but the online edition is available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society.
 
Highlights from the #ASEI August newsletter :✅Data Analytics & Storage  (Part2) - An overview of past, present and future of Storage by Surbhi Paul✅Celebrating our Gurus, Teachers & Mentors by Piyush Malik✅ ASEI wins Aspirations in Computing  NCWIT Award for mentoring and encouraging women and  the underrepresented in the community ✅“Cybersecurity is not optional” Musings from the Cybersecurity  Summit" by Syna Sharma ✅Gaming is hot but building games is hotter + Moonpreneur Inc  Internship - an offer by Alok Jain✅Youth Corner with world's youngest VC Taarini Kaur Dang - by Aditya Guthey, Communication Skills Trainer and Coach 🎯✅Roboart for children of digital age - by Srini Vemula💥Upcoming FREE events🚨Aug 7th:  9 am PT : Engineering tales with Padmasree Warrior CEO Fable https://lnkd.in/guGQsqTc🚨 Aug 13:  Breaking the Glass ceiling  -  in-person Panel discussion at University of Maryland, Baltimore with  Women leaders Aastha Verma @Geetha Ravishankar Rosemary C. Cox Archana Gharpuray Alka Bhave  Neeta Pavle, CISSP @Lorrie A KrebsFree Registration https://lnkd.in/gu6xQiZ7🚨 Aug 27:  Mentor Connect Mid year review   -  Virtual discussion with Preetha Ram and Rophin Paul https://lnkd.in/gRPR6gfsThe August issue of the ASEI Newsletter was emailed to all members on the first day of the month. If you are missing it, either your are not on our mailing list or please check your spam/junk folders and if you still cant find it , please let us know in the comment below.For convenience, enclosed is a pdf copy to download and read more (embedded links will work) 💥Do provide feedback in the comments below as to what activities and programs you would like to see more of.💥Also, do tag your friends and ask them to follow this American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) page so as not to miss any of our upcoming exciting activities and updates. 💥A big THANKS to  all our achievers, expert speakers, content contributors, community builders and collaborators highlighted  in July : Surbhi Paul  Piyush Malik Srini Vemula Murali Chirala BV Jagadeesh Abhinav Asthana   Raju Reddy Mahantesh Hiremath Urmi Sumant Guru Madhavan @azad madhni Hashima Hasan, Kalyani Sukhatme, Kartik Sheth , Ranga Chary   Editorial /Content team Sunita Dublish Vatsala Upadhyaya Puneet Dixit Amrish Chopra Devika Dixit Surbhi Paul Syna Sharma Krrish Mujjoo Isha Jagadish Nidhi Mathihalli Muthu Sivanantham Santosh Ankola Raju Shreewastava #engineeringexcellence #leadership #mentorconnect #youthempowerment #newsletter
 
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate.

From magnetic tapes to floppy disks to the cloud - The world of Storage has come a long way. Here’s a capsule size overview of the past, present and future of storage by Surbhi Paul,

Our ability to receive, store, and recall data has changed tremendously over the last hundred years. Let’s take a walk through time and trace the past, present, and future of data storage.  From 1930s-1990s, there has been an evolution of storage devices from magnetic tapes and drums, an early form of computer memory wherein the electromagnetic pulse was stored by changing the magnetic orientation of ferromagnetic particles, to floppy disks, hard drives and flash drives. Hard drives continued to reduce in size and evolved into flash storage drives.

 
The transition from magnetic, mechanical rotating disk to semiconductor flash storage is not a minor transition. After a long stagnant period, storage over the last decade has experienced a technological turning point with the development of semiconductor-based flash memory for both consumer and enterprise applications. The advent of flash memory is not simply a change in media, where one can obtain its benefits entirely just by replacing a disk with an SSD. The advantages of flash will only be fully realized with entirely new storage software and entirely new computing stacks. Legacy vendors cannot afford to abandon their existing code to take full advantage of flash – they have simply thrown SSDs into their existing arrays. With no rotating media baggage, data storage leaders are focused entirely on maximizing the advantages of flash for new and existing computing architectures, and on leveraging the faster price declines of flash to penetrate deeper into storage tiers.

The world is experiencing additional technological revolutions, driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, quantum computing, and self-driving cars.  All of these developments create and require large amounts of very fast data. The present and future lies in modern and dynamic data experience. Customers are facing multiple challenges, including executing ambitious plans for digital transformation. Technology leaders are rejecting excessive system complexity and technical debt that hinder infrastructure modernization efforts. The approach to Ops is changing: DevOps and AIOps are enabling companies to focus on managing their business rather than managing infrastructure. And they’re hiring more developers. CIOs have a mandate to develop cloud initiatives that drive corporate value while addressing application performance bottlenecks. And every business wants to extract more intelligence from their data.
A modern and dynamic data experience starts with a storage-as-a-service approach to enable organizations to leverage more of their data while reducing the complexity and expense of managing infrastructure. Customers want their requirement for data to be agile, dynamic, and delivered in the cloud-like as-a-service model. Digital businesses of tomorrow are building on the cloud-native stack. The combination of best-in-class, enterprise-grade storage infrastructure and Kubernetes data platform will provide the most complete data-services platform for building, automating, protecting, and securing all applications—both traditional and now, cloud-native. The focus needs to be on meeting the needs of cloud-native developers and DevOps teams, how and where they run - on any cloud, any infrastructure, any storage - and supporting them at every stage of the cloud-native journey.
Data storage - physical, virtual, containers are all viable deployment models. Customers are at the point where they are making the decision and looking to stand-up the environments, automate the deployment and consume them as a service. In the near future, they no longer want to worry about setting up anything or even deciding where to deploy their apps/data, they just want it delivered as a service. 
What else does the future hold for data storage? The current hard drives consist of rapidly spinning platters that rotate at a given speed. However, the air they’re filled with adds a fair amount of drag on those platters, due to which a fair amount of additional energy is required to rotate them. Using helium instead of air, helium-filled drives use less power to spin the disks, running cooler and in turn, allowing you to pack more data onto each disk.

Quantum memory is another promising area, though it's too expensive to be a viable data storage method for consumers today. Cost, however, isn't the only limitation. The quantum information is fragile and ephemeral. Scientists have been working on quantum storage in order to provide instant data syncing between two points anywhere. Right now this technology can only store tiny amounts of data for a very short amount of time, but if it works and takes off, we could see instant data syncing between two points anywhere.
 
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Surbhi Paul serves on the ASEI Silicon Valley Board. She  is a technologist with 15+ years of experience in business and technology roles. She has been involved in engineering, product management, product marketing roles at large global companies with multi-billion dollar revenues and multi-stage startups scaling from pre-revenue to $1B+. Currently, as a product marketer, she is leading the GTM of the flagship product at Portworx (Pure Storage). Surbhi has led and helped with community-based projects such as Project Udaan (Art of Living organization - rescuing and uplifting children of sex traffickers in India), teaching Science to under-privileged elementary school kids (Science is Elementary organization). She is also a passionate educator - served as a lecturer in an engineering college in Delhi, India and as a Python programming teacher at The Harker School. Surbhi has earned her Bachelor degree in Computer Sc. Engineering from Punjab Technical University, India and Masters in Computer Sc. and Engineering from San Jose State University.
Would you like to learn more about Storage ? Visit https://www.purestorage.com
 

Eighteen-year-old Taarini Kaur Dang is an author, high schooler, TEDx Speaker, and the Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Brave14 Capital, for which she has raised $870k in funding.
 
Yeah, I know: that’s a lot to accomplish as an 18-year-old! And so, on the July 4th weekend, we sat down and dove into the different things that have made her the person she is today.
Taarini's drive for entrepreneurship was sparked when her parents shared their own stories of their entrepreneurial journey with her when she was just 6 years old. Taarini was fascinated by the impact you can have on others as an entrepreneur.
 
By the time she was in 8th grade, she started an entrepreneurship club, wherein students were assigned different roles based on their strengths. Learning about entrepreneurship, she was flabbergasted by the comparatively few number of women in the field. She also learned more about disadvantaged women and the lack of VC funding through non-profit organizations such as TIEcon and movements that represent marginalized communities, like the Jakara Movement. All of these events lead to the founding of the venture capital firm Brave14.
 
However, starting out, she, like many others, would sometimes lose motivation for her work. Her proposals and ideas would be misunderstood or shot down. Even loved ones would be indifferent to her ideas and vision. But what kept her going was her commitment to help other marginalized communities. It is her hope for these communities that propels her forward and inspires her to keep going, especially when the days get tough.
 
Through her work with her venture capital firm, her association with non-profit organizations, and her Instagram account @classywomenn, she inspires other women to pursue entrepreneurship. From time to time, she has also taken advantage of networking opportunities available through various organizations, which helped her gain more diverse perspectives and refine her presentation skills and the way she spoke about venture capital. That's why she recommends joining organizations like ASEI, which provide a platform for tech professionals and youth to network and gain inspiration from other industry leaders.
 
Her advice for youth today is to keep fighting. Continuing to pursue your passions; showcase the fact that you are worthy and capable. She says, "you have no idea how that will impact your life. You may not have all the bells and whistles in the early stages of your journey, but your ability to consistently move forward on your idea keeping the end in mind is the first and most important gateway to success."
 
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This article is based on conversations ASEI president Piyush Malik and ASEI youth coordinator Aditya Guthey, a Silicon Valley chapter member and a career coach have had with Taarini Kaur Dang  for ASEI Youth Corner via Youtube on 7/4 and on Clubhouse 7/24.
 
ASEI has a partnership with Moonpreneur - a Silicon Valley based startup that accelerates youths' path from STEM education to entrepreneurship. They are offering summer internships for ASEI youth members as well in summer 2022. Click to avail special offers for ASEI community
 

The latest edition of the ASEI newsletter has been sent to all members  on July 1st  and  the online edition is available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society including the partnerships and internships being offered for students.
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate.

Cybersecurity is No Longer Optional! - Musings on ASEI's Cybersecurity Summit by Syna Sharma
 
Cybersecurity is a growing problem around the world. Many of our nation’s most important ports and elections are becoming compromised due to a lack of understanding of the importance of cybersecurity. Recently, ASEI held a Cybersecurity Summit, hearing from many different speakers and covering a wide range of topics, including overview of the threat landscape, building a secure future, and software supply chain security. One of the topics discussed that intrigued me the most was protecting the homeland from cyber risk. 
Aastha Verma, the chief of vulnerability management at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), used many unique analogies to compare the different components of cybersecurity to the Wild West. Everything one can envision in the Wild West applies to the cyber world as well. Ethical hackers are cowboys; malicious actors of all types are outlaws and bandits; defenseless IT staff with primitive tools are sheriffs; and our most critical data assets are gold mines. 
After laying the basic foundation for cybersecurity components, Aastha talks about the different opportunities everywhere for us to respond better and faster, such as the 2020 water disaster in Flint, Michigan, which was an epic monitoring fail. Similarly, airports, shipping ports, and spaceports are all at risk. An eye-opening point made by Aastha was the lack of anonymity and privacy we have in our day-to-day lives due to our devices. Self-service and automation are now an expectation. Using your WiFi connection, those same devices self-report back to home base whenever you leave the house. There is less ability to be anonymous. 
 
A shocking statistic shown by the ransomware task force was that ransoms in 2020 increased by 171% compared to 2019, due to COVID exposure and the ransomware epidemic. 560 healthcare facilities were hit by ransomware. That is an appalling number, which led to Aastha’s final piece of advice, "Know where your software comes from and participate and learn about these topics," because cybersecurity is not a choice.
 
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Syna Sharma is a San Jose, CA  based rising high school freshman spending her summer time productively by interning and getting involved with ASEI activities. She participates in volleyball, tennis, and different forms of dances.
 

ASEI Student member from Silicon valley Nidhi Mathihali is no stranger to ASEI Newsletter readers. She has been featured previously as she won prizes in local Science fairs and ASEI events such as Silicon Valley  BETS 2020, National YTE 2020 and also first prize during YTE at our recent 34th National Convention in January 2022.  In addition to that, she volunteers her time with several non profits including ASEI. Nidhi has continued to win accolades at multiple avenues including second year in a row at NCWIT 2022  Award for Aspirations in Computing (AiC)
 
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is the farthest-reaching network of change leaders focused on advancing innovation by correcting underrepresentation in computingEach year, U.S. high school students in grades 9 through 12 who are women, genderqueer, or non-binary are eligible to receive recognition for their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education. This year, 40 winners and 360 honorable mentions were selected from more than 3,500 amazing, talented young applicants. from all around the USA
 
 
Read More About her AiC Award here
 

18-year-old Sidhardh Jain is an inventor of two novel patents (one granted and one  pending), ISEF grand award winner and Microsoft imagine cup 2021 winner. Sidhardh’s journey started when he developed interest in LEGOs at age 13 – much like many other kids of that age. Little did he realize, however, that his interest would later turn into an unimaginable and rewarding career.  
Sid saw an opportunity to pursue a career building LEGOs in 2013, when his team qualified for an international championship program; they would represent India in a LEGO competition. Over the years that followed, he pivoted his love for LEGOs into robotics, entering other competitions and finding new and inventive ways to impact people's lives by building robots. As a side benefit of his love for robotics, he won some prestigious awards.
In 2018, when his grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the power of robotics became newly personal to him. He didn’t appreciate the way his grandfather's privacy was invaded due to his condition. So, he developed a solution based on robotics to help protect the privacy of people like his granddad. That led to inventing his first patent pending project.
Sidhardh encourages young people to take advantage of the opportunities available to them by reaching out to organizations like ASEI. He knows that by doing this, they can turn their passions into careers that change the world for others. He attributes his own success to the support he received from mentors at organizations like OMOTEC who guided him to build innovative products.



As a result of pursuing his interests and finding people to support him along the way, he turned his passion into a rewarding career that is making the world a better place.
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This article is based on conversations ASEI president Piyush Malik and Aditya Guthey, an ASEI Silicon Valley chapter member and a career coach have had with Sidharth Jain for ASEI Youth Corner. ASEI has a partnership with Moonpreneur - a Silicon Valley based startup that accelerates youths' path from STEM education to entrepreneurship. They are offering summer internships for ASEI youth members as well in summer 2022. Click to avail special offers for ASEI community
 

In the universe are billions of galaxies,
In our galaxy are billions of planets,
But there is #OnlyOneEarth.
Let’s take care of it.
 
Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and held annually on 5 June since 1973, World Environment Day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world.
 
ASEI  Celebrated #worldenvironmentday2022 with a recommitment to  #sustainable #technology #innovations . Many of you may recall our earth day events, sustainability and energy talks in Michigan and So cal as well as   STI2022 - the theme for our 34th National Convention that was hosted by Silicon Valley chapter on Jan 15/16, 2022 .
 
Below is a first person impression of what transpired during the Sustainability panel discussion at the ASEI CXO summit  as part of the recent National Convention, written by ASEI student intern Syna Sharma.

Achieving Sustainability Through Technology and Innovation
 
The climate is changing constantly and rapidly. Due to the constantly changing climate, all universities and organizations around the world need to be prepared for the unexpected. During ASEI’s 34th National Convention, the theme of the convention was STI - sustainable technology innovations. While a number of topics of importance to CXOs were discussed during the convention, one of the panel discussions focused entirely on  Sustainability.  Moderated by Kunal Sood, Founder and CXO of WeThePlanet and Global Ambassador of Singularity University, this panel featured voices from across 3 different continents, including tech executive Bhawna Singh, Award winning Civil engineer and UK based academic Dr. Priti Parikh, and Social entrepreneur and former head of innovation at Rolls Royce, Rajashree Rao. 
 
This panel presented many new ideas ranging from the pandemic’s impact on the climate and technology to how various technologies can be used to improve the overall wellbeing of the world. 
 
During the presentation, Bhawna Singh talked about the increased usage of cloud over the years, specifically during the pandemic. Impacting work habits, the pandemic has caused cloud usage to be higher than initially planned, according to 90% of the people sampled during research. Due to a shortage of hardware, many organizations accelerated their migration plans from energy guzzling data centers to the cloud. Going cloud-native is a major technology trend that is picking up pace,and embraces SDGs too as most public cloud vendors are either compliant or working towards SDGs by 2030 and reducing carbon footprint. This  is why we need to embrace cloud technology and allow competitiveness in the digitized world. 
 
Dr. Priti Parikh at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management took an interesting take on technology’s impact on global sanitization and poverty. COVID has proven that if there is a lack of infrastructure and equity, those who are underprivileged suffer the most. 2 billion people on earth do not have access to basic sanitation. Dr. Parikh’s suggestion is to invest in sanitation as it will hit all of the sustainable development goals we are looking to meet. An eye-opening point she made was that lower-class citizens make up the majority of the population, yet they are only responsible for around 10% of the world’s climate change. They still bear the burden of that poor infrastructure and feel pressured to reduce emissions. 
 
In the panel discussion on helping the climate using technology, Rajashree Rao, a technology leader &  social entrepreneur who has previously worked in innovation ecosystems as well as cloud computing and data analytics, brought up an inspiring point on how you don’t have to be an engineer to understand and know about technology, and if you are passionate, you can do anything. Concluding the panel, Bhawna Singh adeptly summarized the discussions into a single sentence that resonated with me-"Technology is an equitable means to get the solution or power of what we are trying to solve for everybody."
 
 Hearing from all these influential speakers during this panel changed my views on technology and its relation to climate change and sustainability, and showed me that by using technology, we can change the world for the better.
 
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Syna Sharma is a San Jose, CA  based rising high school junior  spending her summer time productively by interning and getting involved with ASEI activities
 

The latest edition of the ASEI newsletter has been sent to all members  today but the online edition is available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society including the partnerships and internships being offered for students.
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate.

Earlier this year, ASEI hosted its two-day National Convention. The  Aerospace Symposium was the opening act of the content rich event that took place over the course of two days. At the Aerospace Symposium, there were a variety of panels on topics such as “Flying Taxis,” “High Speed Air Travel,” “Space Access and Tourism,” and “Living on the Moon.” In particular, the “Living on the Moon” panel, featuring Dr. Ajay Kothari, Dr. David Livingston, Dr. Bhavya Lal, and Dr. Haym Benaroya, was very fascinating to me and here are my impressions from that.
 
 This panel explored the numerous challenges to settling on the Moon and proposed possible solutions to these challenges. The panelists also described the technological advancements necessary to complete such a task and answered various audience questions about cost, medicine, and sustainability regarding living on the Moon. 
 
During his presentation, Dr. Kothari, President and Founder of Astrox Corporation, brought up an interesting point about the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor. He revealed that there is so much thorium present on Earth–enough to last us thousands of years–that we may as well take advantage of it. The thorium can be dissolved in molten salt and then reacted to form Uranium-233, which Dr. Kothari says can then be fissioned to create energy that is “3 million times more than the same amount of coal would provide.” This can be done both terrestrially and in space too–on the Moon and Mars, the same technology can be used without turbines for thermal power and with closed loop turbines for electricity. Harnessing the thorium in this way would also emit zero carbon-dioxide, allowing for a much more sustainable planet.
 
Furthermore, Dr. Benaroya, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers University, explained that one of the biggest challenges when it comes to space medicine is that the low gravity effects are very hard to replicate on Earth, and of course, the medical aspects are a huge part of that. Low-gravity environments like that in outer space can slow wound and fracture healing and accelerate bone loss and certain aspects of aging, making it that much more critical for space medicine. Dr. Lal, Associate Administrator at NASA, added on by highlighting the hazardous effects of the radiation environment in space. The larger flux of galactic cosmic rays along with the radiation from solar proton events and radiation belts could be something scientists need to consider when thinking about space medicine and deep space settlement.
 
Additionally, one interesting question that was directed to Dr. Lal was, “How do you foresee resolution of the political challenges with the other countries such as Russia and China trying to colonize the moon and starting wars in space?” Dr. Lal said she believes that space exploration is meant to “end wars,” and is something that countries put aside their differences for and work together peacefully on. She remarked that the US and Russia have been working well together on the ISS (International Space Station) for the past 20 years, despite their differences on Earth. “Space is hard, it’s expensive, and we are not going to get anywhere without working together.” 
These words really echoed with me as I completely agree; without collaboration, there is no way we will be able to successfully settle on the Moon. Ultimately, this panel was very intriguing, and it opened my eyes to the reality of how close we are to expanding the human presence into deep space.
 
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Isha Jagadish is a rising senior  at Saratoga High School in Silicon Valley and has participated and won awards at a number of Science Fairs and ASEI sponsored events such as BETS2020, YTE 2020 & YTE2022. She won the second prize for her project that she worked on this past year for the Synopsys Science Fair: “A Multistep ML-Based Predictor of Parkinson’s Disease Progression Using GWAS, Gene Expression, and Patient Symptoms Data.” She also worked on neural networks and how they can be used to evaluate the genetic risk factors behind Parkinson’s two summers ago at UC Santa Barbara’s Summer Research Academies (SRA) using the relatively new field of bioinformatics — an interdisciplinary field involving biology and computer science. The research paper she wrote at SRA was published in the Journal of Student Research in October 2021.
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Executive Summary
1 Security is everyone’s job
2 Skills-gap exists and plenty of opportunities are available in Cybersecurity
3 Resilience mindset is necessary from strategy to execution
4 Think about cybersecurity Insurance
5 New kind of talent needed besides technical skills in cyber security- Negotiations skills
6 Collaboration is key to execute and enable security strategy
7 Security hygiene is a must have posture
8 Organizations need to build resilience in software supply chains and take steps to protecting rapidly multiplying  IOT devices
9 Security by Design and Privacy by design are not just slogans. They need to be shared values going forward
10 When it comes to cyber threats, you can’t always predict when one will occur. But your organization can prepare!
Full event report published below :
5 min read: My Full blog report  here   

4 hour Video Recording here

The latest edition of the newsletter has been sent to all members  but the online edition is available here . Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society, especially  the Cybersecurity Summit! On May 21st 
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate.

 
Threats and opportunities with AI becoming more pervasive in society
 
It was exactly one year ago that ASEI held its Artificial intelligence  (AI)  Summit. The accompanying video will refresh your memory of the half day conference we held in April 2021.
 
AI  continues to evolve and enamour us as many of our members are deeply involved in it. So much so that over 70% of the student projects that we see during Science Fairs and ASEI  regional youth talent expositions (YTE) are AI/ML themed.  Clearly our next generation is equipping themselves well. For the others, this article should offer some context and food for thought.
Artificial intelligence has a decades-long history that exhibits alternating enthusiasm and disillusionment for the field’s scientific insights, technical accomplishments, and socioeconomic impact. Recent achievements have seen renewed claims for the transformative and disruptive effects of AI. Reviewing the history and current state of the art reveals a broad repertoire of methods and techniques developed by AI researchers. In particular, modern machine learning methods have enabled a series of AI systems to achieve superhuman performance. The exponential increases in computing power, open-source software, available data, and embedded services have been crucial to this success. What are the impacts of all of this to our society as AI becomes pervasive and ubiquitous? Are there any threats? What are the opportunities we can capitalize on ?
 
These and many more topics are discussed in this entire issue of  Dædalus Journal edited by guest editor James Manyika Contributors include the who's who of the AI industry -  Nigel Shadbolt · Stuart Russell Jeffrey Dean · Kevin Scott · Li Fei-Fei Ranjay Krishna · Daniela Rus · Kobi Gal Barbara J. Grosz · Christopher D. Manning Yejin Choi · Emira Murati · Tobias Rees Blaise Agüera y Arcas · Michele Elam Iason Gabriel · John Tasioulas Michael Spence · Laura D. Tyson John Zysman · Erik Brynjolfsson Eric Schmidt · Ash Carter · Cynthia Dwork Martha Minow · Sonia K. Katyal Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar · Aziz Z. Huq Diane Coyle · Helen Margetts
 
Representing the intellectual community in its breadth and diversity, Dædalus explores the frontiers of knowledge and issues of public importance.Dædalus was founded in 1955 and established as a quarterly in 1958. The journal’s namesake was renowned in ancient Greece as an inventor, scientist, and unriddler of riddles.
 
A note on the accompanying image:
 
These images were generated by a state-of-the-art version of GPT-3 that builds on the approaches used in DALL·E and GLIDE. Given a text prompt that it has not been trained for or previously exposed to, the model generates original images based on its understanding of the different elements in the prompt and how they relate to each other. Given the same prompt repeatedly, the model produces novel responses. This group of images consists of unique outputs to the same prompt: “An artist painting the future of humans cooperating with AI.”
**Article Contributed by Piyush Malik **

ASEI was invited to meet with Honorable Nirmala Sitharaman Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India along with Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a community event organized by Consul General Dr TV Nagendra Prasad and Indian Consulate in San Francisco (Rajesh Naik) this past weekend. Pictured below is ASEI President Piyush Malik meeting the visiting dignitaries along with other members of the Indian diaspora in Silicon Valley.We had an opportunity to hear the remarks from the Honorable Minister about India’s economic growth, digitization, future of cryptocurrency, blockchain, digital banking and many other topics, as well as collaboration with the US in many areas. Celebrating 75 years of Indian Independence #azadikaamritmahotsav , India is getting ready for the next 25 years or the #amritkaal so that when celebrating 100 years of independence, we will see a much more prosperous and advanced India than in the past.Ambassador Sandhu, expressing delight at meeting the familiar faces, quipped how despite his strong desire, the past two years of Covid kept him away from Silicon Valley.  Consul General Dr TV Nagendra Prasad welcomed the visiting dignitaries and shared how the recent  high level ministerial meetings between India and US signaled a much stronger Indo -US relationship. Despite the noise and economic fears due to geopolitcal instability there is hope with human ingenuity, Innovation and digitization has the power to uplift the world in many ways. We left inspired to continue the work in the areas that we get to do and do our  part for this bigger cause. #vasudhaevkutumbakam

 
The latest edition of our newsletter has been sent to all members  but the online edition is available here. Happy reading and catching up on all that happened in the last month and what lies ahead with your society especially  the Cybersecurity Summit!
 
ASEI is a volunteer run professional organization and we welcome your involvement. We request feedback and especially welcome any articles, blogs or ideas you would like to contribute. Please be in touch with anyone from the content/editorial team. 
 
In case you are  not receiving our emails, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder and change the settings in your mailbox to deliver ASEI emails in your in-box. If you still did not find our newsletter please send an email to info@aseiusa.org for us to investigate. 
 

Introduction
Mathematics is everywhere. From the roots of a tree to the objects we create, from the finest of arts to the massive architecture we make. Although we never notice those patterns, we are bound by mathematics all the way. Mathematics is the queen of sciences. With immense contribution in enhancing the beauty of nature and the world around us. Rightly said, “ Mathematics is not only seen as beautiful-beauty is also mathematical”.
 
From creating inspiring sculptors to the exploration of new planets in space, mathematics served as an important tool. Mathematics extended its service to the fields of science and technology as diverse as Engineering and Biology. It graced humans to master the arts and philosophy. It is also present in nature, concealing and revealing inspiring poets and astonishing researchers for billions of years.
 
Music enhances its beauty by finnobic series to ballet moments representing mathematical surfaces like elliptical cones. 
 
Here are a few facts of relativity that best embodies mathematics in all its elegance:
 
1.   Mathematics and Music: 
Mathematics explains the phenomenon of strings vibrating at certain frequencies to sound waves. Instruments like cello have a particular shape to resonate with their strings in a mathematical note.
 
In addition, mathematics helps to study elements of music such as tempo, meter, pitch, frequency, chord regression, patterns and form. Set theory, Number theory, and Abstract Algebra are the backbone for composing and hearing music. 
 
Research studies prove music with a mathematical touch tends to be more popular. 
 
2.   Mathematics and Dance:
Mathematics creates a room for dance. Dance forms like Bharatnatyam use cardinal numbers 3,4,5,7,9 to form a figure of 32 through different permutations and combinations of various steps of these numbers such as 3 and 5, 4 and 7.
 
Geometry coordinates dancers in formulating shapes with their body as they move their arms and legs. Similarly, different dance forms define mathematics in different ways. 
 
Latin dancers express rhythm as fractions. In dance, we stand with our feet in parallel and move in diagonals. Ballet dancers watch as they move and form 900 angles. Mathematics and dance form a fusion together for an eye feast performance.
 
3.    Mathematics and Space:
Astronomers use mathematics all the time to make precise calculations. The telescope used to view the sky, attached with a camera that records a series of numbers that pertain to information about the light speed of objects traveling in space. Astronomers use mathematics in forming and testing physical theories that govern objects in the sky. 
 
Calculus, guides scientists to calculate the speed required by a rocket to overcome earth’s gravitational pull. Trigonometry helps to calculate the distance of stars and planets from planet earth.
 
4.   Mathematics and Magic:
The famous geometry theorem Banach-Tarski paradox states if we divide a ball or a bar of chocolate into a few specific pieces, on rearranging we can create two identical balls or chocolates. 
 
 5.  Mathematics and Architecture:
Algebra, geometry, and trigonometry serve an essential role in sketching blueprints for architects. The roof of the Lotfollah mosque in Isfahan (Iran) is a great example. In countries like Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, India temples, mosques, palaces, and Pyramids are built inspired by geometric shapes forming beautiful designs and patterns. 
 
  6. Mathematics and Art:
The relationships between art and math are older than we think. Artisans are inspired by geometry and shapes to create magic that awes humans every time. Mathematics influenced art and artists with conceptual tools like Linear perspective, symmetry, and mathematical objects like polyhedra, tessellations, impossible figures, Möbius bands, distorted or unusual perspective systems, and fractals. 
 
Leonardo da Vinci used mathematical principles of linear perspective to sketch Vitruvius, the most celebrated works by da Vinci. Another very famous piece, Mona Lisa, is drawn according to the golden ratio.
 
  7. Mathematics and Psychology:
An approach to psychological research based on mathematical models of perpetual, thought, and cognitive. Quantitative Research plays a key role in understanding the mind and behavior by deriving patterns, connections and making new discoveries. Calculus formulates the basis for psychometrics - psychological characteristics.
 
Conclusion:
The beauty of mathematics is hidden in patterns, designs, symmetry, and harmony. It is a language of nature that connects mankind with minimalism. 
 
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Author : Srini Vemula, Chief Educator@ {igebra.ai} is an ASEI Life member and serves on the Silicon Valley Chapter board in addition to being a Principal Consultant at Databricks

 

Monday, March 14, is “Pi Day,” because the date “3/14” resembles the mathematical constant's approximate value of 3.14.
 
Succinctly, pi—which is written as the Greek letter for p, or π—is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle. Regardless of the circle's size, this ratio will always equal pi. In decimal form, the value of pi is approximately 3.14.
 
 π (3.14……) is extremely relevant for all sorts of innovation and specifically in space technology.
 
Did you know these Fun Facts  about PI?
 
1 PI is considered the swiss army knife of our universe. It is used to answer questions about anything that is spherical or circular and the number has infinite digits
2 Ratio of Circle’s Circumference to its diameter is ALWAYS equal to PI. This applies to the largest planets to smallest atoms!!!
3 Pi day was started in 1998, by a physicist at San Francisco Exploratorium, as a celebration of Pi. Yes, real pies were involved.
4 National Pi Day (March 14) was declared by the US Congress in 2009. In November 2019, UNESCO decided Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics
5 One of the reasons why Indians would have wanted to know the value of pi, would have been for the construction of altars for havana. Watch this video to understand Ancient Indian  Mathematician Madhava and Aryabhatta’s contributions https://lnkd.in/eixgCBFu  
According to Professor Ramasubramanian, each household was supposed to have three of them—one square, one circular, and third semi-circular one. The only condition was that the area of all the three altars be the same. This would have made it necessary for society to be aware of the value of pi.
6 Pi is ancient. Pi was named only in the 18th century and the symbol Pi was not used until swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler used it in the 1730s. Even the Bible has a pair of passages about Pi 10 cubits from brim to brim  while “30 cubits did compass it round about” - dimensions that place the value of what we now call pi at 3.
7 As NASA explores space (which is full of spherical and circular things), it uses PI extensively 18 Ways NASA Uses Pi and How Pi Makes NASA/JPL Go 'Round
8 PI is a cultural icon. Apu, from Simpsons, claimed to know 40000 digits of PI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T34r4AysIw. In Star Trek series Spock foils an evil computer by instructing it to compute pi to the last digit Spock Destroys Evil Computer
9 PI has been calculated up to 31 trillion digits - 31,415,926,535,897 to be exact. The record for memorizing digits of pi, stands at 70,030. Want to see how many digits of Pi you can memorize? Try for yourself Pi Quiz
10 Pi Day, March 14th is Albert Einstein’s Birthday. Other notable Birthdays on Pi day include composer Johann Strauss. Famous Physicist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018. 
11 On Pi day if you feel like eating Pie or Pizza see discounts at Pi Day discount (Pizza for $3.14 and more)
 
For more celebrations of and information try the links below
 
pi day
What is Pi 
NASA Pi Day Challenge
18 Ways NASA uses Pi
 
how many digits of Pi does NASA need and use
 

"Child is the father of man"Yesterday, ASEI Silicon Valley chapter met with 24 talented teams to judge their projects ranging from bioengineering to mechanical engineering applications to software algorithm or AI/ML driven and hardware prototypes of devices that are poised to change the world. These were selected from a pool of over 1000 entrants which were down selected to 250 last week and then finally a handful who shall be recognized.The official results shall be announced next month however, "we were impressed" would be an understatement since the range of skills and depth of work these students displayed continues to raise the bar each year.ASEI Silicon Valley team has been sponsoring special awards at the Santa Clara County Science Fair since inception. As an integral part of our youth programs, regional events like this become feeder events for the grand Youth Technology Exposition (YTE) that last time attracted entries from across the US states and India.Thank you to all the students for their entries and to all our judges for their time and energy in encouraging the students!  Deeksha Bajaj Amrish Chopra Raju Shreewastava Rakesh Guliani Srini Vemula Piyush Malik Puneet Dixit