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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline APRIL 22, 2022 | The Indian Eye 28

Four Indian americans win Paul & daisy

soros Fellowships for new americans

The winners are: Syamantak Payra, pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford,

Sai Rajagopal, pursuing an MD at Harvard, Hari Srinivasan, pursuing a PhD in neuroscience

at Vanderbilt and Rishi Goel, MD student at the University of Pennsylvania

OuR BuREAu ford, Sai Rajagopal, pursuing an MD dler, Srinivasan was diagnosed with work and was a member of the Blues
at Harvard, Hari Srinivasan, pursuing autism and ADHD at age three. lacrosse team.
New York, NY
a PhD in neuroscience at Vanderbilt However, with the combination Goel’s recent work focuses on
our students of Indian heritage and Rishi Goel, MD student at the of alternative communication tech- understanding immune responses to
are among the 30 winners of University of Pennsylvania. nology and by moving to a charter viral pathogens and has led to new
Fthe 2022 Paul & Daisy Soros Son of immigrant parents from school, Srinivasan was able to access insights into the development of im-
Fellowships for New Americans, a India, Payra grew up in Houston, Tex- mainstream education. Srinivasan at- mune memory after SARS-CoV-2 in-
merit-based graduate school program as. His proudest accomplishments in- tended UC Berkeley, where he ma- fection and mRNA vaccination.
for immigrants and children of immi- clude building a robotic leg brace for jored in psychology and minored in More broadly, he has been in-
grants. his paralyzed teacher and conducting disability studies. volved in launching the Immune
Chosen from a pool of over 1,800 free literacy Fshops and STEM out- Srinivasan was selected to serve Health Project at Penn, which aims to
applicants, the 30 Paul & Daisy Soros reach programs that reached nearly on the Interagency Autism Coordi- bring immune profiling into the clinic
Fellows were selected for their po- a thousand underprivileged students nating Committee, which advises fed- to better diagnose, treat, and prevent
tential to make significant contribu- across the Greater Houston Area. eral policy and priorities. He is also on disease.
tions to the United States, the New A Massachusetts Institute of the Council of Autistics Advisors for The 2022 Paul & Daisy Soros
York based organization announced Technology student, Payra works in the Autism Society of America, on the Fellows are studying a wide range of
Wednesday. They will each receive up Professor Yoel Fink’s research labo- Community Advisory Board for the fields, including law, music, econom-
to $90,000 in funding to support their ratory, creating digital sensor fibers Brain Foundation, and is vice-chair of ics, architecture, business, physics,
graduate studies and join the pres- that have been woven into intelligent the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. medicine, engineering, and agricultur-
tigious community of over 715 past garments that can assist in diagnosing Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, al studies.
recipients including US Surgeon Gen- illnesses. Rishi Goel is the child of immigrants Founded by Hungarian immi-
eral Vivek Murthy and Maine CDC Rajagopal is a Tamil-speaking im- from Lucknow, India. Growing up, grants, Daisy M. Soros and her late
Director Nirav Shah. migrant from Canada who was raised Goel was inspired by his grandfa- husband Paul Soros (1926-2013),
“Immigrants, asylum seekers, both there and in Tennessee. He at- ther—a professor of civil engineering The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships
and refugees are an essential part of tended Harvard College, studying – who brought scientific curiosity and for New Americans program honors
the United States. The Paul & Daisy women, gender, and sexuality studies wonder to everyday household tasks. the contributions of continuing gen-
Soros Fellows demonstrate the inge- along with biomedical engineering. For his undergraduate thesis, erations of immigrants in the United
nuity and diverse perspectives that As a biomedical device design- Goel designed and tested a novel ther- States.
immigrants of all backgrounds bring er, Rajagopal worked with a team to apeutic vaccine for food allergy that Eligible New Americans include
to America’s graduate programs and design an electric rowing machine for was able to re-train pathologic im- green card holders, naturalized citi-
to the country as a whole,” Fellowship paraplegic patients and now focuses mune responses and suppress disease. zens, Deferred Action for Childhood
Director Craig Harwood said of the on designing safe penile prostheses After his undergraduate educa- Arrival (DACA) recipients, individu-
new Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows. for transgender people. tion, Goel earned a master’s degree als born abroad who graduated from
The four Indian American win- Srinivasan was born in the San in immunology from the University of both high school and college in the
ners are: Syamantak Payra, pursuing a Francisco Bay area to parents from Oxford. At Oxford, he was awarded United States, and the US-born chil-
PhD in electrical engineering at Stan- India. A bright eyed and social tod- highest distinction for his academic dren of two immigrants.

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