Page 30 - The Indian EYE 122024

NORTH AMERICAN Newsline DECEMBER 20, 2024 | The Indian Eye 30

stone in an unprecedented alignment and enhanced affiliation between Wright Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promis-
State and Premier Health. ing Young Poet Award. This award,
Wright State University President Sue Edwards said, “Dr. Mitra’s appoint- established in 2013, recognizes a stu-
ment will advance the region’s medical, clinical and nursing workforce and en- dent poet 23 years of age or younger
hance our research culture, creating a more robust learning environment for and honors with a cash prize of $1,000
our students and providing patients with better access to vital, highly specialized and publication on Poets website
medical care closer to home.” Born in Chennai, India, and
His distinguished career includes positions as the Senator Robert J. Dole living half of their life in Lexington,
professor and chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Uni- Kentucky, Teja didn’t learn to love
versity of Kansas Medical Center, where he led clinical, research and diversity language until they had a tutor who
efforts, as well as at Stanford University’s School of Medicine as director of the changed their life by showing them the
Interventional Spine Center, chief of the Division of Physical Medicine and Re- fun of word play. Teja’s English tutor, Carole Johnston, taught her SAT words
habilitation and medical director of rehabilitation services. and developed her writing skills at the dinner table throughout middle school.
“Dr. Mitra personifies our commitment to excellence in clinical teaching, “We would learn some vocab, and then she would ask me to use all of
which is central to the missions of both of our institutions,” said Mike Riordan, the new words I learned in a creative paragraph,” Teja said. “I found myself
president and CEO of Premier Health. looking forward to those 10 minutes of class every week.”
“As an immigrant with a mostly fraught relationship to language, especial-
AMITA SHETTY ly to my mother tongues,” she said, “I think it was so important for me to be
Google grants $1 million to UIC given permission to play. I feel so lucky that my first experience with poetry
was one that prioritized joy and catharsis.”
“Poetry felt like the first thing in my life that I discovered for myself, and
for Data + AI program pursued with intent, out of my own interest,” she said. “Poetry was also the
first place where my difference was celebrated, and where I realized my immi-
grant experience was worth documenting.”
mita Shetty, director of Univer- Teja was surprised to hear that she had won the Most Promising Young
sity of Illinois Chicago, UIC’s
ABreak Through Tech Chicago, Poet award – mostly because she had never entered any poems for it. She
a national initiative to achieve gender submitted poetry for IU’s Vera Strube Meyer award for graduate students last
spring and won.
equality in technology fields, has been “It turns out,” Teja said, “the Academy enters all the university prize win-
chosen to lead the new program Data ners who are under the age of 23 into a separate, larger award, and has a
+ AI at UIC to equip undergraduate different poet judge that contest every year.”
students with the critical skills they In 2020, Teja published a poetry collection titled Looking for Smoke as
need to succeed in an increasingly her undergraduate thesis.
AI-driven world and enable more stu-
dents from diverse backgrounds to be DR. NARASIMHA REDDY
part of the next generation of innovators.
The $1 million award from Google to the University of Illinois Chicago will
enable all its undergraduate students in any field of study to develop their data A&M Univ. honors academic with
and artificial intelligence skills.
“AI is transforming industries, and when guided by diverse talent, it can Regents Professor award
drive meaningful societal change,” Shetty said. “UIC is uniquely positioned
through its scale, diverse disciplines, and strong ties to Chicago’s organizations he Texas A&M University has announced the name of Dr. Narasimha
to prepare students for responsible leadership in this transformative era.” Reddy, a professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer En-
The award will support UIC’s new Data + AI program, scheduled to launch in
a pilot phase during the 2025-26 academic year. Students in the program will start Tgineering for the Regents Professor award. This is the highest honor a
faculty member can receive in the Texas A&M University System.
with a specialized course developed by UIC faculty in collaboration with industry Established in 1996, the Regents Professor Awards recognize employees
leaders, followed by experiential learning. Beyond building students’ technical within the Texas A&M University System who have made preeminent contri-
fluency, the program will focus on ethical reasoning and professional mentorship. butions to their university or agency and Texas communities.
“The data science revolution, including artificial intelligence, calls us to pro-
Dr. Narasimha Reddy is part of the five faculty members from the Col-
vide state-of-the-art learning opportunities for UIC students,” UIC Chancellor lege of Engineering at Texas A&M University who have been selected for this
Marie Lynn Miranda said. prestigious award. The Texas A&M University System includes a statewide
The data and AI fluency initiative is part of UIC’s commitment to providing
undergraduate students — regardless of their area of study — with essential network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state
agencies, Texas A&M-Fort Worth and Texas A&M-RELLIS.
opportunities to gain practical, real-world experience while on campus and to “These faculty exemplify the incredible talent in the College of Engineer-
prepare for successful careers. This award from Google will ensure that through ing,” said Dr. Robert Bishop, dean of the Texas A&M College of Engineering.
Data + AI program, society broadly benefits from the data science revolution The proud recipient, Dr. Narasimha Reddy, is a professor in the Department
and it enhances UIC students’ career readiness by learning the industry-relevant of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Reddy is also the Truchard Founda-
skills which employers’ value.
tion Chair Professor.
Dr. Reddy’s educational background includes Ph.D, Computer Engineer-
TEJASWINI SUDHAKAR ing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – 1990; M.S., Computer En-
Students honored with Most gineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – 1987 and B.Tech.,
Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering, Indian Institute of
Promising Young Poet Award Technology – 1985. His research interests include Computer Networks, Stor-
age Systems, Multimedia systems and Computer Architecture

he Academy of American Poets has awarded the Indiana University’s To read more about Indian diaspora and Global Indians, log on to and follow
graduate student, Tejaswini (Teja) Sudhakar, Poetry Master of Fine Arts our website www.TheIndianEYE.com
T(M.F.A.) ’25 candidate in the College of Arts and Sciences, with the Aliki

www.TheIndianEYE.com