My Advice
There's no substitute for hard work, patience, and ambition.
Most Rewarding Moment
The most rewarding teaching experience has been with by doctoral advisor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Arizona. He is a scientist par excellence and there are a very few things that he doesn't know :) At his age of around 70, his enthusiasm and quest for knowledge is unmatched. Before I knew myself, he had faith in me, in things I would achieve and accomplish in time to come. I learnt how an experienced and world renowned scientist could come to a level of student and empower him to the best the student could become. In the same research lab and the same department where I was a graduate student, after getting PhD, I came on the other side of the profession and became a Research Assistant Professor. I taught masters and Phd students. What I found was the following: In addition to the syllabus, engaging students in your objectives is a rewarding experience in itself. This brief experience motivated me to write a book, a graduate text, coupled with my understanding of the subject at-hand.
Family Background
My father was a post graduate Biology teacher. He taught senior high school students. He was a multi-faceted individual, a handy-man, an author, an entrepreneur and a social activist who worked for betterment of India. He passed away in 2011 and published his life experiences in a book titled "Time Bound Justice" (2008), published by Atlantic Publishers, India. My mother has been a Sanskrit teacher teaching high school students. My younger brother is a multimedia design specialist. I have a wife, an MBA professional and a three year old son.
Strongest Subject
My strongest subject has been Science. All the credit goes to my late father who had a great scientific temperament and throughout my childhood kept his focus on the fundamental questions of "why and how". He focused on doing and building stuff. He could make art, was handy at home and was an avid reader. His thoughts and discussions ranged from world politics to constitutions to engineering skills. He continues to inspire me in my thoughts. He allowed me to question and research anything I do not understand. Today, I am a Scientist because of his temperament.
Favorite Non-Academic books
There have been couple of books that have made an indelible impression on my psyche. The first one is SrimadBhagwad Gita. My mom being a Sanskrit teacher, gave me enough motivation to understand the deeper meaning as these books took center stage in our house. Most notably, A commentary on Bhagwad Gita by Rohit Mehta which I read while I was doing my engineering in India (some 14 years back). During the same time, a book onEmotional Intelligenceby Daniel Goleman made a huge impact on how to develop social skills and how emotions can be constructively used to propel yourself. Another book on a similar theme by Scott Peck, titled The Road Less Travelled helped me to channelize the mind and emotional energies toward a path of satisfaction, growth, acceptance and fulfillment. During the same time, I came across the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of America, that inspired me to the core. Later, I came across books likeEinstein's Dreamsthat take your imagination to the highs you never thought possible. It is my belief that in this short human history of a few thousand years, there is nothing you have imagined that has not been imagined before. The ideas are all 'out there' starting from the sages in India to the latest Internet startups!!! What changes in all the different eras is how one applies these ideas to the context at hand. To see the future, you have to look at history. I have come to love history and there is nothing more impactful than the stories of our forefathers (on a global level) who breathed before us. I love autobiographies and the actors who played their part, whether founding a religion or developing a scientific theory. What matters is: Given the opportunity, and should you choose to take that, how you do your piece and did you do it well enough? Nothing else matters.
Outlook about increase students’ participation
Students, the young blood, have one thing that no age group has. They have enthusiasm and nothing is "impossible" until they are told by their failures or by their superiors that they "can't" do or have it. It is my opinion that students brimming up with dreams and ambitions do their due diligence before putting their energy behind any cause. Nation building take a whole lot more than a mere idea. Sure, ideas are needed but an idea in its nascent stage is like a flower bud that is unprepared to weather a storm. It needs to be protected, nurtured and taken care of, before it realizes the dream it meant to be. We need to have think-tanks where such participation is encouraged from our young blood, where they can "own" their ideas and with help/supervision from Government and/or Industrial houses, we could examine the feasibility of such young perspectives and ambitions. This energy needs to be channeled. With majority of our population comprising of youth, lack of such opportunities will result in misdirection.
Outlook about way to raise quality education
I believe, infrastructure-wise you can buy the whole world and still can't make a student teach. You can buy all sorts of technological gadgets with a smoke-screen that you are making a 'better classroom' but the fundamentals of imparting knowledge won't change. Half of the world's population lives in eastern hemisphere and to the best of my knowledge, 90% of Masters and Phd students in American universities are Asian students. So, what's the takeaway. The Best of the students are coming from eastern countries where the classroom is not as advanced as the western nation but what is driving them to higher education is their quest of knowledge and opportunity to move ahead. This thirst for knowledge can only be strengthened by investing in the student-teacher dialogue and inspiring the younger generation to pursue advanced knowledge. If the technology is rightly used to better the student-teacher dialogue, India with his strong talent pool will forge ahead in a new era.