Hey Everyone!
The semester started with plenty of exciting India-focused events, drawing the community from across the Harvard schools into inspired discussion and reflections for the future of the country. The Harvard India Conference may be over, but HISG will continue to provide a platform for deliberation and discussion on various issues related to India through the recently started HISG speaker series.
Highlights:
1. Harvard-wide Holi organized by HISG - March 29th
2. Apply to be an HISG Board Member for 2014-15. Applications due on March 16
3. HISG Mentorship Program. Applications Due on March 10th
4. HISG Speaker Series launch. New launch
6. HISG feedback survey. Last chance to give feedback.
7. Other India-Related events (Not organized by HISG)
8. Research spotlight
Continue reading to find out more about Holi, speaker series and other community-building events planned for the next month.
1. Harvard-wide Holi organized by HISG: Remember and enjoyed the first Harvard-wide Diwali celebrations organized by HISG? This year HISG is organizing Harvard-wide celebrations for the festival of Holi in collaboration with the South Asian Associations at Harvard College, HBS, HKS, HSPH, GSD and HLS . Save the date: Saturday, March 29, 2014. Eventbrite invite to follow soon!
2. Apply to be an HISG board member for 2014-15: After a fantastic year, the 2013-14 HISG board will be handing over the reins to a new team for the 2014-15 academic year. The board consists of members from all 13 Harvard Schools, including 6 executive positions. Currently, we are requesting applications for the position of Co-Presidents (2 positions) and Secretary (1 position).
2. Apply to be an HISG board member for 2014-15: After a fantastic year, the 2013-14 HISG board will be handing over the reins to a new team for the 2014-15 academic year. The board consists of members from all 13 Harvard Schools, including 6 executive positions. Currently, we are requesting applications for the position of Co-Presidents (2 positions) and Secretary (1 position).
Process
In case of any questions, please write to <hisg.
- Please send an email to hisg.harvardindiastudentgroup@
gmail.com with the subject “HISG Application – Your Name”, which position are you applying for and a short paragraph on why you are interested in the position. No need for long/detailed statements of purpose, we just want to know what interests you! - In April, the new Co-Presidents and Secretary will call for applications for the remaining board positions.
harvardindiastudentgroup@ gmail.com>
3. Apply to the HISG mentorship program: Be a mentor to young students in India. Share your own stories and in turn, learn from your mentee's resilience. In partnership with Mentor Together (www.mentortogether.org), HISG will facilitate meaningful one-on-one connections directly between you and economically challenged youth between 14-21 years of age in Pune, who will greatly benefit from your time and expertise. You will be matched to a child with shared interests, and will play an integral part in making a tangible, transformative difference in their lives. These children lack the traditional network of support and guidance and your interaction will be invaluable to them, and we hope, extremely rewarding for you.
If you are interested in being a part of this effort, please fill out the application form by Monday, March 10th.
- Estimated start: Early April
- Monthly Time Investment: You will be required to contact your mentee a minimum of twice a month and maintain a detailed record of your conversations.
- Six-Month Commitment: We ask that you commit to at least 6 months in the program so that a meaningful relationship can be developed between you and your mentee and the support network provided to the child is not negated.
- Consistent Support from HISG:- HISG will train mentors on the structure, frequency and substance of mentoring calls, as well as provide support throughout the program. HISG will be with you every step of the way and will help in making this connection lasting and rewarding to both you and your mentee.
We hope you will consider sharing the wealth of your knowledge and enthusiasm with today's youth.
Email mrajagop@fas.harvard.edu
4. HISG speaker series launch: HISG has launched an exciting speaker series with eminent speakers from various disciplines. The series is targeted toward promoting intellectual discussions on the campus across varied topics. The series was successfully launched on Monday, February 17, 2014 with a compelling talk by noted activist Aruna Roy who spoke about politics and activism in India. Click here to learn more about this event. Lookout for more such events we will be organizing throughout the spring semester!
5. HISG Spring Welcome Back mixer: Thanks to all those who came out to reconnect with the HISG community on Friday, February 7, 2014 at the Queen's Head Pub. You can access the photos here.
6. HISG feedback survey: Thanks to all those who gave their feedback on what's working and what can be improved at HISG. We are reopening the survey for another fortnight to allow everyone who couldn't fill the survey the first time around to be heard. Please take 2 minutes to fill out this quick survey before March 17, 2014.
7. Other events: Here are some other upcoming events that might interest you:
- Avoiding an Energy Meltdown - A Tale of Two Countries: India and Pakistan: The Fletcher South Asia Society, Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, FLEC/Fletcher Green and Center for International Environment and Resource Policy invite you to a talk by Mr. Moazzam Alahdad, Former Director of Operations, World Bank on Tuesday, March 4th 2014, 12:30pm-2:00pm at Mugar 200, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Please RSVP here
- Why Study the Brain?Venkatesh Murthy, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Harvard UniversityHow do you sense the world? How do you remember things? How do you sing, play or even just walk? How do you think? Of course, you do all of this with your brain, which has been called the most complex machine in the world. Who you are as a person is largely a function of the brain, from a scientific point of view. This also means that when something goes wrong with the brain there are devastating consequences to the individual as well as society. Naturally, how the brain works is one of the most exciting questions in the world. Professor Murthy will discuss how the study of neuroscience has implications not just for doctors in the clinic, but also for psychologists, educators, computer scientists, musicians, tennis players and just about everyone. He will discuss how the field is incredibly interdisciplinary, and how a student with almost any background can hope to make meaningful contributions to the field. He will also highlight some of the most exciting research topics in neuroscience.Friday, March 14, 2014, 8:30 AM in Cambridge, 5:30 PM in Pakistan, 6 PM in India, 6:30 PM in Sri Lanka, & Bangladesh
- Jhankaar - Yale, Harvard, MIT A Capella showcase: Join Yale Sur et Veritaal, Harvard Mirch, and MIT Ohms for a night of inspiring South Asian fusion a capella music.
- When: Friday, March 7, 2014 at 7 pm
- Where: At MIT Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
- RSVP: https://www.facebook.
com/events/426318484137758/? ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type= regular&source=1
- Alumni event in Mumbai: The Harvard Club of Mumbai, in association with the Consulate General of the United States, Mumbai, invites you and your guests to a lecture on: Immigration, international trade and investment by Edward Alden. The speaker is the Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness. This event will be particularly useful to alumni that currently have or are looking to build strong trade and investment ties with the United States.
- When: Tuesday, March 11. 7 PM - Refreshments and networking; 7:15 PM - Speaker Event Begins
- Where: US Consulate, 49, G-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex
- RSVP: hcmumbai@post.harvard.
edu, or call Gaargi at 9820498444 or Russell at 9619780847 by March 9, 2014. - Please make sure to bring identity proof.
8. Research spotlight:
(March, 2014): HISG members Apoorv Goyal and Abhinay Sharma are part of a six-member team working on changing the discourse on sustainable architecture through their research on thermodynamics. The predominant discourse on sustainable architecture today focuses primarily on classical steady state thermodynamics which privileges energy quantity over quality. The aim of their research is to refocus this discourse on the concept of the 2nd Law of thermodynamics, entropy, and time as a way to gain a more complete understanding of the dimensions of energy related to the built environment. The built environment is intricately connected to global networks that link places of consumption, production, resource extraction, energy conversion, and waste disposal. Designers are in a position to design for these flows of energy, both in a direct sense as well as in its material incarnation of matter and waste. The ongoing research proposes looking at cities as open living systems. As Architect and Theorist Paolo Portoghesi states “[architects] continue to consider cities as islands divorced from the surrounding countryside.”
NOTE: If you would like your research to be featured in our upcoming newsletters, write to hisg.harvardindiastudentgroup@ gmail.com with a brief description of your work.
9. Contribute to the HISG Blog: Starting this month, HISG will be posting content related to India-specific events around the Harvard campus, past newsletters and other exciting information on the new HISG blog. The blog features sections for prospective students and current students. If you would like to contribute to these sections with posts and pictures, or have any suggestions to improve the blog, email us at hisg.
