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May 27, 2016
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
– that’s all you need to know
By a StaffWriter
S
yamantak Payra, 15, of
Friendswood, Texas,
received one of two Intel
Foundation Young Scientist
Awards of $50,000 for developing
a low-cost electronically aided
knee brace that allows an indi-
vidual with a weakened leg to
walk more naturally.
Intel Corporation and the
Society for Science and the
Public announced the winners
in Phoenix May 13 at the Intel
International Science and
Engineering Fair, the world’s
largest high school science
research competition.
Besides Payra, the other
Young Scientist Award of
US$50,000 was won by Kathy
Liu, 17, of Salt Lake City, Utah,
for developing an alternative
battery component that could
significantly improve battery
performance and safety. Han Jie
(Austin)Wang, 18, of Vancouver,
Canada, received the first place
Gordon E. Moore Award and
US$75,000 in prize money for
developing microbial fuel cells.
When Payra tested his proto-
type with two individuals partial-
ly disabled by polio, it almost
immediately restored a more
natural gait and increased
mobility.
“Our top winners this year –
Austin, Syamantak, and Kathy –
clearly demonstrate that age has
no bearing on your ability to
conduct research and come up
with solutions to important
problems,” said Maya Ajmera,
president and CEO of Society for
Science and the Public.
“We congratulate them not
only for their success, but on
their dedication and hard work.
They and the rest of the Intel
ISEF finalists are the rising stars
of STEM and we look forward to
watching them pursue their pas-
sions and in turn make the world
a better place for future genera-
tions.”
The Intel International
Science and Engineering Fair
honors the world’s most promis-
ing student scientists, inventors
and engineers. Finalists are
selected annually from hundreds
of affiliated fairs.
Their projects are then evalu-
ated onsite by approximately
1,000 judges from nearly every
scientific discipline, each with a
Ph.D. or the equivalent of six
years of related professional
experience in one of the scientif-
ic disciplines.
Payra attends Clear Brook
High School in Friendswood. His
solution is both inexpensive and
easy to use. He started with an
off-the-shelf brace that only
costs about $2,000. To this he
added a motor-driven actuator.
Its motor moves a piston in and
out, which flexes the knee. A
small computer that clips to the
user’s belt or slips into a pocket
controls that motor. That com-
puter, in turn, receives signals
from a sensor that reports the
position of the opposite leg.
According to Intel, together, all of
the parts in Syamantak’s system
will add only about $500 to the
cost of the starting brace.
Plus, the new system can be
used with less than an hour of
training, the teen notes. He
designed the software in the sys-
tem’s computer to learn how the
patient walks. That means that
the more someone uses it, the
better it performs.
““Intel congratulates this
year’s winners and hopes that
their work will inspire other
young innovators to apply their
curiosity and ingenuity to today’s
global challenges,” said Rosalind
Hudnell, president of the Intel
Foundation.
Texas Boy Bags One Of The Top Awards In Intel Science Competition
By a StaffWriter
head of the June 7 pri-
mary in New Jersey, a
group of people gath-
ered in Jersey City May
17 for the formal New
Jersey launch of South Asians for
Hillary in a bid to enlist commu-
nity’s support for Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton and to galvanize volun-
teers to reach out and be proac-
tive.
The event at the Curry On
restaurant in Indian Square,
Jersey City, was attended by an
estimated 100 people, including
former NewYork City Deputy
Public Advocate and GirlsWho
Code founder Reshma Saujani,
former Kansas State
Representative Raj Goyle, and
Hillary for America Director of
Women’s Outreach Mini
Timmaraju. The event was also
hosted by South Asians for
Hillary Jersey City lead Bhavesh
Patel.
The evening launch was a
show of South Asians’ support
for the former NewYork Senator
and to demonstrate that the
community is an influential vot-
ing bloc in the American elec-
toral process.
Supporters for Clinton had
come from throughout the state,
including Hudson, Middlesex,
Passaic, Bergen and Union coun-
ties. Jersey City Deputy Mayor
Marco Vigil and Jersey City
Council President Rolando
Lavarro were also in attendance,
and spoke briefly.
“We were truly surprised by
the overwhelming turnout at our
New Jersey launch event,” said
South Asians for Hillary New
Jersey co-chairs Amit Jani and
Dinesh Suryawanshi, who host-
ed the event.
The organizers said it was
gratifying to see that the South
Asian community would like to
get more involved in the elec-
toral process. Jani said that many
people have explained what they
can do to help Clinton’s cam-
paign – frommaking phone calls
to knocking on doors and urging
their neighbors from the South
Asian community to vote as well.
“The South Asian community’s
clout as an ever-growing influen-
tial voting bloc is becoming clear
to establishment politicians, and
we should continue to work
towards further increasing our
community’s voice,” he said.
Clinton was ahead of Bernie
Sanders among likely
Democratic primary voters, 54
percent to 40 percent, in the
Quinnipiac University poll
released May 19. While Sanders
runs better in the general elec-
tion, Clinton tops him 54-40 per-
cent among likely voters in New
Jersey's Democratic primary.
Only 6 percent of Democrats are
undecided and 15 percent say
they might change their mind
before the June 7 primary, the
poll said.
"Sen. Bernie Sanders hangs in
there, but New Jersey looks solid
for Secretary Hillary Clinton in
the June 7 Democratic primary.
Some people are 'feeling the
Bern.' But in New Jersey the
Bern is lukewarm at best,"
Quinnipiac University Poll
Assistant Director Maurice
Carroll said.
Saujani, who also founded
South Asians for Kerry in 2004,
told the gathering that it is not
enough to just say you support
Hillary Clinton.“You need to go
knock on doors, make phone
calls and write checks to make
sure that our community’s voice
is heard,” she said.
Goyle, the first South Asian
elected in Kansas, also echoed
this sentiment of getting
involved and being active with
the upcoming elections. He
stressed his family’s own immi-
grant experience and the impor-
tance of the South Asian com-
munity in the upcoming primary
election in June and general
election in November.
“It’s time that we elect a can-
didate that will support our
community, who has stood with
South Asian and who will con-
tinue to do so going forward,”
said Timmaraju.
The organizers said South
Asians for Hillary will also be
holding other events throughout
New Jersey in the upcoming
weeks leading up to June 7 pri-
mary.
‘South Asians For Hillary’ Launched In New Jersey Ahead Of Primary
Moohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia
A group of Indian-Americans and other
South Asian Americans launched “South
Asians for Hillary” May 17 to rally up
support for presidential contender Hillary
Clinton ahead of the June 7 New Jersey
primary. Among the speakers at the event
were founder of the non-profit Girls Who
Code, Reshma Saujani, photo left, and
former Kansas state lawmaker Raj Goyle,
photo above at left. The event was held at
the Curry On restaurant in Jersey City.
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