In recognition of the ninth anniversary of President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (A.P.J.) Abdul Kalamâs passing on July 27, 2015, ±«Óătv World reconnects with three ±«Óătv Kalam Fellows: Avijit Sengupta (PhD-Business Administration and Management, 2021); Veena Subramanian (PhD-Cellular and Molecular Biology, 2022); and Arjun Kadian (PhD-Business Administration, 2023).
The ±«Óătv President "A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Postgraduate Fellowship," is named after Indiaâs beloved former President who visited the university in 2012. Dr. Kalam was a highly respected aerospace scientist and popularly known as âIndiaâs Missile Man.â You can read about the Kalam Fellowship in .
Sengupta, whose research at ±«Óătv focused on developing a high-fidelity prototype of a home-based cardiac rehabilitation (HBCR) system to support self-management of chronic cardiovascular diseases, is currently a lecturer at the Business School of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Subramanian, who studied a rare genetic disorder while at ±«Óătv, last year joined the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, as a research scientist and is studying the effects of virus infection on muscle tissue. Kadian, whose time at ±«Óătv was spent understanding consumer behavior on IT platforms, is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics at the Florida International University in Miami, Florida.
As the first ±«Óătv Kalam Fellow, Sengupta, who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai, got a lot of media attention in India. In one interview, Sengupta said: âThis is an incredible honor as I am a huge fan of our ex-president in whose name the fellowship has been instituted.â In fact, this sentiment was the first reaction of all the Fellows â not surprising given the near-cult status of Dr. Kalam among young Indians even today.
As Subramanian says: âGrowing up in India, Dr. Kalam was a great inspiration to me as he is to millions of Indians⊠His journey from humble roots to the top echelons of Indiaâs space organization was a fascinating one. I have read about Dr. Kalam extensively and had the good fortune to meet him when he paid a visit to my high school. In the words of Dr. Kalam, it is important to dream, dream, dream; as dream transforms into thoughts and thoughts result in action. His words have been a true inspiration for me.â
âDr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has always been a role model to me,â says Kadian. âHis books â Ignited Minds and Wings of Fire -- inspired me to dream big and work hard to pursue my goals in the field of science and technology. Inspired by his vision to empower the youth through education, in 2011, I undertook the responsibility of teaching 20 underprivileged children at St. Aloysius Boys Home in Mangalore and this gave me immense satisfaction."
Senguptaâs research at ±«Óătv was âmotivated by a desire to change the lives of underserved people.â He details his thesis theme: "While the population of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients requiring cardiac rehabilitation continues to expand, lack of access and other barriers to center-based cardiac rehabilitation presents a huge challenge. A mobile phone and wearable device-based technological system can offer an HBCR program for CHD, combining human-expert intelligence with machine intelligence."
Selected from some 70 applicants who applied for the first Kalam Fellowship, Sengupta chose ±«Óătv for his PhD because the program brought together his âpassion for technology, behavioral science theory, scientific methodologies, independent thinking and design science principles.â At Queensland he is working on health analytics, with his core concern remaining the same â âhow can my work help those who do not have easy access to basic facilities?â
Subramanianâs journey has been on a rather different trajectory from her fellow Fellows. âI was starting my Ph.D. program in Cell and Molecular Biology at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bengaluru when I received the Kalam fellowship,â she recalls. âIt was very motivating, boosted my confidence and helped me channel all of my energy into doing research work.â
At ±«Óătv, her dissertation focussed on Bloom syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that is associated with increased cancer predisposition. âMy current work at the University of Utah is not a follow-up, but I am using many of the techniques and skills I learned during graduate school. I am working as a Research Scientist with Dr. Gabrielle Kardon on an alphavirus called Ross River virus that causes debilitating musculoskeletal diseases in humans.â
Kadian, the last to receive the scholarship, was already a Master's student at the Muma School of Business when he applied. His research at ±«Óătv explored topics such as consumer behavior on IT platforms and the impact of organizational initiatives on IT workers' performance, productivity, and wages.
Speaking to ±«Óătv World a few days ago, Kadian says: âI am truly fortunate to have an opportunity to pursue my passion for research and teaching in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, at Florida International University. Itâs a great place to build on the research that I started at ±«Óătv.â What is common between the three Kalam Fellows, is warm nostalgia for their days at ±«Óătv.
Senguptaâs fond memories of ±«Óătv include âthe everyday classes, interactions with my peers and professors, those job-hunting daysâŠ.and even the pandemic experience.â
Senguptaâs fond memories of ±«Óătv include âthe everyday classes, interactions with my peers and professors, those job-hunting daysâŠ.and even the pandemic experience.â He is thankful for the challenges too. âThe journey from India to America and then to Australia was not easyâŠbut they were opportunities which I received and embraced. Now when I look back, I recognize that I enjoyed taking risks and I am not unhappy about that. It reminds me of that famous dialogue in Forest Gump, âMy mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.â I am thankful to God that life is giving me a lot of surprises.â
âI was sad about leaving Florida and ±«Óătv because it was like home. The thought of
moving was overwhelming at first, but I am settled in now and enjoying my new work,â
says Subramanian, who has a three-year-old son.
Kalam fellows Arjun Kadian (left), Veena Subramanian (center-right), and Avijit Sengupta (right) stand with former ±«Óătv World Vice President, Dr. Roger Brindley, while proudly displaying their ±«Óătv spirit.
Kadian says he owes a lot to the "amazing faculty and staff at ±«Óătv for their guidance, " for being very generous with their time and supportive of my research endeavors, and for giving me the opportunity to teach a variety of courses to hone my teaching skills." He does not forget to mention "the wonderful students at ±«Óătv who were always eager to learn and give feedback.â
The three Kalam Fellows are from different corners of India â South (Subramanian is from Kottayam, Kerala); East (Sengupta is from Kolkata, West Bengal); West (Kadian is from Pune, Maharashtra).
Their journeys are a testament to President Kalamâs belief in the transformative power of education. âEducation,â he said, âis the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom⊠The ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth, and under the earth.â