Indo Usf

Indo-US Science & Technology Forum
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Volume 6 (2) | September 2014
Second Generation Biofuels

Indo-US Science and Technology Forum
A World Much Greener
Indo-US Science & Technology Forum
CONTENTS
cover story
04 A World Much Greener
Editor-in-Chief
Rajiv Sharma
Executive Director, IUSSTF
Editorial Advisory Group

Samuel Kotis
interview
09 Dr. Ray O. Johnson
04
Time for Innovation
Director, India Science and Technology

Partnership (INSTP)
Nishritha Bopana
Principal Science Officer, IUSSTF
(Member Convener)
Editorial Consultant
Manoj Dabas
Layout Design / DTP
Pramod Jha
11
Opinions
Opinions expressed in Connect do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of IUSSTF
or other organizations associated with
publication of Connect.
Excerpts from the Joint Statement
Fifth India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue

Indo-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium - 2014
Convergence from Dialogue
Comments and Suggestions

Please email the Connect Team at
connect@indousstf.org
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
Making India Proud
Design, Production and Circulation
22
Giving Wings to Talent

DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Program (IIGP) 2014
Communication & Outreach Division

AFE Consultants Private Limited
Aravali House, 431/D-22, Chhatarpur Hills
New Delhi-110074, India
Published and Printed by :
Catalysing change through Innovation
Nishritha Bopana on behalf of Indo-US S&T

Forum from Fulbright House
12 Hailey Road, New Delhi - 110 001
TiEcon 2014
Fostering Entrepreneurship
news and events

38 Events Diary
Michael Cheetham
Sr. Science Manager, IUSSTF
Indo-US Joint Center for the Analysis of Variable Star
16
20
22
26
30
36
37
Deputy Minister Counselor

Environment
Science and Technology Affairs
U.S. Embassy, New Delhi
Smriti Trikha
feature
11 Starry Skies
reports
United States - India Science & Technology Endowment Fund
Volume 6 (2) | September 2014
Printed at :
Archana
C-78, Okhla Industrial Area
Phase-I, New Delhi - 110 020
30
From the Editor-in-Chief

S&T Cooperation is high up on the priority list of United
States of America and India. IUSSTF has emerged as a
robust mechanism to convert this vision into reality and
stands entrusted with the responsibility to implement
several programmatic activities in this context. The
just concluded 5th IndiaUS Strategic Dialogue led by
Secretary Kerry and Minister Sushma Swaraj at New
Delhi took an appreciative note of many of such efforts
that we are pleased to share in this issue of CONNECT.
Energy Independence and Security Act of USA mandates
use of 21 bn. gallons of 2nd generation biofuels per year
by 2022, while the National Biofuels Policy of India, 2009 proposes a target of 20% blending of
biofuels by 2017. In our Cover Story, we highlight the U.S.-India Consortium for Development of
Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems, under the Joint Clean Energy Research and
Development Center (JCERDC). Aimed to accelerate transition to a lowcarbon & energy-secure
economy, the Biofuel Consortium addresses 2nd generation biofuels as a priority under the JCERDC.
Innovation flowers best in a collaborative environment rather than arms length technical exchanges.
For decades, scientists, engineers, and social innovators from India and the United States have
worked side-by-side to make this happen, the most well known example being agricultural
cooperation that led to the Green Revolution. Recognizing the complimentarity between US and
Indian strengths in technology commercialization and frugal innovation, respectively, the two
governments have established the USIndia Science & Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF)
for promoting joint efforts aimed at commercialization of S&T led innovations for societal benefits.
USISTEF is administered by IUSSTF by way of hosting the USISTEF Executive Secretariat. In this
issue we highlight the projects supported under the 4th Call for Proposals involving an outlay of ~
Rs. 10 crores (US$ 1.5 million).
An organization is as good as it leadership. IUSSTF has been lucky indeed to have some of the
best technical minds of India and the US as members on its Governing Board. We bring to you an
interview with Dr. Ray O Johnson, Chief Technology Officer, Lockheed Martin and a member of
IUSSTF Board. Dr. Johnson was in India recently to attend the Indo-US Frontiers of Engineering
(IAFOE) Symposium at Mysore in May 18-21, 2014 (see pg. 18), which was partly supported by
Lockheed Martin and Infosys. IAFOE symposium is organized by IUSSTF in partnership with US
National Academy of Engineering and held once every two years. IUSSTF has a similar partnership
with National Academy of Science (NAS) for the Indo-US Frontiers of Science Symposium. These
two symposiums bring together about 70 bright young scientists/ engineers from India and US for
discussions on emerging areas of science and engineering.
Dr. Johnson has been instrumental in conceptualizing the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation
Growth Program (IIGP). In eight years since its inception IIGP (see pg. 36) has supported more than
300 innovators through mentoring on product commercialization, readiness for market, business
models, IP rights, competitive positioning and mechanisms for revenue. These efforts have led to as
many as 69 business deals worth Rs. 1500 crores as highlighted in a report by M/s Ernst and Young.
We also bring you a feature on Indo-US Joint Center for the Analysis of Variable Star probing deep
skies for clues that shall further enhance our understanding about the evolution and functioning
of the cosmos (pg. 11). These and other reports will hopefully give our readers a good idea of the
dynamism that now characterizes Indo-US S&T Collaboration.
Promoting innovation is not a one-time big bang achievement but comprises of small steps and
initiatives painstakingly executed that overtime culminate in a momentum that overwhelms most
difficult of hurdles. Your feedback will equip the team at IUSSTF to deliver upto its potential. I look
forward to your inputs and suggestions.
Rajiv Sharma
Executive Director, IUSSTF
Connect September 2014
COVER STORY
VISION
The major goal of this consortium is to develop and optimize selected
non-food biomass (high yielding varieties of sorghum, pearl millet,
bamboo and switch grass)-based advanced biofuel systems and bio-based
products like biogas and lignin-based high value polymers for the U.S.
and India. The successful completion of the project is expected to benefit
both nations by delivering a working model for feedstock production and
supply, biochemical conversion approaches and technologies that have
been validated on pre-commercial scale systems, and overall economics
and sustainability of biofuel production and supply systems.
Ahmed Kamal
Indian Institute of Chemical

Technology, Hyderabad, INDIA
P. Pullammanappallil
University of Florida
Gainesville, USA
CONSORTIUM OBJECTIVES
The research is grouped under three broad thrust areas or Work Programs (WP):
WP1 Feedstock development and supply
WP2 Biorefinery technologies
WP3 Sustainability, marketing and policy
A World
Much
Greener
4
The Energy Independence and Security Act of USA (EISA, 2007)

mandates that the United States must use 21 billion gallons of second
generation biofuels per year by 2022, while the National Biofuels Policy
of India approved on December 24, 2009 proposes an indicative target of
20% blending of biofuels by 2017. This can be made possible with the
sustainable production and use of biofuels from non-food based feedstock
which can increase energy independence, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, and promote healthier land-use while providing additional
jobs and income to both rural American and Indian communities. The
U.S.-India Consortium for Development of Sustainable Advanced
Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems is a collaborative effort between
Indian and U.S. institutions under the Joint Clean Energy Research
and Development Center (JCERDC) initiated by the Governments
of India and the United States to accelerate transition to a lowcarbon, high-performance and energy-secure economy. The Biofuel
Consortium addresses the second generation biofuels R&D priority
area of the JCERDC, emphasizing sustainable feedstock cultivation and
supply, biochemical conversion technologies for production of second
generation biofuels with minimal environmental impact, and analysis of
overall sustainability and supply chain of feedstock as well as biofuel.
The consortium is jointly led by the Indian Institute of Chemical
Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, India and the University of Florida,
Gainesville, USA.
Feedstock development and supply (WP1):

This program focuses on breeding high yielding switchgrass and sorghum
in the U.S. and sorghum, pearl millet and bamboo cultivars in India that can
be grown on marginal lands. These marginal lands have been identified as
those lands that are flood and drought prone in the United States along the
Mississippi and Missouri river flood plains in the Midwestern states, and
salinity and drought prone areas in Central, Western and Southern states of
India. Specific objectives are to:
Improve production potential and feedstock quality using genomics
Janaki Alavalapati
P. Srinivasa Rao
Virginia Tech University

Blacksburg, USA
International Crops Research

Institute for the Semi-AridTropics, Hyderabad, INDIA
Shibu Jose
C. Ganesh Kumar
University of Missouri,
Columbia, USA
Indian Institute of
Chemical Technology
Hyderabad, INDIA
CONSORTIUM PARTNERS
INDIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Lead Institution:
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad
Lead Institution:
University of Florida (UF), Gainesville,
Florida
Other Partners:
Other Partners:
Beena Patel
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid

Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad;
Directorate of Sorghum Research (DSR), Hyderabad;
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU),
Hyderabad;
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore;
Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya
(RVSKVV), Gwalior;
University of Missouri (UM), Columbia, MO;
Abellon Clean Energy Limited

Ahmedabad, INDIA
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA;

Montclair State University (MSU), New
Jersey;
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad;

Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IITD);
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IITM)
Industry Partners:
Abellon Clean Energy Ltd., Ahmedabad;
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), Bangalore
Industry Partners:
Green Technologies LLC, Gainesville, FL
U.S.-India Consortium for Development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems
U.S. and Indian scientists of

the U.S.-India Consortium for
Development of Sustainable
Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel
Systems visit the University of
Floridas Stan Mayfield Biorefinery
Pilot Plant, January 29, 2013.
and breeding tools, and identify locally

adapted cultivars and their optimization for
large-scale production.
Develop production logistics and identify
soil and environmental criteria to ensure
a commercially successful advanced
feedstock production system.
Biorefinery Technologies (WP2):

The overall goal of this work program is to
improve lignocellulosic biomass processing
technologies for fermentable sugar production
and subsequently their conversion to biofuel.
Biofuels targeted are ethanol in India and
butanol in the United States. An additional
emphasis of this program is on processing
and utilization of waste streams for recovery
of nutrients, and bio-product production. It
is envisioned that this approach would ensure
that the biofuel is manufactured with minimal
environmental impact and there are additional
revenues for the biorefinery. This work
program is also well positioned to accelerate
deployment of commercial systems both in
the U.S.A. and India due to the availability
of a pre-commercial scale biorefinery at the
University of Florida. Objectives of this work
program are to:
Develop biocatalysts for production of
advanced biofuels, and optimize pretreatment
and fermentation processes.
Develop co-products and applications from

biorefinery waste streams that minimize
environmental impacts and maximize
revenues.
Sustainability, marketing and policy (WP3):
Despite the significant potential for the expansion
of advanced biofuels production in the U.S.
and India; the environmental, economic, and
social consequences of dramatically increased
harvesting of advanced biofuels feedstocks have
not been systematically analyzed. This lack of
information limits our ability to ensure longterm sustainability of these feedstock practices
and forecast sustainable feedstock supply and
development of biofuel systems in both these
countries. Understanding the sustainability of
biofuels supply and demand systems is a critical
component for private sector investments and
government policy making. Objectives of this
work program are to:
Analyze and develop certification protocols
and sustainability standards.
Assess energy requirements and emissions,
and perform economic analysis.
Undertake supply chain management
analysis.
U.S.-INDIA COLLABORATION
The tasks to be accomplished by the center
have been neatly divided between participating
institutions as under:
University of Missouri to provide technical
help in feedstock matching.
International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to
exchange germplasm and also to provide
technical help in developing new flood
tolerant sorghum cultivars at the University
of Missouri.
Scale-up and process data from University
of Florida cellulosic ethanol biorefinery
will be shared with the Indian consortium.
The ethanol conversion biocatalyst
developed at the University of Florida will
be shared with the Indian consortium.
University of Florida cellulosic biorefinery
will be available for Indian consortium for
training purposes.
Development of an integrated biorefinery
with a focus on effluent treatment and byproduct utilization.
US Consortium members will provide
technical help to Indian partners towards
development of certification protocols and
sustainability standards, energy and emission
efficiency, supply chain management, and
economic analyses to assess viability of
advanced biofuels.
CONSORTIUM MANAGEMENT
The U.S.-India Consortium for Development of
Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel
Systems is being led by CSIR-Indian Institute
of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad,
India, which will be responsible for the smooth
functioning of the project to achieve the targets
with the help of a three-tier management
system including an administrative setup,
consortium leader and the individual partnering
institutes. The administrative setup comprises
of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
and a Project Steering Committee (PSC).
The TAC will meet at least once a year (or
more if required). The TAC will review the
project work execution and render technical
inputs to achieve the approved milestones
and deliverables. The TAC members include
Dr. C.L.L. Gowda (ICRISAT), Dr. B.D.
Kulkarni (National Chemical Laboratory),
Dr. Pankaj Patel (Abellon Clean Energy),
Dr. B. Ramachandran (IIT-Madras) and Dr.
K. Ramaswami (Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University). The PSC members include Dr.
C.L.L. Gowda (ICRISAT), Dr. B.D. Kulkarni
(NCL), Dr. Pankaj Patel (Abellon Clean
Energy) and Dr. P. Gunasekaran (Thiruvalluvar
University). The PSC will meet once a year to
review the overall progress and suggest suitable
ways to meet the proposed milestones.
Srinivasa Rao (Work Package 1), Dr. C. Ganesh

Kumar (Work Package 2), and Dr. Beena
Patel (Work Package 3) will coordinate the
execution of the respective Work Packages
by closely interacting with the investigators.
Each principal investigator is responsible for
meeting the deliverables/milestones defined in
their respective work package(s). In the U.S.,
WP1 is led by Dr. Shibu Jose (University of
Missouri-Columbia), WP2 is led by Dr. Pratap
Pullammanappallil (University of Florida),
and WP3 is led by Dr. Janaki Alavalapati
(Virginia Tech).
Investigators & Field Staff Training

Sessions :
Madhya Pradesh: May 2013 (left)
Gujarat: July, 2013 (right)
Farmers visiting multi-location trial

of Sorghum at RVSKVV, Gwalior
The Project Coordinator, Dr. Ahmed

Kamal (IICT) will coordinate the project
implementation, while the task leads Dr. P.
U.S.-India Consortium for Development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems
INTERVIEW
commercialization of lignocellulosic biofuel

production.
Dr. Ray O. Johnson is the Senior Vice President

and Chief Technology Officer of the Lockheed
Martin Corporation. Dr. Johnson also leads the
Corporations Advanced Concepts Organization
and the Center for Innovation, a world-class
laboratory for collaborative experimentation and
analysis involving Lockheed Martin, its customers,
and industry partners. As a member of the IUSSTF
Governing Board, Dr. Johnson continues to
provide guidance to IUSSTF in its mandate to play
a pivotal role in the US-India Science, Technology
and Innovation partnership.
ACHIEVEMENTS THUS FAR
DELIVERABLES
For more information,

please visit :
http://biofuels.ifas.ufl.edu/
Locally adapted high biomass abiotic stress

tolerant switchgrass, sorghum, pearl millet
and bamboo cultivars yielding >18 t/ha dry
biomass.
Low input advanced feedstock production
system.
Optimized pretreatment methods for the
above mentioned feedstock.
Enzyme formulation for saccharification of
pretreated feedstock.
Recombinant biocatalysts for the efficient
conversion of saccharified hydrolysates
prepared from sorghum, pearl millet and
bamboo feedstock to ethanol.
Recombinant biocatalyst for the conversion
of saccharified switchgrass hydrolysate to
butyrate.
Efficient fermentation process for high
ethanol and butanol recovery.
Sustainability standards and certification
protocols.
Energy, emission, economic analysis
and supply chain management report for
Though not too old in terms of the time since

it has been in existence, the consortium has
already begun to make an impact. Some of the
salient achievements till date are listed below :
Two switchgrass and sorghum lines were
identified for high biomass traits and abiotic
(drought and flood) stress tolerance in the
U.S.
Small-scale field planting has proven that
switchgrass is highly productive on marginal
lands compared to corn and soybean.
Large scale field trials in collaboration with
farmers were initiated this summer.
Genomic-assisted breeding initiated for
sorghum and will begin next summer for
switchgrass.
Five sorghum cultivars and three farmerpreferred pearl millet cultivars were identified
and distributed to farmers for small scale
cultivation on marginal lands of Central,
Western and Southern India.
Multi-location trials for high biomass sorghum
and pearl millet are currently in progress at
Madhya Pradesh (Khargone, Dewas, Gwalior
and Lahar); Gujarat (Modasa, Vithalapara,
and Khus); Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore and
Bhavanisagar); Karnataka (Gangavathi)
Telangana (ICRISAT and DSR) and Andhra
Pradesh (ANGRAU, Bapatla)
Twenty bamboo germplasms were collected,
mother plants were established and inter
simple sequence repeat (ISSR) study
completed.
Biomass compositional analysis (cellulose,
hemicellulose and lignin content) protocols
standardized in India to align with methods
used by U.S.A. consortium.
Screening of cultures for celluloytic enzymes
and -glucosidase has been carried out.
Steam explosion protocol for pretreatment has
been standardized. Commercial cellulolytic
enzymes have been procured from various
Dr. Ray O. Johnson
CONNECT : So far as US S&T professionals

go, you can easily be called an India
Hand. Please share your insights about
the level and range of complementarity
that exist between Indian and US S&T
ecosystems and how they can be further
leveraged to achieve common goals.
Ray Johnson (RJ) : I think there is a lot of
commonality between science & technology
professionals in India and the United States.
Most importantly, they tend to have a great
educational foundation. The pathway from
invention through innovation requires three
components. First, the creativity at the front
end to create the invention; second, a solid
engineering and science foundation to validate
the idea; and third, it takes knowledge of
business to mature the discovery into a
product or a service. I think the common
strings between India and the US are the first
two areas. Creativity in ideas, something thats
happening all over India - We see this in DSTs
Dr. Johnson was recently in India to participate in the

Indo-American Frontier of Engineering Symposium
at Mysore and spoke to Connect about his views
on future of Indo-US S&T cooperation.
working, especially in the Indian Innovation
Growth Program. We see these ideas come
forward from a wide spread of sectors. Indias
work in science, its knowledge of science
engineering is unmatched.
The environment
between the United
States and India
has changed
enabling a greater
flow of information
and greater
collaboration.
The next 60 years
will be very different
as compared to
the last 60 years.
There is however a bit of divergence on

the business side. I think the US has more
experience in maturing ideas into businesses.
As part of the India Innovation Growth
Program, expertise from the Stanford
Business School and University of Texas IC2
Institute is brought in to help the innovators
learn about the way a business pans out and
take their ideas forward.
CONNECT : India and the US have been
working as S&T partners for a long time.
But there is a view that this relationship
has not achieved its full potential yet.
What measures can take this association
to the next level?
RJ : I think the Indo-US Science and
Technology Forum (IUSSTF) is a
Contd. on page 39
F E AT U R E
Interview : Ray O. Johnson

for a number of years; what I see happening
now is that the number of countries having
an interest and those having capabilities/
activities in space is increasing. I also see
that it is going to be increasingly difficult for
any country, including the United States, to
go it alone in space without partnerships and
collaborations. Therefore, I look forward to
more collaboration between India and United
States in space research and exploration,
taking advantage of mutual strengths and
past work in the area. I think that is an area
where we can work together, going forward.
NASAs Kepler mission launched in

2009 (Picture courtesy: NASA)
Indo-US Joint Center for the

Analysis of Variable Star
Starry
Skies
CONNECT : DST-Lockheed Martin India

Innovation Growth program is now in its
8th year. What has been your experience?
What will be your suggestions for the
future evolution of this program?
good measure. It has created a bilateral

environment where we are able to bring
together scientists and engineers. Recently
I took part in the Frontiers of Engineering
symposium at Mysore. There were a large
number of US and Indian scientists and
engineers together to talk about global
problems. I think the environment between
the United States and India has changed. It
is enabling a greater flow of information
and greater collaboration. I guess that the
next 60 years will be very different than the
last 60 years and we will see an increase
in the activities in science and technology
exchanges.
CONNECT : Space is one domain where
India and US have distinct strengths.
What possibilities do you visualize in the
medium and longer term horizon?
RJ : I am a member of the International
Academy of Astronautics. In that capacity,
I have a great opportunity to work with
Indian space scientists and see their work.
The environment of space research has
changed a great deal. While the United
States and Russia have dominated this space
10
While creativity,
hard-work and a
solid foundation
in science and
mathematics are a
given; I encourage
young scientists
to expand their
knowledge of
business to be able
to take their ideas
into the market
place so that they
can be a part of
the movement
to solve global
challenges.
RJ : This is a fantastic program! When we

started it we had dreams of what it could
become. We are now seeing those dreams
manifest themselves. A lot of people talk
about identifying talent, about creating
inclusive platforms, about creating an
environment that supports innovations, as
innovation cannot be managed and it can
only be supported. This program is doing
that and has made it real and happening.
Now we have hundreds of entrepreneurs
who have been given opportunities to
create an idea and negotiate the engineering
and science. But the most important part
of innovation is to convert it into a viable
business. So we bring together all these
partners to help train them in various aspects
of business and have FICCI connect them
with companies globally who are interested
in their product or service. This program is
working extremely well. What I would like
to see going forward is that this ecosystem
we have created becomes self-propagating
and continues to grow and expand beyond
this annual competition. Also, that other
such programs get ignited and blossom to
create a bigger ecosystem for entrepreneurs
in India.
Apart from twinkling due to the effects of our

atmosphere, stars appear fixed and constant
to the untrained eye. Careful observations,
some even done with the naked eye, show
that some stars do in fact appear to change
in brightness over time. Some exhibit periodic
behaviour, brightening quickly then diminishing
in brightness slowly only to repeat themselves.
With some, these changes take place over
several days whilst with others they occur in
a matter of hours or many months. Other
stars exhibit a once-off dramatic change in
brightness by orders of magnitude before
fading away to obscurity.
A variable star is a star that changes its
brightness by some detectable amount over
the interval of observations. In fact, all stars
are variable at some level of precision, over
some timescale.
Intrinsically variable stars or pulsating variables

change their brightness due to internal physics
and not, for example, due to external causes such
as binarity. Pulsating variables are themselves
separated into radial (the entire stellar envelope
oscillates coherently, e.g Cepheids or RR Lyraes)
or non-radial pulsators (different parts of the stellar
envelope are moving in different directions, e.g.
our Sun).
In recent years, mainly due to large surveys
associated with extra-solar planet searches (OGLE
III, Kepler, MACHO, EROS), a significant amount
of high quality data on pulsating variables has
become available. These new publicly available
data demand intensive detailed analysis using
modern statistical and numerical methods.
(Contd. on page 18)
11

Cepheids are young, high metallicity, bright
objects that trace spiral galaxy disks. RR
Lyraes are old, low metallicity objects that are
found in galaxy halos. Both types of stars are
predominantly radial pulsators. Brightness
of these stars varies very regularly with
periods of the order of hours (RR Lyraes) to
days (Cepheids). Such stars are products of
both the theory of stellar evolution and stellar
pulsation. They are therefore important test
beds in stellar astrophysics.
Comparing the structure of their observed
light curves to theory provides an important
way to constrain theories of stellar pulsation
and evolution. Further the Cepheid PeriodLuminosity (PL) relation is of fundamental
importance in determining a size-scale for the
Universe that is independent of the Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB).
Group at a joint meeting in India in

January 2014
Standing from L to R: Shivam Arora,
Anupam Bhardwaj, Shashi Kanbur,
Harinder Singh, Ranjan Gupta,
Aniruddha Dey
Sitting from L to R : Sukanta Deb,
Subhash Kumar, Earl Bellinger,
Ryan Oelker, Rachel Wagner-Kaiser
The overall goal of the Indo-US Joint Center

for the Analysis of Variable Star Data is to
use modern statistical and numerical methods
to rigorously analyze these data. More
specifically:
Investigate the use of Principal Component
Analysis (PCA) in the analysis of variable star
data especially for Cepheids and RR Lyraes.
Investigate the application of Fourier methods

in the analysis of Cepheid and RR Lyrae data
to astrophysics problems such as the distance
scale
Analyze Cepheid Period-Luminosity relations
in the infra-red and apply these relations to the
extra-galactic distance scale. These relations
have traditionally been in the optical. There
are good reasons to move to the infrared: the
PL relation scatter and metallicity effects are
reduced and the effect of any possible nonlinearities are diminished.
Analyze variable star data from the CSTAR
Antarctic data such data have unprecedented
coverage over the Antarctic night. Initial
analysis has concentrated on RR Lyraes and
Blazhko RR Lyraes in the CSTAR data.
Use recent Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
(LMS/SMC) Cepheid and RR Lyrae variable
star data to study the structure of the Magellanic
Clouds.
Personnel
The Joint Center combines experts in the field
from several areas, stellar pulsation theory
and the extra-galactic distance scale with
experience across a range of wavelengths
and knowledge of state-of-the-art methods
in statistics. This group has access to many
large published and unpublished datasets.
An initial visit by the US Principal
Investigator to Delhi University and IUCAA,
Pune in November 2013 developed some
more specific initial projects. A further
visit in January 2014 by the US Principal
Investigator and one US Co-Principal
Investigator, together with some US students,
made progress on these projects.
The Indian Principal Investigator and CoPrincipal Investigator, together with one
post-doc researcher and one graduate student
visited SUNY Oswego for an extended period
in December 2013.
Collaboration
January 2014 was also noteworthy in that
there was a joint meeting between two
IUSSTF Joint Centers - the variable star
group and the CLASS ACT group (who
12
TEAM UNITED STATES
Shashi M. Kanbur
State University of
New York at Osewgo
Lucas Macri
Texas A&M University

College Station
seek to develop new ways to automatically

classify astronomical transients arising from
future LSST observations). This has led to
a number of potential collaborative projects
including:
PCA to classify variable star types and
oscillation mode when only a sparsely sampled
light curve is available
Sleppian wavelets to study Cepheids and RR
Lyraes.
Conditional entropy to search for Cepheid
periods in Cepheid HST data
An analysis of several RR Lyrae stars that
appear to change mode the metalliciy of these
stars cannot change during the mode change.
Hence these stars form a stringent testbed that
connect variable star light curve structure to
physical parameters such as metallicity and
absolute brightness.
TEAM INDIA
Ata Sarajdeni
University of Florida
Gainesville
Harinder P. Singh
University of Delhi
Ranjan Gupta
IUCAA, Pune
A Galactic JHK Cepheid PL relation and its

application in the distance scale this project
gathers published Galactic Cepheid JHK data to
formulate another approach to the extra-galactic
distance scale
A JHK Cepheid PL relation based distance
to M31 using PHAT data and our own newly
calibrated LMC and Galactic PL relations
An analysis of Ultra-Long Period Cepheids
these objects are of interest because of their
extreme brightness and their potential as
Cepheids which potentially obey a different PL
relation to standard shorter period Cepheids
An analysis of Cepheid light curve structure
as a function of wavelength this project has
shown some interesting differences between the
light curve structure at wavelengths longer than
Light curve of a Cepheid Variable Star

in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
taken from OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) database.
P is the period of pulsation in days.
A Cepheid JHK PL relation distance to M31

using PHAT data
Analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey RR
Lyraes with collaborators at the National
Central University, Taiwan
Current Projects
Other ongoing work in the project includes:
The development of a JHK Cepheid PL relation
for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) that will
have significantly lower dispersion and hence,
when combined with recent highly accurate
absolute calibrations of the LMC distance
will provide a precise calibrating Cepheid PL
relation
13
the Johnson J Band. It will also provide strong
constraints for theoretical stellar pulsation
models
VITERBI-INDIA
VITERBI-INDIA
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
Period-Color and Amplitude-Color relations for

fundamental and first overtone Cepheids. This
project will study observations consequences
The Viterbi School of Engineering,
The
The Viterbi
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ofSouthern
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Forum (IUSSTF) Technology
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hydrogen ionization front in Cepheids Technology
and RR
Lyraes.
opportunities to Indian students
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A study of nonlinearities in Cepheid PL relations
summer 2015 for a period of summer
8summer
weeks.2015
2015for
foraaperiod
periodof
of88weeks.
weeks.
using LMC/SMC OGLE III data we have
confirmed a strong non-linearity at short periods
in LMC Cepheid first overtone data. Again
this project will provide a strong constraint
to theories of stellar pulsation and evolution
since such models will have to reproduce these
observational findings.
Period luminosity relations in the Near Infrared J, H, K bands for LMC Cepheids (taken from a paper under preparation by the group)
Metallicity [Fe/H] as a function of period determined from the light curve analysis of more than 13,000 RR
Lyrae variables in the LMC. The three regions marked by I, II and III correspond to the stars with
[Fe/H]1.35 dex,1.80< [Fe/H]<1.35dex and [Fe/H]1.80 dex, respectively (from Deb & Singh, 2014).
A PCA of Kepler RR Lyrae light curve data

and an investigation of possible relations
between PCA and metallicity. Recent work has
linked the structure of RR Lyrae light curves,
as characterized by Fourier decomposition to
metallicity. This project has started to develop
such connections between PCA and metallicity.
A study of PCAC relations with RR Lyraes
observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Thea Viterbi-India Program

The
The Viterbi-India
Viterbi-India Program
Program
Eligibility:
Eligibility:
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template light curve scheme for RR Lyraes that
is envisaged to:
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to
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world class research facilities world
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andtechnology.
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the use of neural networks, support vector
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from India to interact with American
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peers,
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help building long-term help
R&D
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linkages
building long-term
and
long-term R&D
R&D linkages
linkages and
and
Institute Workshop on the Extra-Galactic
collaborations.
collaborations.
collaborations.
Distance Scale, February 2014, the American
Astronomical Society Meeting in June
For application format and guidelines
For
For application
application
please
format
format
visit: and
www.iusstf.com
and guidelines
guidelines please
please
&visit:
visit:
www.indousstf.org
www.iusstf.com
www.iusstf.com&&www.indousstf.org
www.indousstf.org
2014 and the invitation only Extra-Galactic
Distance Scale Workshop at the Munich
For program information
For
For
contact:
program
program information
information contact:
contact:
Institute for Astronomy and Astro Particle
Physics in June 2014. l
Dr. Nishritha Bopana
Dr.
Dr. Nishritha
Nishritha Bopana
Bopana
Prof. Cauligi RaghavendraProf.
Prof. Cauligi
Cauligi Raghavendra
Raghavendra
Indo-US Science and Technology

Indo-US
Indo-USForum
Science
Science
(IUSSTF)
and
and Technology
Technology Forum
Forum
(IUSSTF)
(IUSSTF)
USC
Viterbi School of Engineering
USC
USC Viterbi
Viterbi School
School of
of Engineering
Engineering
12, Hailey Road, Fulbright12,
12,
House,
Hailey
Hailey Road,
Road, Fulbright
Fulbright House,
House,
University of Southern California
University
University of
of Southern
Southern California
California
New Delhi-110001,
New
New Delhi-110001,
Delhi-110001,
Los Angeles, CA 90089 Los
Los Angeles,
Angeles, CA
CA 90089
90089
E-mail: viterbi-india@indousstf.org
E-mail:
E-mail: viterbi-india@indousstf.org
viterbi-india@indousstf.org
E-mail: raghu@usc.edu E-mail:
E-mail: raghu@usc.edu
raghu@usc.edu
14
Connect September
2014
APPLICATION
DEADLINE:
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
15 November
DEADLINE:
DEADLINE:
2014 15
15 November
November 2014
2014
15
REPORT
United States - India Science & Technology Endowment Fund :

Fourth Call Awardees
E
IM
X
NOVATION
N
I
R
FO
XI
XII
Transforming arsenic and

fluoride crisis in drinking
water into an economic
enterprise
The Problem
Over 100 million people across 18 of Indias

23 states experience arsenic and fluoride
poisoning by drinking contaminated
groundwater, resulting in hundreds of
thousands of people suffering from cancers,
bone deformities, and early death. The World
Health Organization calls the crisis the
largest mass poisoning in human history.
16
II
Lead U.S. Partner
United StatesIndia Science & Technology

Endowment Fund (USISTEF) has been setup
to promote joint activities that can lead to
innovation and entrepreneurship through
application of science and technology.
The Fund supports and fosters joint applied
R&D to generate public goods through
the commercialization of technology
developed through sustained partnerships
between U.S. and Indian researchers
and entrepreneurs. These initiatives can
originate from government, academic,
non-governmental or commercial entities,
and any combination thereof provided
they focus on applied R&D, incorporate
a business plan and proof of commercial
concept, and have significant sustainable
commercial potential.
Lead U.S. Partner
The Solution
Drinkwell is a for-profit social

enterprise poised to transform
this water crisis into an economic
opportunity by blending a novel,
locally-sourced Donnan principlebased arsenic and fluoride adsorbent
(Donna-AFSorb) with a microfranchise business model providing
appropriate community-based or
domestic water filters to villagers. A
second-generation, multi-contaminant
adsorbent has been developed that can
be locally produced. The synthesis of
Donna-AFSorb has been optimized at
the lab-scale for treatment of arsenic,
fluoride, phosphate, nitrate, selenite
and uranium.
Development of a
low-cost, portable
auto-refractor
The Problem
Shivang R. Dave
PlenOptika, Somerville
Lead India Partner
Sriram Ravilla
Aurolab, Madurai
More than 1 billion people worldwide are

suffering from poor vision because they do
not have the prescription eyeglasses they
need. A major barrier to obtaining eyeglasses
in low-resource settings is getting an accurate
prescription. There is an acute shortage of
trained optometrists to prescribe eyeglasses
and current technologies for measuring a
prescription requires intensive training to
use or are too expensive for widespread use.
Developing novel biological

seed treatments to confer
abiotic stress tolerance in crops
The Problem
Mike German
WIST, Inc, Brighton

Lead India Partner
Abhijeet Gan
Rite Water Solutions (I) Pvt. Ltd.

Nagpur
Only 9% of the planet landmass is conducive for

crop production, while 91% is under abiotic and
biotic stresses (drought, salinity, temperature)
which are further likely to increase due to land
degradation, urbanization and climate change.
The global population is continuously expected to
increase and agricultural production must increase
to ensure food security. However due to climate
change, the scenario has become much more hostile
for sustained agricultural production. Approximate
67% of Indian land is rain-fed and crops invariably
experience droughts of different magnitudes. In
addition, irrigated crop production in India is
largely constrained by heat stress.
The Solution
The team aims to improve eye-care

through QuickSee - an innovative,
inexpensive,
handheld
device
that quickly prescribes corrective
eyeglasses with the click of a button.
While maintaining the current
standard of care, this device will
enable a ten-fold reduction in the
time needed to measure an eye for
corrective eyeglasses and can be
used by technicians with minimal
training. This disruptive technology
breaks the tradeoff between price and
training requirements that prohibits
current devices from improving the
prescription process in low-resource
settings.
Lead U.S. Partner
The Solution
The
team
intends
to
commercialize a proprietary
novel seed treatment called
BioEnsure which contains
a mixture of beneficial
fungal endophytes designed
to improve the tolerance
of plants to abiotic stresses
such as drought, salinity and
temperature. BioEnsure is
developed by harnessing the
natural symbiotic microbe
which enables broad-spectrum
of agricultural crops to flourish
under areas of drought,
extreme temperatures and
saline soils. The team intends
to test and deploy this product
in India besides also isolating
native strains that would
optimize the efficiency of final
product.
Rusty Rodriguez
Adaptive Symbiotic
Technologies, Seattle
Lead India Partner
Anup Karwa
SFPL Crop Life

Sciences Private Limited
Krishidhan Seeds, Jalna
17
Department of Science & Technology

Govt. of India
Time for Innovation
Commercializing a
transformational modular
roofing solution for low-income
urban homes
The Problem
The majority of the houses in slums have

inadequate roofs made of corrugated metal,
asbestos cement sheets, or clay tiles. The
families suffer from unbearably hot living
spaces, high maintenance costs, frequent
leaks, difficult installation, and a high risk
of injury if the house collapses.
Lead U.S. Partner
S.N. Bose
The Solution
Re-Materials has developed an

innovative low cost modular roofing
tile for local slum housing based on
compressed recycled cardboard. These
tiles significantly improve household
quality of life and can be sold at a
much lower price than concrete, filling
a market gap. If developed, families
would have an affordable roofing
option that is attractive, aspirational,
robust, quick to install, easy to
transport, safer and still strong enough
to support several adults.
Shashi Buluswar
LIGTT Corporation, Oakland

Lead India Partner
Hasit Ganatra
Re-Materials, Ahmedabad
Dr. Ray O. Johnson

(Contd. from page 10)
CONNECT : You have been associated with the IndoUS Science and Technology Forum as a member of its
Governing Board for quite some time now. India and
the United States are two large countries with diverse
needs. How do you think IUSSTF can make itself more
relevant to these growing needs in the times to come?
RJ : Firstly, I am proud to be a part of IUSSTFs Governing
Board and the organization and supporting its goals, going
forward. Having said that, I feel that we can continue to
expand the surface area of involvement, i.e. invite more
young scientists, like we did at the Frontiers of Engineering
symposium in Mysore to get more people involved.
The Governing Boards are important and they can help
create a suitable environment and come up with ideas. But
they are only a starting place. What we need to do is to
create an environment where many people can take part.
Much like we have at the DST Lockheed Martin India
Innovation Growth Program. You initiate a program from
an idea that springs out of Boards activities, becomes
self igniting, moves out and in turn ignites other similar
18
initiatives and become a self propagating movement. We

ought to be looking for ways to further expansion and
beyond the direct activities of the board that IUSSTF takes
off on its own steam.
CONNECT : India is a country with a very young
population and that also applies to the large number of
people entering the S&T Sector. Is there any message
to the S&T professionals in India?
RJ : The message that I would like to give is that the
opportunities you will face going forward are unlimited. The
global challenges you will solve are unsolved today. While
creativity, hard-work and a solid foundation in science and
mathematics are a given; I will especially encourage them
to expand their knowledge of business to be able to take
their ideas into the market place so that they can be a part
of the movement to solve these global challenges. Finally,
many of these challenges are interdisciplinary. So expanding
your mind and opening yourself to diverse approaches and
cultivating an ability to work with others ideas is going to
be critical. l
SCH
LARS
P R O G R A M
To nurture future innovators and thought leaders,
the Science & Engineering Board (SERB),
Department of Science and Technology (DST),
Govt. of India, the Indo-U.S. Science and
Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have partnered to
develop a dynamic and transformative student
exchange program between premier institutions in
India and the United States. The program is named in
honor of Satyendra Nath Bose (1894 - 1974), a
visionary Indian physicist best known for his work on
quantum mechanics in the early 1920s. The class of
particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics, Bosons,
was named after him.
ELIGIBILITY:
Indian citizens currently pursuing a Bachelors or

Masters' degree at a recognized institution of higher
education and learning in India.
Open to students of Atmospheric and Earth Sciences;

Chemical Sciences; Engineering Sciences; Mathematical
and Computational Sciences; and, Physical Sciences.
SCHOLARSHIP INCLUDES:
Stipend
Accommodation
Air-fare
THE PROGRAM IS ENVISAGED TO:

provide an opportunity to Indian
students to experience world-class

research facilities in leading U.S.
institutions;
encourage and motivate students
to take up research as a career;

pave the way for the next
generation of pioneers and

innovators in science and
technology to interact with each
other, and;
build long-term R&D linkages and
collaborations cutting across

boundaries around the globe.
Submission Deadline:
31 October 2014
For program information contact:
Indo-US Science and

Technology Forum
Fulbright House, 12, Hailey Road,
New Delhi - 110001,
E-mail: bose@indousstf.org
www.iusstf.com
www.iusstf.org
www.indousstf.org
www.indousstf.org
19
Fifth India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue

Excerpts from the Joint Statement
31 July 2014
The two sides recognized that the decisive mandate provided

by the Indian people to their new Government provided a
unique opportunity to re-energize this relationship. They
expressed confidence that the Summit Meeting between
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama
in Washington D.C. in September 2014 would generate new
dynamism in the relationship.
on nuclear safety, nuclear security regulatory processes,

the establishment of Indias Global Centre for Nuclear
Energy Partnership (GCNEP), and projects in fundamental
physics. They urged expedited agreements and arrangements
to facilitate Indian participation in the High Intensity
Superconducting Proton Accelerator Project, the Thirty Meter
Telescope, Monsoon studies, and Joint Oceanic surveys.
The leaders appreciated India joining the Partnership for
International Research and Education (PIRE) program of
the U.S. National Science Foundation, which will facilitate
support for high-quality research projects across identified
disciplines.
Faced by a common threat from terrorism, including in

South Asia, the two leaders committed to intensify efforts to
combat terrorism, proliferation of WMDs, nuclear terrorism,
cross-border crime, and address the misuse of the internet
for terrorist purposes, in compliance with respective laws.
The two leaders welcomed the continuation of the CounterTerrorism Joint Working Group process, sustained exchanges
of senior experts, and the upcoming meeting of the Working
Group in 2014. They also welcomed plans to hold the next
Ministerial Homeland Security Dialogue. They agreed to have
their Central Authorities meet to discuss ways to improve
mutual legal assistance and extradition processes. They also
agreed to work towards greater cooperation in cyber security
and reducing cyber crime.
The two leaders reviewed efforts since November 2010
toward Indias phased entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the
Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group. Secretary
Kerry reaffirmed the United States support for Indias
membership in these groups and welcomed Indias recent
decision to ratify its Additional Protocol with the IAEA. The
two leaders supported an early conclusion to these efforts.
The Minister and the Secretary welcomed civil space

cooperation between India and the United States in Earth
Observation, Space Exploration and Satellite Navigation. New
focus areas could include joint realization of dual frequency
microwave satellite for earth observation and launch services.
Both sides plan to continue discussions on space security
in 2014, to include areas of mutual interest such as space
situational awareness and collision avoidance.
External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Secretary of State John F. Kerry led their respective
delegations to the fifth annual India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.
host the next round of the High Technology Cooperation
Group on mutually convenient dates this year.
Secretary Kerry welcomed raised foreign investment ceilings

in several sectors of the Indian economy, including defense,
railways, e-commerce and insurance. The two sides agreed to
identify specific areas for investment in Indias manufacturing
and infrastructure sectors including through establishing a
new initiative in this regard. They also sought to empower the
India-U.S. CEO Forum to build a better business environment.
Minister Swaraj welcomed the United States as a partner

country, for the first time, at Indias annual Technology
Summit in November 2014. The leaders looked forward to the
convening of the next bilateral Joint Science & Technology
Committee meeting immediately preceding that event.
Secretary Kerry welcomed Indias commitment to the Global
Health Security Agenda (GHSA) including in the areas of
anti-microbial resistance and immunization.
Minister Swaraj and Secretary Kerry resolved to discuss

bilateral trade and economic concerns in a spirit of partnership,
including at the Ministerial Trade Policy Forum in India that
both governments hope to convene in Fall 2014, focusing on
key trade and investment issues. The two sides plan to expand
the Commercial Dialogue. They also agreed that India would
The Leaders welcomed work under the Partnership to Advance

Clean Energy (PACE) in its Research and Deployment
components. They reviewed the new initiative on Promoting
Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) in bringing
Indian citizens in rural areas access to off-grid sources of
clean energy. They welcomed outcomes facilitated by the
20
Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre in

solar technologies, second generation biofuels and energy
efficient buildings. They also intend to scale-up existing
initiatives on space cooling, to reduce demand for power for
air-conditioning.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the full
implementation of the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement.
They welcomed the Authorization to Proceed provided to
Westing house to implement the pre-Early Works Agreement
with NPCIL as of September 2013. Both sides urged NPCIL
and U.S. companies Westing house and General ElectricHitachi to expedite the necessary work to conclude pricing
and contractual details. They looked forward to advancing
the government-to-government dialogue and facilitating the
establishment of U.S.-built nuclear power plants in India.
The leaders also welcomed progress in the bilateral dialogue
The two sides identified education and skills development

as an important area of future cooperation. They called
for partnerships between Indian and U.S. testing services
institutions to improve nation-wide student assessments in
India.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work towards a
successful outcome in Paris in 2015 of the work of the Adhoc Working Group on the Durban Platform under the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change. The two sides
convened the first round of bilateral consultations under
the India-U.S. Joint Working Group on Climate Change,
continuing their enhanced dialogue on an ambitious climate
change agreement for the post-2020 period, and strengthening
bilateral efforts in the areas of clean technology, smart grid,
energy efficiency, adaptation strategies, sustainable forestry
and REDD+ issues.
The two leaders encouraged Departments and Ministries on
both sides to continue to evolve ambitious plans to further
the partnership. Secretary Kerry thanked Minister Swaraj
for hosting the fifth Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi. They
agreed to convene the next round in the United States in 2015.
Text Courtesy:
Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State, Washington DC
21
Convergence
from
Dialogue
The fifth Indo-American Frontiers of

Engineering (IAFOE) Symposium was
convened by the Indo-US Science and
Technology Forum (IUSSTF) as its annual
flagship event in partnership with the US
National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
from May 18th to 21st at the Infosys Campus in
Mysore, India. About 60 outstanding engineers
under the age of 45 met to discuss cuttingedge developments in four areas: Biomaterials,
Water Resource Management in the Face
of Climate Change, Green Approaches to
Communications, and Engineering in the
Context of Big Data. The event facilitates
international and cross-disciplinary research
collaboration, promotes the transfer of new
techniques and approaches across disparate
engineering fields, and encourages the creation
of a transatlantic network of world-class
engineers.
The IAFOE began with welcome and opening
remarks by Venkatesh Narayanamurti (Foreign
Secretary, US National Academy Engineering),
Ray O. Johnson (Chief Technology Officer,
22
Lockheed Martin Corporation), Rajiv Sharma

(Executive Director, Indo-US Science
and Technology Forum), Indian Co-Chair
Upadrasta Ramamurty (Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore) and US Co-Chair
Lisa Alvarez-Cohen (University of
California, Berkeley).
5th Indo-American FOE Symposium
Co-Chairs
Session I: The first session on Green

Upadrasta Ramamurty
approaches
to
communications
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
was co-chaired by Kirk W. Cameron
Lisa Alvarez-Cohen
(Virginia Tech) and Kumar N. Sivarajan
University of California, Berkeley
(Tejas Networks Ltd.). They flagged four
new approaches in wireless networks:
Power-optimized mobile handsets, Energyefficient cellular architectures, Software power
management and Energy harvesting in wireless
sensors. The first speaker was Vijay Janapa
Reddi (University of Texas at Austin) who
spoke about Mobile Processor Architectures:
Design Implications and Challenges for Energy
Efficiency. Radhakrishna Ganti (Indian Institute
of Technology Madras) spoke about Energy
Efficiency in Cellular Networks. Joseph Turner
(Miser Ware) gave a talk about the Challenges
23
and Opportunities in Mobile Software Power

Management. Neelesh Mehta (Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore) ended the session with
a talk on Energy Harvesting-Based Green
Wireless Communication Systems.
Session II: The session on Water resources
management in the face of climate change
was co-chaired by Sharad Jain (National
Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee) and Mark
Tompkins (New Fields). The co-chairs
highlighted the fact that although the earth is
a blue planet, accessibility to water is affected
due to several reasons such as remoteness,
inability to store seasonal flows, socio-political
preferences and capacity etc. The lead speaker
in the session was V. V. Srinivas (Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore) who gave a
talk on Climate change causes and hydrologic
predictive capabilities. Balaji Narasimhan
(Indian Institute of Technology, Madras)
spoke about the Emerging water resources
modeling technologies to understand climate
change impacts on various sectors and develop
24
adaptation strategies. Kristin Gilroy (US Army

Corps of Engineers) presented the Interactions
and adaptations of natural and constructed
elements of water resources systems. Finally,
Peter Wijsman (Arcadis) spoke about Adapting
to rising tides with the power of information
technology San Francisco Bay Area and
beyond.
Session III: Jennifer Dy (Northeastern
University) and Sriram Raghavan (IBMIndia) co-chaired the session on Engineering
in the context of big data. Keeping in mind
the facts that manufacturing is a $2 Trillion
sector, discrete manufacturing provides
products for consumers and the supply chain,
there is a high potential for productivity
improvement, and manufacturing generates
a very large amount of data; Athulan
Vijayaraghavan (System Insights) spoke
about the Internet of Manufacturing Things.
Pankaj Dayama (IBM Research) gave a
talk on Predictive analytics for industrial
applications. Nirmal Keshava (Astra Zeneca)
spoke about the Intersection of healthcare,

drug discovery, and big data. Kiri Wagstaff
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory) spoke about
modeling the human, not the data, to facilitate
discovery in her talk on Facilitating discovery
in big data sets.
Transforming biomaterials with novel therapies

- from science to entrepreneurial start-ups. He
spoke about entrepreneurship and startups;
what makes an entrepreneur; and the key
ingredients and lessons to keep in mind while
starting a company.
Session IV: The session on Biomaterials was

co-chaired by Debra Auguste (City College of
New York) and Ashok Raichur (Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore). Dhirendra Katti (Indian
Institute of Technology, Kanpur) began the
session with a talk on Glimpses into the exciting
world of biomaterials through drug delivery
systems. Rinti Banerjee (Indian Institute of
Technology, Mumbai) spoke about Stimuli
responsive lipid and biopolymeric biomaterials
for drug delivery and tissue engineering.
Suzie Pun (University of Washington) gave
a presentation on Biomaterials for targeted
drug delivery. Taking the learnings from the
previous talks and sessions forward the
final talk of the symposium was presented by
John Santini (Apo Gen Biotechnologies) on
In addition to the technical talks given at the

symposium, attendees had the opportunity
to present their work in an afternoon poster
session on May 19th. These posters were
displayed throughout the meeting and provided
an opportunity for every participant to share
information about his/her work. Baldev Raj
(President, Indian National Academy of
Engineering) gave a Pre-Dinner Speech titled
A Perspective on Technological Challenges in
India.
Another unique dimension of the IAFOE

Symposium is the Frontiers of Engineering
Awards that have been instituted by IUSSTF.
The award consists of USD 10,000 to be shared
between the partnering Indian and American
awardees, spread over a period of two years. l
25

TEAM India was made up of students who
were winners at the Initiative for Research and
Innovation in Science (IRIS) a research based
science fair initiative for school students held
in India annually. IRIS is a public private
partnership heralded by the Department of
Science & Technology (DST), Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) and Intel Education for
empowering the next generation of innovators.
These students came from all across the country
and were selected after a rigorous process of
support camps and various elimination rounds.
Each of the students was a scientist and an
innovator and had to their credit a unique idea
developed into science experiment/research/
remedy aimed at making our planet a better
place for all.
Making
India
Proud
TEAM India 2014 members with

Dr. T Ramasami (then Secretary DST)
& Ms. Nancy Powell (then the US
Ambassador)
TEAM India 2014 - 18 young geniuses went

on a special science & technology journey
from 11 22 May 2014 to the United States
of America. During these 2 weeks, TEAM
India participated and competed at the Intel
International Science and Engineering Fair
(ISEF), Los Angeles, USA - the worlds
largest pre-collegiate high school science
research competition, and became a part of a
week-long exposure trip to science, research
and technology based activities in museums,
universities, high schools along with meeting
Over the years, several of the young geniuses

who went to ISEF as part of team India, have
won various Grand Awards for their innovative
projects. This year ISEF 2014 was held from
12- 17 May 2014 at Los Angeles wherein 12
Indian projects participated and after competing
with more than 1700 participating science and
research projects from 78 countries, won 13
special and Grand Awards for themselves and
for the country.
Nobel laureates,
scholars.
eminent
scientists
and
TEAM India was flagged off by Dr. T.

Ramasami, Former Secretary, Department
of Science and Technology, Government of
India and United States Former Ambassador
to India, Ms. Nancy J. Powell. Before leaving
for the United States, TEAM India got an
opportunity to meet and interact with Dr. A. P.
J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India on
9 May 2014 at his residence.
Winners
Abhishek Verma and Daksh Dua made India
extremely proud by bagging three top coveted
awards, the Intel ISEF Best of Subject Category
Award (cash prize 5000 US$); Intel ISEF First
Grand Award (cash prize 3000 US$) and Intel
Foundation Cultural and Scientific Visit to
China Award (an 11-day trip to the Chinese
cities of Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai along
with attending China Adolescent Science and
Technology Innovation Contest, the largest
national science competition in China). These
two geniuses are from Maharaja Agrasain
Public School, Delhi. Their project was in
the Animal Science category and shows how
Rubus ellipticus is an effective solution against
Giardiasis. Apart from the awards mentioned
above, Abhishek Verma and Daksh Dua will
also get a minor planet named after each one
of them as part of the ISEF First Grand Award.
Hebbar from Vivekananda English Medium

School Puttur, Karnataka. She won the Intel
ISEF Fourth Grand Award (Cash prize 500
US$) and a Special award from Ashtavadhani
Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty Foundation
(Cash prize 500 US$). Her research project, in
the category of Animal Sciences, was aimed
at developing an effective treatment for Cattle
Dermatitis by using Cashew Tree (Anacardium
occidentale).
A TEAM India 2014 explaining her

project idea to a guest on the sidelines of the flag-off ceremony.
Team Indias sixth and seventh awards came

when Shreya Nandy and Kopal Gupta won
Intel ISEF Fourth Grand Award (Cash prize 500
US$) and Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability
Solutions Initiatives award (cash prize US
$2500 & trip to Arizona, USA). They are from
Amity International School, New Delhi, and
have developed a Unique Kit for detection and
removal of pesticides and insecticides from the
surface of fruits and vegetables.
In the award tally for Team India, the fourth

and fifth awards were won by Deeksha P.
26
27

Govt. of India

Govt. of India
Bhaskara Bhaskara
Advanced Advanced
how Brassica juncea (Mustard) flowers can

be used to attract pollinators for better Malus
domestica (Apple) yield.
Debapratim Jana from South Point High

School, Kolkata, West Bengal, added the
thirteenth award for Team India. His project Promising alternative materials for solar cell
development was in the category of engineering:
materials and bioengineering and got a special
award from patent and trademark office society
(Cash prize 500 US$).
TEAM India 2014 with
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam,
former President of India
Animesh Tripathi from Sanskriti School, New

Delhi got Team India its eighth and ninth awards
at ISEF 2014. Animeshs research project was
in the Computer Science category and won
two awards Intel ISEF Fourth Grand Award
(Cash prize 500 US$) and Google CS Connect
Award (Cash Prize 5000 US$). His project was
on Optimizing digital content for color-blind
audiences enhancement algorithms by 7.
TEAM Indias tenth award came when Amrit
Sahu from DAV Public School, Bhubaneswar,
Odisha, won the - Intel ISEF Fourth Grand
Award (Cash prize 500 US$) for his project
VOICE-O-NATOR - An aid for the speech
impaired in the category of engineering electrical and mechanical.
Jaya Sagar from
Government
Senior
Secondary
School,
Manali,
Himachal
Pradesh made India
proud by getting the
eleventh and twelfth
awards
for
Team
India. She got the
Intel ISEF Fourth
Grand Award (Cash
prize 500 US$) and a
Special award from
Ashtavadhani Vidwan
Ambati
Subbaraya
Chetty
Foundation
(Cash
prize
500
US$) for her project
in the Plant Science
category. Her research
project
showcased
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
TEAM India visit post ISEF 2014

Recognizing
that
climate
clean and
efficient energy
and environmental protection are among
that
and efficient
energy
andchange,
environmental
protection
are among
Team India also got Recognizing
an opportunity
to climate change, clean
India and
United
States;
the Department of Science and Technology,
the biggest
challenges facing India andthe
thebiggest
Unitedchallenges
States; thefacing
Department
of the
Science
and
Technology,
become the first set of ISEF
India Finalists
of India
through
itsthe
Solar
Energy Research
Initiative,
and the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology
Govt.exposure
of Indiavisit
through its Solar EnergyGovt.
Research
Initiative,
and
Indo-U.S.
Science and
Technology
to get an additional 5-day
Forum
(IUSSTF)
committed
to tackling
these
issues
by building capacity in these frontier areas.
these
issuesare
by building
capacity
in these
frontier
areas.
after ISEF in the UnitedForum
States. (IUSSTF)
Team Indiaare committed to tackling
received an immersive To
experience
of the innovators and thought
To nurture
innovators
and
thoughtAdvanced
leaders in Solar
Solar Energy
Energy, the Bhaskara Advanced Solar Energy
nurture future
leadersfuture
in Solar
Energy, the
Bhaskara
scientific and the entrepreneurial
culture
of Program - a dynamic
(BASE)
Program
- a dynamic
and
transformative
program has been developed to foster
(BASE) Fellowship
andFellowship
transformative
program
has been
developed
to foster
the US. During these 5contacts
days, thebetween
students students and scientists
contacts
between
and
scientists from India and the United States.
from India
and students
the United
States.
visited some of the best universities, science
museums; interacted with scientists at
Eligibility Place of work
Place of work
Eligibility
University of Southern California, school
For Student Internships
Student
Internships
The applicant
The applicant should have a letter of acceptance
from a should have a letter of acceptance from a
education practitioners For
and
students
of
reputed
U.S. scientific/technological institution where
reputed pursuing
U.S. scientific/technological
institution
where
Indian
citizens
currently
a
Ph.D.
on
a
full-time
Indian
citizens
currently
pursuing
a
Ph.D.
on
a
full-time
same age group at Lynbrook High school;
undertake the research work under the
the research
under would
the
basisR&D
in the fieldhe/she
of Solarwould
Energyundertake
in a public-funded
R&D workhe/she
basis in the field of Solar Energy in a public-funded
participated in various handslab/S&T
on activities
at (non-private) / recognized academic
Fellowship/Internship.
Fellowship/Internship.
lab/S&T institution
(non-private) / recognized academic
institution
the Exploratorium, California
Academy
of / college in India;
institute / university / college in India;
institute
/ university
The Program is envisaged to:
The
Sciences, NASAs Ames Research
Center
and as on 31 December 2014
Age: Upto 32 years as
on 31Program
December 2014is envisaged to:
Age: Upto
32 years
For Fellowships
ForCalifornia,
FellowshipsUSA.
Maker Faire at San Mateo,
provide
provide an opportunity to the best and brightest

Indianan opportunity to the best and brightest Indian
students
scientists
to gain exposure
and access
to and scientists to gain exposure and access to
Indian or
citizens withstudents
a Ph.D. and
in Science,
Engineering
or
Indian
with a Ph.D. in Science, Engineering
This visit was jointly organized
by citizens
the Indoworld class research facilities in leading U.S. institutions;
world class research facilities in leading U.S. institutions;
Technology
Technology
US Science and Technology Forum
(IUSSTF)
promote
promote
research
and capacity
building in the
frontline research and capacity building in the frontline
Applicants
provide
proof
of independent
research
must
research must
in partnership with DST
andApplicants
Intel. Such
anprovide proof of independent
work in internationally
recognized
academic journals.
work in internationally recognized academic journals.
area of Solar Energy;
area
of Solar Energy;
exposure encouraged students and created
Open
only to applicants
working
in the field
of Solar students
Open only to applicants working in the field

of Solar
encourage
encourage
and motivate
outstanding
to
take up and motivate outstanding students to take up
excitement of creative pursuits
Energy
Energyof STEM
research as a career path; and
research as a career path; and
education and motivated
young
students
to as on 31 December 2014
Age: Upto 40 years
as
on 31
December
Age: Upto
40 years
pave and
the way for the next generation scientists and
pave
the
way for2014
the next generation scientists
undertake research in the
frontier
areas
of
technologists
from India to interact with American peers,
technologists
IndiaR&D
to interact
with American
peers,
Alab/S&T
permanent position
in a publicfrom
funded
lab/S&T
A permanent position in a public funded R&D

thus and
helping to build long-term R&D linkages and
thus helping to builduniversities/
long-term R&D linkages
science & technology and also
developed
a
institution (non-private)/recognized
institution
(non-private)/recognized
universities/
colleges in India. collaborations.
colleges in India.
collaborations.
spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.
The
site visits, not only showcased the scientific
Fellowship/Internship includes
Fellowship/Internship
Broad
for Research (indicative list) includes
categories
for Research (indicative
list)categories
landscape of the US, but Broad
also provided
an
Solar Photovoltaics
Solar
opportunity to the students
to Photovoltaics
assimilate
Monthly Stipend
Air-fare
Monthly Stipend
Air-fare
Contingency allowance
Contingency allowance
Solar Thermal
Solarstudies
Thermaland
a wider perspective for
future
Grid Interaction including Smart Grids
Grid
Interaction including Smart Grids
possibilities of participating
in collaborative
Duration
Duration
Energy storage
Energy
storage
research programs. The
grand
finale
of the
Internship: Minimum 3 months and upto 6 months
Internship:
Minimum 3 months and upto 6 months
System Development
and Integration
System Development
and Integration
trip was a reception at the
residence
of Mr.
Other (any other
related
area inMinimum
Solar Energy)
Other (any
other related area in Solar Energy)
Fellowship: Minimum 3 months and upto 12 months
Fellowship:
3 months and upto 12
months
N. Parthasarathi, the
Consulate
General
of India, San Francisco. Team India eagerly
shared their experiences and their views on
SUBMISSION
DEADLINE: 15 NOVEMBER 2014
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 NOVEMBER
2014
and discussed about opportunities in India
and USA. l
Indo-US
Forum Science and Technology Forum
Fulbright
House, 12,
Hailey
Road, New Delhi - 110001, E-mail: jcerdc@indousstf.org
Fulbright House, 12, Hailey Road, New
Delhi - 110001,
E-mail:
jcerdc@indousstf.org
28
Website: www.iusstf.com
Website:
/ www.indousstf.org
www.iusstf.com / www.indousstf.org
29
StudentSpeak
Giving Wings to Talent

To address the need for human resource development and capacity building in science and technology, the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) is committed to nurture contacts between students of science and technology from India and
the United States. It has been unambiguously demonstrated that providing students
with an exposure to cutting-edge scientific research experiences at a formative stage
not only broadens their intellectual horizons but also leads to increased engagements
in scientific and technological research careers. In this section of Connect, we share
with you the experiences of some of our bright, young interns in their own words!
Khorana Program for Scholars

When I received a call
from IUSSTF that I
was selected for the
Khorana Program for
Scholars, I couldnt
believe my ears! It
took a while for it to
sink in that I had been
given an opportunity
of a lifetime. A few
months later, almost
reaching the end of
the program, Im still
pinching myself.
Sanika Hakim
Fergusson College
University of Pune
30
Interacting
with
students, researchers and other Khorana
scholars, at Indiana University has broadened
my horizons in science, education and life, in
general. My work on bacterial communication
systems, also known as quorum-sensing,
revolved around designing and optimizing a
bioassay protocol to screen for chemicals that
inhibit this communication pathway. I was awed
by the potential of these little-known chemical
communication systems in bacteria. My lab
advisor, Dr. Julia van Kessel, was an excellent
guide; with her comprehensive explanations
and unwavering enthusiasm, I was able to
undertake this project in the right direction and
Shruti Mohan
SASTRA University, Thanjavur
A brilliant opportunity came in the form of

the prestigious Khorana Fellowship, as a
part of which I was able to do significant and
interesting research in a lab at Bloomington.
The eight weeks at this lab helped me mould a
very sharp image of research. I understood that
more than doing a million experiments, a wellplanned and analysed experiment is expected.
The work at the lab helped me hone my skills
as a researcher. The most important lesson that
I learnt was never to be disappointed when the
results are not as expected, because the results
that are obtained are always pointing towards
the right direction.
Bloomington, essentially being a college town

is extremely friendly. The first few days when
I was lost without a map, people dropped their
work to help me out. A family graciously
decided that us, the Khorana scholars from
India had to be shown the amazing parts of
Bloomington and helped us meet great people.
With so much knowledge to share and so
many memories to cherish, it is going to be
an experience of a lifetime. I am very grateful
to IUSSTF for organizing the program and for
being a constant support.
For more information on the Khorana Program for Scholars:

Webpage: http://www.indousstf.org/Khorana/khorana_program.html
E-mail: scholar@indousstf.org
Viterbi-India Program
yield fruitful results. On a non-professional

note, I was able to tour places in and around
Bloomington, which were aesthetically
pleasing. Meeting new people and listening to
their life stories was an exhilarating experience,
in itself. Their diverse opinions and outlooks
towards life, was mentally stimulating.
All in all, the wealth of knowledge and
experience I will be taking back from this
summer is priceless and perennial. I thank
IUSSTF and the Khorana Program for having
faith in me and selecting me for this prestigious
fellowship. It is indeed an honour to be
identified as a Khorana Scholar.
I consider myself fortunate to have been selected as one

of the 20 students for the Viterbi-India Program 2013, a
summer research internship program at the University of
Southern California (USC) with support from IUSSTF.
Administrators at IUSSTF helped me a lot with the predeparture procedures including the visa process and
assistance regarding accommodation, for it was the first
experience in the US for me. Our program coordinator
at USC, Ms. Tracy Charles, helped me settle down
once I arrived at the school by arranging an orientation
program. Since I had been in contact with the faculty
advisor I was going to work with over the summer; I
did some of the pre-reading on his on-going research
area before getting there. It helped me to start my project right
away after I got to the Institute of Creative Technologies (ICT), a
research institute of USC where
I spent six wonderful weeks of
my life. I got the opportunity to
learn about the state-of-the-art
research technologies available
there. The thing I loved the
most was that everyone is given
the freedom to express their
ideas and give their suggestions
during the weekly group
Rasiga Gowrisankar
meetings (I was part of the
College of Engineering, Guindy
Natural Language Dialog group at ICT), even if you are just an

undergraduate interning there. My faculty advisor Prof. Anton
Leuski was very supportive and helped me a great deal. Apart
from the work, I also got to interact with the other ICT interns
who hailed from different countries - we used to discuss about
the different cultures, food habits, languages etc., over lunch
which was an enriching experience. I was also fortunate to attend
talks by eminent scientists and got to attend an international
conference at ICT. There was a poster presentation session at
the end of the program where we had to present our work to
the faculty and students of Viterbi School. I also had fun-filled
weekends with the entire Viterbi-India group. We visited almost
every tourist attraction in the city and I am glad I made lifetime
friends during this trip!
31
StudentSpeak
At USC during the Viterbi-India Program

2013, I worked with Prof. Michelle
Povinelli on nanophotonics. My focus was
on calculating the optical force & torque
experienced by gold nanoparticles owing
to the guided resonance modes of photonic
crystals, and prediction of stable trapping,
assembly, formation and orientation of
nanostructures, from the Maxwell Stress
Tensor calculated by FDTD simulations.
The work experience in the setting of a
leading institution with a vibrant group,
together with lively group meetings often
leading to new ideas or reconsideration of
the methodology of solving the problem, and
the feeling of being a part of a pioneering

work, have given me a true flavour of the
US university work culture which is sure to
help me in my graduate studies. It has also
helped me decide to pursue my Ph.D. work
in fields like nanophotonics, quantum optics,
plasmonics, etc. Truly speaking, the entire
experience of working in Prof. Povinellis
lab was far beyond my initial expectations.
I loved working in the lab till late hours,
looked forward to presenting my findings
in project sub-group meetings, formed a
knack of printing volumes of journal papers
& voraciously reading them, often enjoyed
treats from Professor, and so on.
Debarghya Sarkar
Jadavpur University, Kolkata
For more information on the Viterbi-India Program:

Webpage: http://www.indousstf.org/Viterbi-India/Viterbi_India.html E-mail: : viterbi-india@indousstf.org
S.N. Bose Scholars Program

The S.N. Bose scholars program was a
stupefying experience! If I begin to count; it
helped me cross out many points on my to-do
checklist. I will save the bombastic details for
later, knowing that being the first S.N. Bose
scholars envelopes us in its unique stardom.
I had applied to the Bose scholarships although
I was not very hopeful of the outcome and so
was not following the usual go to the site and
check if the result is out routine from time to
time. To make it look cool, when my friends
brought me the news that I got selected I replied
with an emphatic Really?? Ive had internship
experiences across labs at IISc Bangalore,
IISER Pune and SNBNCBS Kolkata as well
as short-term research projects in-house but on
the very first thought I knew that this was going
to be completely different. It felt comforting
to be a part of the chatter on a Facebook page
that we created, getting to know everyones
opinions and preparations for the internship.
32
The visa, tickets and other formalities were

over in a jiffy although weighed much due to a
first timers whine. I was lucky I got accepted to
Georgetown University where the representative
for the Bose-Khorana program, Philip Thomas
was very helpful with all the arrangements.
His mails had wonderfully detailed answers to
almost every possible query. The trip would not
have been possible without the tiresome and
endless help from Ms. Priya Thomas (IUSSTF)
and Phil Thomas (Georgetown University).
At Georgetown I was to work with Dr. Richard
Weiss who confirmed my acceptance after a
brief Skype interview. In most cases I believe
this is the most effective way to know a student.
From what I have gathered so far from many
Skype interviews is that the key is for you to
lay out your ideas, goals and your background
in a manner that is comfortable and not made up
because your confidence level revolves around
them and so do the questions shot at you. Simply
Bibek Ranjan Samanta
Indian Institute of Science Education

and Research-Kolkata
put, Dr. Weiss is one of the

best people I have ever
met. As a person he is the
epitome of knowledge
and experience and yet
humble and affable. He
is a pioneer in gelation
phenomena and several
other
physical
and
photo-physical aspects
of chemistry. I was
assigned to two projects
one in chemistry and
the other in physics. I
was to synthesize selfassembling salts and study
their photodimerization
and gelation. I picked up
many lab skills associated
with such studies. A lot
of research methodology
revolves around making basic observations,
simplistic measurements and yet deriving
powerful questions.
The second project was an applied physics
problem to study the effects of controlled
wave action on oil-layers and gelated oil layers
on the water surface. This involved setting
up an entire apparatus involving cameras,
function generator, lenses and picking up wave
patterns using a laser. So many things were
new and fascinating to learn that I came to
appreciate every novelty that I came across. A
REU Scholar, Franklin and me worked on the
project which followed data collection, image
processing and interpretation. I made many
friends during the entire stay. In the company of
lab-mates, dorm-mates and close friends, each
day was a new adventure!
Coming to the things I could check out on my
to-do list were the roller coasters, New York,
Smithsonian museums, Sky-diving and a trip
to the Unites States. New York, Baltimore and
Washington DC are two very beautiful places
with wonderful eateries and places to visit.
For a super foodie like me the entire trip was
deliciously overwhelming. That said, I would

love to skydive again someday! To manage
all this on the weekends we had, we had work
in our labs by the week. Dr. Weiss had group
meetings every week and producing results was
mandatory.
About the lab environment in the states It is
very affable. All you need to do in a department
is to introduce yourself as a Bose or Khorana
scholar and learn about the lab and explore
the aspects that might help in any way to
structure your own project. I got to know other
labs through the scholars working there or by
interactions with groups during conferences.
What I brought back is not just fresh memories
of the fun I had, but more importantly, a set of
skills to add to my inventory to aid in shaping
my future research. Added to that were the
amazing friends and fellow-scholars I had who
made the entire experience cherishable, and an
astounding mentor Dr. Weiss who still guides
me and thus made this internship forever etched
in memory!
My best wishes to the Bose program and the
Bose scholars to come.
33
StudentSpeak
Department of Agricultural and Biological
Engineering (ABE).
Well for me the S.N. Bose Scholarship came

just at the right time, especially when I was in a
dilemma whether to choose a career in research
or to settle with a job in corporate world. Truly
speaking, I am not only happy to be able to add
the S.N. Bose Scholar title in my resume but
also grateful to IUSSTF for giving us students
the opportunity to come to these prestigious
universities and work with some of the best
minds in their respective fields.
Srujan Singh
Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur
Talking of Purdue University, ah where to

begin, first of all the campus is awesome :). The
architecture boasts off exquisite workmanship
of the 19th century era and the pervasive
campus with its sun baked brick buildings
in midst of lush green provides an absolute
quiet and harmonious environment only to be
disturbed by the occasional chirping of birds
and the duel between chipmunks over nuts.
And within this delight is my lab, situated at
I consider myself lucky as my mentor was

really helpful throughout my internship period.
I saw and experienced how life goes about
in the research world - starting right from
reading technical papers and journals, handling
sophisticated apparatus and equipment, proper
documentation of work and presenting it in
front of a scientific mass etc. Moreover since
the working team at my lab comprised of people
with vivid technical and cultural backgrounds,
it was really fun interacting with them and
listening to their experiences- both good and
bad. And it was not only work all the time,
we had equal share of fun too! I and some of
my colleagues visited nearby cities, tried new
food and explored the downtown on weekends.
Many museums, many zoos and historic places
were covered and the souvenirs and the great
time we had will remind us of this wonderful
experience forever.
And as luck would have it, I also got a chance
to meet Prof. T.K. Chandrashekar (Secretary,
Science and Engineering Research Board), Dr.
Rajiv Tayal (Science and Engineering Research
Board) and Dr. Nishritha Bopana (Principal
Senior Officer, IUSSTF) and had a candid talk
with them over coffee while they visited our
campus. They shared their views, gave us a
broader perspective of research and explained
the scope of research today and in the years to
come. This has motivated me all the more to
pursue a career in research. So to conclude, I
would say this was really a fun-filled summer
for me where I learnt many new things as a
student and a person and I am certain that this
is going to help me in the long run just as it is
going to help the future Bose Scholars. I wish
them the very best of luck.
2015
ansari@biochem.wisc.edu
For more information on the S.N. Bose Scholars Program:

Webpage: http://www.indousstf.org/bose/indianstudents.htm (For Indian Students)

http://www.indousstf.org/bose/US-Students.html (For U.S. Students)
E-mail: bose@indousstf.org
34
35
DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Program (IIGP) 2014
TiEcon 2014 | Silicon Valley | May 16-17, 2014
TiEcon Fostering
2014 Entrepreneurship
Catalysing change through Innovation

The India Innovation Growth Program is a
joint initiative of the Department of Science and
Technology, Govt. of India; Lockheed Martin
Corporation; Indo-US Science and Technology
Forum, Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry; Stanford Graduate
School of Business and the IC2 Institute at the
University of Texas. The aim of this programme
is to accelerate innovative Indian technologies
into the global markets.
For IIGP-2014, twenty Pan India Road-shows
were conducted for outreach of the program
and a total of 1346 applications were received.
Each application was thoroughly examined by a
team of experts from FICCI and external subject
matter experts to select the best 100 innovations.
These applications and technologies were shared
with all partners for further short-listing.
A
Technology
Commercialization
&
Entrepreneurship Workshop was held from
April 20-25, 2014 wherein the selected 44
36
innovators were provided training in basic

principles of product commercialization,
readiness for market, business models, IP rights,
competitive positioning, and mechanisms for
revenue by experienced faculty members from
the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The
Innovators Competition and Awards function
was held from May 20-23, 2014. The top 44
innovators presented their innovations to a panel
of technologists and commercialization experts
from India and the United States. At the end of the
competition, 30 best innovations were awarded.
The awards ceremony was presided over by Prof.
K. VijayRaghavan, Secretary, Department of
Science and Technology, Government of India.
The top 10 Innovators selected from the IIGP2014 will be taken to Silicon Valley and Stanford
Graduate School of Business in September 2014
for learning the best practices of Innovation/
startups and successful commercialization. 20
Innovators were also presented with a cash prize
of Rs. One Lakh each.l
The United States India Science and

Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF)
team participated at TiEcon 2014 organised
at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Silicon
Valley on May 16-17, 2014. TiEcon is one of
the largest and longest ongoing conferences
focused around entrepreneurship and tech
innovation. The objective of participating in
TiEcon 2014 was to provide larger visibility
and outreach to the USISTEF activities in the
United States.
During the TiEcon, a Tech Exposition was
also held where the Endowment Awardees
showcased their product and technologies and
the Endowment Team carried out an extensive
promotional exercise of the upcoming fifth
call of the Endowment Fund. The Tech
Expo offered the Endowment Awardees a
unique opportunity to network with industry

luminaries, VCs, successful entrepreneurs and
seasoned executives at the TiEcon.
On May 17, the USISTEF also participated in a
panel session titled Cross-Border Innovation
spurs Entrepreneurship. The panelists, Mr.
H K Mittal (National Science and Technology
Entrepreneurship Board) and Mr. Nilesh
Shah (US Embassy), provided an overview
of the objectives, timeline and process of the
Endowment Fund. The panel discussion also
provided an opportunity to deliberate about
the priority areas of the Endowment Fund
i.e. Healthy Individuals and Empowering
Citizens. The panelists highlighted the
technologies of the various Endowment
Awardees which have been supported by the
Endowment Fund and their societal Impact.
Cont. on page 39
37
events diary
May-June 2014
29 May-01 June 2014,
Kumarakom, India
Recent advances on modeling rare events:

methods and applications
events diary
June 2014
biodiversity, thus supporting millions of agricultural and
forest-dependent livelihoods. The ecosystem services hinge
upon the varied and extensive forest cover across this region,
that is under increasing threat of degradation from overexploitation, infrastructure development and climate change.
In order to create a scientific understanding of the causes of
forest degradation, its conservation and restoration, with a
special reference to the Western Himalayas, Ghazala
Shahabuddin (Centre for Ecology, Development and
Research, New Delhi) and Timothy Gregoire (Yale
University, New Haven) organized an Indo-US workshop

titled Forests of the Western Himalaya: conservation and
restoration of ecosystem services in a time of climate
change. The workshop aimed at building multi-disciplinary
and multi-institutional research collaborations on Himalayan
ecology issues, increasing opportunities for training and
learning through institutional collaborations and
strengthening ties between scholars and conservation
practitioners.l
A World Much Greener

Contd. from page 8
Development of molecular simulation algorithms to model

rare events is an active field of research. Many of the
interesting processes such as chemical reactions, phase
transitions, nucleation, protein folding and conformational
changes in molecules are examples of rare events in
computer simulations. Modeling of such processes continues
to be challenging and novel methods have to be designed to
overcome the problems related to limited sampling. In order
to bring experts from the United States and India to discuss
the latest progress in this field, Nisanth N. Nair (Indian

Institute of Technology-Kanpur) and Mark E. Tuckerman
(New York University) organized an Indo-US workshop
titled Recent advances in modeling rare events: methods
and applications. The symposium was focused on the
recent advances in modeling chemical reactions, structural
transformations, protein folding, nucleation etc. Broadly, the
talks were focused on predicting the mechanism, kinetics
and thermodynamics of these processes.l
Forests of the Western Himalaya: conservation and

restoration of ecosystem services in a time of climate change
28-29 June 2014

Dehradun, India
sources and analyzed for their efficacy to saccharify pretreated

biomass.
The Stan Mayfield Biorefinery Pilot Plant operated by the
University of Florida is fully operational and is processing
sugarcane bagasse to cellulosic ethanol at 10,000 gallon
fermentation level. Ethanol yield using this process averages
about 70 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of bagasse.
A genetically engineered Escherichia coli for production of
butyric acid constructed and further work is in progress to
optimize this construct.
The sustainability analysis program in the USA has developed
an agent based model for assessing economic impacts of
biofuel markets along the supply chain.
The India consortium has administered survey questionnaires

and conducted focus group discussions to collect baseline
information on socioeconomics and land use in targeted
regions of Central (Madhya Pradesh) and Western (Gujarat)
states of India.
Economics and emission data were collected for current
practices of farmers/growers to understand and estimate
how the energy crops under the project would impact current
economy and environment.
Two joint project meetings of the U.S.A. and India consortia
were held at the University of Florida, Gainesville and two
capacity building workshops were held in India. l
TiEcon 2014 : Fostering Entrepreneurship

Cont. from page 37
Dr. Pooja Mukul from the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata

Samiti (BMVSS) Jaipur, Endowment Awardee, delivered a
brief talk on the Affordable and User-Centric Knee Joints
which is currently being developed in partnership with Dr.
Krista Donaldson, D-Rev (Design Revolution), San Francisco.
Endowment Fund grantees, One Breathe Inc., was awarded in
the TiE50 category for their work in the field of Life Sciences for
their Low cost affordable Mechanical ventilator.
The following Endowment
technologies at the Tech Expo.
The Himalayas are among the most important eco-regions of
the world, sustaining a large part of humanity through the
38
ecosystem services that they provide through climatic and

hydrological modulation, nutrient cycling and provisioning
Awardees
showcased
their
Mr. Michal Depa, Chief Technical Officer - Mobile Phone based HbA1c Analyzer
Mr. Nishith Chasmawala, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Consure

Medical- A Novel device to manage fecal incontinence in non-ambulatory
patients
Connect May 2014
Mr. Tanmaye Seth, Marketing Manager, Aquagri Processing Private Ltd., and
Ganesh Vishwanath, Founder, GloBridge Ventures LLC. - Cultivated sea plants
based organic bio-stimulants. l
39
um
Indo-US Indo-US
Science Science
& Technology
& Technology
Forum Forum
IUSSTF
Indo-US S&T Forum
The Indo-US Science and

TheTechnology
Indo-US Science
Forumand
(IUSSTF),
Technology
established
Forumunder
(IUSSTF),
an established under an
agreement between theagreement
Governments
between
of India
theand
Governments
the United of
States
Indiaofand the United States of
America, is an autonomous,
America,
not for
is an
profit
autonomous,
society in India,
not forco-funded
profit society
and in India, co-funded and
co-governed by both the
co-governed
governments.
by both
IUSSTF
thepromotes
governments.
and catalyzes
IUSSTF promotes and catalyzes
Indo-US collaborations Indo-US
in science,
collaborations
technology, engineering,
in science, technology,
biomedicalengineering,
research biomedical research
and innovation throughand
substantive
innovation
interaction
through substantive
among government,
interaction
academia
among government, academia
and industry.
and industry.
e Who we are
Foster excellence by capitalizing

Foster excellence
on the scientific
by capitalizing
and technological
on the scientific
synergy
and technological synergy
Disseminate information
Disseminate
and create information
awareness through
and create
scientific
awareness
exchanges
through scientific exchanges
Build linkages through Build
networking
linkages
between
through
academia
networking
andbetween
industry academia and industry
Explore new frontiers by
Explore
nurturing
newcontact
frontiers
between
by nurturing
youngcontact
and mid-career
betweenscientists
young and mid-career scientists
Pave way to sustainablePave
interactions
way to sustainable
and establish
interactions
long termand
relationships
establish long term relationships
Encourage public-private
Encourage
partnership
public-private
to inculcatepartnership
elements oftoinnovation
inculcate elements
and
of innovation and
entrepreneurship
entrepreneurship
o What we do
Exciting and innovative

Excitingcollaborative
and innovative
programs
collaborative
cutting
programs
across cutting across
disciplines and institutions
disciplines and institutions
Connect
Academia-Industry
Programs
Connect
Programs
Programs
on InnovationPrograms
and Entrepreneurship
on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
t Academia-Industry
We support
Advance
Schools & Training
Advance
Programs
Schools & Training
Public-Private
Programs
Networked
Public-Private
R&D Joint Centres
Networked R&D Joint Centres
Bilateral Workshops & Symposia

Bilateral Workshops &Research
Symposia
Fellowships for
Research
Faculty Fellowships for Faculty
Flagship Events
Flagship Events
Special Initiatives for Strategic
Special Partnerships
Initiatives for Strategic Partnerships
Knowledge R&D Networked
Knowledge
Joint Centers
R&D Networked
StudentJoint
Internships
Centers & Visiting
Student
Professorships
Internships & Visiting Professorships
Proposals which are

Proposals
peer reviewed
which are
both
peer
inreviewed
India andboth
USA for
in India
awards
and USA for awards
Bilateral Indo-US Workshop/Symposia
Bilateral Indo-US
& Indo-US
Workshop/Symposia
Training/Advanced
& Indo-US
Schools
Training/Advanced Schools
Submission Deadlines Submission Deadlines Award AnnouncementsAward Announcements
15 February
15 February
30 June
30 June
15 August
15 August
31 December
31 December
We invite
Indo-US Public-Private Networked

Indo-US Public-Private
Centres & Indo-US
Networked
Knowledge
CentresR&D
& Indo-US
Networked
Knowledge
CentresR&D Networked Centres
Submission Deadline Submission Deadline Award Announcement Award Announcement
15 August
15 August
31 December
31 December
How to
For program details visit: For program details visit:
and www.indousstf.org
http://www.indousstf.org
http://www.indousstf.org
contact us? www.iusstf.org
Indo-US Science
Forum:and Technology Forum:
Catalysing Indo-US Science
Catalysing
& Technology
Indo-USCooperation
Science & Technology
over a decade.
Cooperation over a decade.

Indo Usf

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Indo-US Science & Technology Forum

Volume 6 (2) | September 2014

Second Generation Biofuels

A World Much Greener

Indo-US Science & Technology Forum

Second Generation Biofuels

Editorial Advisory Group

Time for Innovation

Director, India Science and Technology

Excerpts from the Joint Statement

Fifth India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue

Convergence from Dialogue

Comments and Suggestions

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

Making India Proud

Design, Production and Circulation

Giving Wings to Talent

Communication & Outreach Division

Published and Printed by :

Catalysing change through Innovation

Nishritha Bopana on behalf of Indo-US S&T

news and events

Sr. Science Manager, IUSSTF

Indo-US Joint Center for the Analysis of Variable Star

Deputy Minister Counselor

United States - India Science & Technology Endowment Fund

Volume 6 (2) | September 2014

From the Editor-in-Chief

Connect September 2014

Connect September 2014

Indian Institute of Chemical

Second Generation Biofuels

The Energy Independence and Security Act of USA (EISA, 2007)

Connect September 2014

Feedstock development and supply (WP1):

Virginia Tech University

International Crops Research

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid

University of Missouri (UM), Columbia, MO;

Abellon Clean Energy Limited

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA;

Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad;

Connect September 2014

U.S.-India Consortium for Development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems

U.S. and Indian scientists of

and breeding tools, and identify locally

Biorefinery Technologies (WP2):

Develop co-products and applications from

Connect September 2014

Srinivasa Rao (Work Package 1), Dr. C. Ganesh

Investigators & Field Staff Training

Farmers visiting multi-location trial

The Project Coordinator, Dr. Ahmed

Connect September 2014

U.S.-India Consortium for Development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems

commercialization of lignocellulosic biofuel

Dr. Ray O. Johnson is the Senior Vice President

ACHIEVEMENTS THUS FAR

For more information,

Locally adapted high biomass abiotic stress

Though not too old in terms of the time since

Dr. Ray O. Johnson