Chennai :
For Sethuraman Panchanathan, who was appointed member of US’ prestigious National Science Board of the National Science Foundation by President Barack Obama on Friday, the foundation for his spectacular career was laid while pursuing higher education in India. The scientist with roots in the Chennai, did his schooling and spent and much of his college days in the city.
After passing out of the Madras Christian College School here, he went to Vivekananda College, then the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and finally IIT Madras before he left for Ottawa, Canada for his doctorate. “When I went to Canada I could easily cope with my research since my professors at the IIT and IISc had motivated and engaged me in research,“ he informed Express in a telephonic conversation from the US.
He fondly recalls many of the professors who guided him to reach that stage. “My professor at the Vivekananda College, Professor Shankar was a tremendous inspiration for me. He was an amazing teacher, the commitment that he brought into teaching and the kind of care that he gave to his students inspired me much,” says Panchanathan.
This is the first time that someone of Indian origin has been appointed to the prestigious body, which guides the science and technology policies in the US. Speaking about research in India, Panchanathan, called Panch by peers, says there is a need to find ways to make a career in research exciting.
“There is some good work being done in the IITs and IISc. But as a whole the training and emphasis is not as much on research as for jobs in information technology or other areas. Research needs to be scaled up and intensified if India needs to compete globally. As of now the research in the country is not level with its position globally,” he says.
He points to the number of options students in the US have when they take up research, including starting their own entrepreneurial ventures, being hired into research wings of companies or as faculty in research positions.
“How to promote interest in research in undergraduate students, increase interest in science among students, how to promote curiosity driven creative research, how to make use of basic research to create innovations that can help society – these are certain questions that needs to be answered,” he says.
Giving a sense of how intense research projects ought to be pursued, Panchanathan’s dad Sethuraman recalls how he had to call off a marriage proposal for his son to enable him to continue his research project in Canada.
“When he was in Canada working on his research, we had this proposal and called him to India. But his professor there, one Mr Goldberg, wrote a long letter to me. He said, ‘no wedding when the research is going on, I will not leave him from here unless he completes his project.’ With that we dropped the plan straight away,” he says with a laugh.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Amritha K R / June 16th, 2014