3 STUDENTS AMONG MARSHALL SCHOLARS: Bhooma Aravamuthan of Kalamazoo, MI, a senior at Michigan State University; Tarun Chhabra, 24, a graduate of Stanford University, and Ankur Bahl, a double graduate from Northwestern University, IL, and a journalism student, were chosen among the 43 Marshall Scholars for 2005 in December.

SIEMENS WESTINGHOUSE COMPETITION 2004-05: Bhaskar Mookerji of North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, NC; Samir Zaidi of Hackley School, Tarrytown, NY; and Alex Thachara of Wheatley School, Old Westbury, NY, were chosen among the winners of the 2004-05 Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6.

THREE SOUTH ASIANS AMONG 32 RHODES SCHOLARS: Two Indian Americans — Ian Desai and Swati Mylavarapu — and a Bangladeshi American — Kazi Sabeel Rahman –– were among the 32 Rhodes Scholars for 2005 named by the Rhodes Trust on Nov. 20. The 32 Americans are among some 95 scholars, including some from India, chosen for the prestigious scholarship.

INTEL STS CONTEST–– Ryna Karnik, 17, from Oregon Episcopal School in Portland won the third prize of $50,000 among top 10 of the 40 finalists of the Intel Science Talent Search competition on March 16. The six other Indian-American students in top 10 were: Neha Chauhan of Staten Island, NY; Divya Nettimi of Oakton, VA; Sean Dilip Raj of Sugarland, TX; Rohini Rau-Murthy of Yorktown Heights, NY; Arjun Anand Suri of Fresno, CA; and Gaurav Subhash Thakur of Rockville, MD.

MOOTHA AMONG MACARTHUR FELLOWS: Vamsi Mootha was among 23 people who won “do-what-you-want-with-it” fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation. He will get it in annual installments of $100,000 each.

NORTH SOUTH FOUNDATION NATIONAL SPELLING BEE, SEPT. 4-5: Kavya Shivashankar, an 8-year-old from Olathe, KS, and Aamani Paturi, a 10-year-old from Barrington, IL, won the 12th Annual North South Foundation Junior and Senior National Spelling Bee Championships, respectively, at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, on Sept. 4-5. Anand Oza from North Potomac, MD, won the Junior Vocabulary contest while Keshav Pillai of Virginia took the senior crown. In the inaugural finals of the foundation’s newest contest –– Math Bee –– two contestants from California, Divya Sidharth from Encino and Ganesh Ajjanagadde from Union City, won the first places in Level 1 and Level 2 contests, respectively, while two contestants from Glastonbury, CT, Aditya Rajagopalan and Kiran Pendri, won in Level 3 and Level 4 contests, respectively.

MISS INDIA-CANADA 2004: Parul Sharma was chosen Miss India-Canada 2004 from among the 16 finalists at a ceremony organized by Canada-India Beauty Quest in Toronto.

Miss India UK 2004: Amrita Hunjan, 19, right, a student at the University of Birmingham from Leeds was crowned Miss India UK 2004 at the event in Coalville, Leicestershire, on March 6. Neha Raizada, 18, from London was awarded Miss India UK 1st runner-up, and Belinder Kaur Rana, 23, a student in Manchester, from Leicester, won the second runner-up award.

77th Annual Scripps Spelling Bee: Akshay Buddiga of Colarado, left, declared second place winner at the 77th Annual Scripps Spelling Bee, with David Tidmarsh, who won the contest in the 15th round, in Washington, D.C. on June 3.

Ravi Singh

N.Y. Regional Brain Bee, Feb. 27 –– Ravi Singh, senior at Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, Queens, won the ‘2004 New York Regional Brain Bee’ competition at Rockefeller University in Manhattan, NY.



Peer Mediators, March 3 –– Gurpreet Kaur and Davan Sooklal were among 17 sworn in Peer Mediators at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan, NY.



Paul, Daisy Soros Fellows, March –– Ten students of Indian origin and one of Bangladeshi origin were among 30 students chosen for the prestigious ‘2004 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.’



Union Square Awards 2004, Nov. 19: Sixteen Asian-American activists were among 43 New Yorkers representing 19 grassroots community organizations who were awarded Union Square Awards 2004 in New York. Seen in the photo, from left, Subhash Kateel, Aarti Shahani, Nina Shahani and Maria Muentes of Families for Freedom (FFF).

Dr. Pallavi Patel

‘Executive Woman of the Year,’ March 9 –– The Network of Executive Women, Tampa, named Dr. Pallavi Patel as ‘Executive Woman of the Year 2004’ at the Center Club in Tampa, Florida.

Bhakti Nagala

Brain Bee contest, March 20 –– Bhakti Nagala of Farmington High School in Connecticut declared International Brain Bee 2004 champion at the University of Maryland in Baltimore on March 20.



Sehgal appointed in DPG, April 20 –– Chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia Bobby Kahn appointed Kabir Sehgal as Chairman’s Adviser on Youth Vote, Organization and Mobilization for the 2004 Presidential election.

Chellu Chetty

Chetty honored, May 6 –– Chellu Chetty was among nine individuals and eight institutions honored with the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) by President George Bush on May 6.

V. Grover and Sean Mehra

America’s Young Inventors, May –– Vaishali Kiran Grover of the Miami Coral Park Senior High School, Miami, and Sean Kshitij Mehra of the Jericho High School in Jericho, NY., were among the five students selected for the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors.



USA Today’s First Team, May –– Shantanu Gaur, Divya Nettimi and Arjun Suri were among 20 high school seniors named to USA Today’s All-U.S.A. High School Academic First Team for 2004.

Ambegaokar

Ambegaokar is NFA Fellow, June 2 –– Kathak dancer Anjani Ambegaokar from Diamond Bar, California, was among 10 recipients of the National Endowment Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellowships.

Indra Nooyi

PepsiCo’s Nooyi honored, June 15 –– Indra K. Nooyi, president of PepsiCo, honored with the Calvary Medal for “her distinguished corporate and civic leadership” and PepsiCo’s support of Calvary Hospital in Manhattan.



Lucent Scholars award, July –– Eight students of Indian origin named winners of the 2004 Lucent Global Science Scholars award for excellence in science and math.



Methipara promoted, October: Tomi Methipara, the first Indian American to join the Chicago Police, was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant. Methipara, who grew up in Kerala, India, joined the 14,000-strong Chicago Police in 1990.

Yogi Bhajan

Yogi Bhajan, 75, Oct. 6 –– Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, known as Yogi Bhajan, died in Espanola, NM. He was recognized by the Akal Takht at the Golden Temple, Amritsar, as head of Sikhism in the Western Hemisphere.

B. Kothari

Award for Kothari, Nov. –– The Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania presented the ‘Award for Excellence’ to Beeneet Kothari, a graduate with triple honor degree.



MIT Awards, Nov. 17 –– Fifteen young innovators of Indian origin given the MIT’s ‘Global Indus Technovators Awards 2004.’

(Compiled from the pages of News India-Times by Nishan)