Summer break is on our doorstep, and as classes pause for a respite, we invite you to peruse our list of reading recommendations from our community members. There is something for everyone on this list, and we hope that it inspires your own reading pursuits!
As the summer approaches, the Mittal Institute extends a warm invitation to Harvard’s community to visit the New Delhi Office. Whether using the office space to conduct research, participating in scholarly discussions, or immersing oneself in the vibrant academic milieu of the region, the office offers a unique opportunity to engage with South Asia’s rich cultural heritage and scholarly legacy. The office has planned several events that will connect Harvard with India’s intellectual scene. Come and be a part of it!
With a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, the Mittal Institute’s Seed for Change competition funds ideas that have the potential for widespread impact in India. View our list of finalists, including this year’s $30,000 grand prize winner who is deploying a network of solar irrigation kits that are shareable via digital platform; and the $5,000 runner-up, a comprehensive intervention program that provides career training and life skills to students in grades 9 and 10.
On May 2-3, the Mittal Institute kicked off its spring flagship events with standing room only for an Honorary Lecture by Prof. Diana Eck with faculty from across the university, alumni, students and many distinguished guests and experts on South Asia. The momentum continued with a Science and Technology symposium focused on AI, empathy in medicine, genetics, and climate change in South Asia, culminating with this year’s annual Harish C. Mahindra Lecture by WHO expert Soumya Swaminathan.
Reading is paramount, explains Musharraf Ali Farooqi, a former Mittal Institute Fellow, saying, “Becoming a reader is the first step on the path to becoming a self-learner.” A novelist, scholar, and translator, Musharraf is also the founder of the STORYKIT Program, a unique program that inspires a love of reading among Pakistan’s children. STORYKIT boxes teach children the Urdu language, its classical literature, and its folklore through engaging, age-appropriate stories.
In 2023, Storykit launched the Pakistan Spelling Bee, holding competitions for both English and Urdu languages nationwide. Farooqi is leading a Malala Fund supported program to help adolescent female students in Pakistan public schools write about their educational journey. Storykit is also carrying out an internet safety, media literacy and climate resilience campaign for Google Foundation.
Prof. Francesca Dominici, the Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Faculty Director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative, will join the “Understanding Climate Change in South Asia” panel at LMSAI’s Annual Cambridge Symposium: Science and Technology. As a data scientist, Prof. Dominici develops statistical methods and machine learning approaches to look for patterns that address complex public health issues, such as air pollution, noise, and climate change. We spoke to her about her research in the Q&A below.
Vijay Chandru, one of the speakers in the “Genetics and Medicine” panel at LMSAI’s Annual Cambridge Symposium: Science and Technology, is a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health. He is an academic entrepreneur, having founded a number of digital health companies including Strand Life Sciences, a life science informatics and precision medicine solutions company based in Bangalore, India, after spending 23 years in academia. He was recognized as a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum and was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC. He shared more about his life’s work in the Q&A below.
Dr. Bharat Vatwani, one of the speakers at LMSAI’s Annual Cambridge Symposium: Science and Technology – the Future of South Asia, is a psychiatrist based in Mumbai who has dedicated much of his professional career to aiding the mentally ill. Together with his wife, Dr. Smitha, he founded Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation in 1988, an NGO dedicated to treating mentally ill and unhoused individuals in India. He shared more about his life’s work in the Q&A below, and previewed what attendees can expect at his fireside chat.
Each semester, the Mittal Institute offers grants to Harvard students to further their research, language study, or internship opportunities. This coming summer 2024, 13 students were awarded grants to carry out projects across five countries, ranging from studies on women in Urdu print culture, to the career mobility of rural-urban migrants in India, to the environmental impacts on mothers with disabled infants, to language studies on Persian, Mewati, and more.