Since its inauguration in 2017, the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program (CELP) has been devoted to engendering a transformation in the lives of first-in-family college students globally. By providing an array of educational resources, direct connections to Harvard faculty, mentorship opportunities, and affinity networks, CELP identifies and supports young people around the world in reimagining their academic and professional futures, fostering “success” through locally-grown, aspirational narratives, and in the process, building cohorts of next-generation leaders. This past month marked the conclusion of the fourth iteration—and second virtual iteration – of the program.
With a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in India and Pakistan, the Mittal Institute’s annual Seed for Change competition aims to award Harvard students with grant prizes for interdisciplinary student projects that positively impact societal, economic, and environmental issues. Learn more about the funded projects.
The Global Alliance for Medical Innovation, a group of students and faculty based at
Harvard University working to increase access to healthcare via engineering and advocacy, was awarded a Mittal Institute Seed for Change grant in summer 2020. Their proposal explored the development of low-cost, scalable technologies to allow point-of-care diagnosis of common eye disorders in under-resourced regions of the globe.
The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program, a fully-funded academic and professional development opportunity for low-income, first-generation college students, is cultivating a dynamic network of young leaders spanning over 135 countries. In its fourth iteration—and second virtual iteration—Crossroads brought together program alumni, Harvard faculty and industry mentors to welcome interested students to the Crossroads community.
The Biden Administration Must Democratize International Education. This article, by Mittal Institute Research Affiliate Dinyar Patel, originally appeared in Foreign Affairs.
By Keya Lamba and Shweta Bahri, Harvard College ‘20. Earth Warriors is an early childhood education curriculum that uses play-based learning and a solutions-oriented approach to teach young children (3-7 years old) about climate change and sustainability. Climate change, pollution, and unsustainable levels of waste have led to an environmental crisis that can no longer be denied, and it is crucial for people to start building sustainable habits and reducing waste production from a young age to combat it. Yet, less than five countries in the world have climate change as part of their mandatory education curriculum, and none have it as part of their early curriculum.
The Mittal Institute’s annual Seed for Change (SFC) competition aims to develop a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India and Pakistan, offering grant prizes to interdisciplinary student projects that have the potential to positively impact societal, economic, and environmental issues in India and Pakistan. We recently spoke with a few of our past winners of the SFC competition — the teams of Umbulizer, Gramhal, and Meet — to learn how their social enterprise initiatives in Pakistan and India have grown since the time they one.
Through the Mittal Institute’s 2020 Seed for Change Exploratory Grant program, recipients Sahana Bail and Kanishk Mittal set out to create a preventive COVID-19 health education program in India. Their three goals are to educate students of the program about the benefits and logistics of proper mask use and hand hygiene, early recognition of COVID-19 symptoms and what to do if a child has it, and bust the myths related to the intersection of food and COVID-19.
Last week, the Mittal Institute collaborated with Network Capital to hold an information session for the upcoming 2021 Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program (CELP), where Harvard faculty and industry members discussed the impact of the program. Numerous former Crossroads students, who now belong to the vast alumni group network of the CELP program, joined the virtual event to share their experiences from their cohorts and the impact that it had on their education and careers.
By Asmer Asrar Safi, Hamid Nawaz, Hajra Malik, and Ramsha Bilal. Lahore is a city rife with unexplored heritage sites and cultural landmarks locked between urban developments. Yet, the unavailability of tourism services means that Lahore has been unable to fully reap the benefits of being a popular tourist destination in Pakistan. It is to bridge this gap that our team set out to create a third-party, tourism facilitation service app, “Naqsha Nigar,” predicated on creating preset and customizable tour plans for the average smartphone user.