PROMOTING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U.S.
Somesh Mohapatra is currently the General Secretary of National Service Scheme in the Social Service Wing of IIT Roorkee. Attached in a photo from teaching students in Khanjarpur, India.
“Usually students choose STEM as their discipline or career, while for me, it is life. All things revolve around it and I would like to make an impact with this. In my Sophomore year, this passion led me to be nominated as the Institute Co-ordinator for National Innovation Program (Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyaan) under the tutelage of Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India. Being a part of this meant going to schools in rural areas and inculcating their thirst for reason and the idea of Science and Technology as a driving force amongst children in middle school.
To help them comprehend the beauty of Science, we had to make the most intricate details of Science accessible in native language and without any jargon. This was a huge challenge in itself. Then, going for the schools in the biting cold of winter and making the middle schoolers sit and listen to us, or see the experiments that we demonstrated required paramount patience on either side. Nonetheless, the experience was great. Apart from that, we have organized Blood Donation Camps, Agricultural Awareness Drives, Rehabilitation Drives and much more.
Having handled a team of 30 students from IIT Roorkee and being an integral part of National Service Scheme (Social Service Organization at IIT Roorkee), I was elected as the General Secretary of the Team for 2016-17. This position shall mean more responsibilities towards the team and the society at large. Now, we are in talks with Billions in Change, a billion-dollar start-up based in US, for collaborative not-for-profit projects in Uttarakhand, India.”