- By JVG Krishna Murthy
- 0 Comments
- December 9, 2024
We thank all those participants who registered and those who attended, and the dozens of questions that were asked for a very rich dialog during the Webinar.
Some of the feedback received from the audience:
“Happy New Year. Happy to be here. Great presentations. Near to home.” – Bob
“Incubator is a fantastic innovation especially in survival of the neonates. Congratulations to Dr Rao and WHEELS for a deep thought on this issue to serve the underserved community.” – Anupam Sarkar
With 3.3m NGOs registered in the country, even if 10% are active, that multiplier effect by all NGOs replicating successful innovations in their territories is the best way to shorten the time. Hence, we are looking forward to all mission-aligned entities and professionals to come join our journey. Together we can get there faster.
Please find the links to relevant material from the Webinar:
1. Slide deck used for introducing WGF Programs.
2. Slide deck used for introducing the panelists and their work.
3. Questions & Answers from the session.
♦ Call to Action: Visit ‘Get Involved’ page to join us and learn about our solutions.
♦ Watch out for our next webinars which will bring similar group of innovators in Health, Livelihood, and Water.
♦ For questions, please write to info@wheelsglobal.org
Click to view the webinar recording
LIVE Webinar – 04 January 2025
Innovations from US Universities for Underserved Populations
Register Here
Webinar Panelists
Prof. Govind Rao ~ Professor and Director at Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Prof. Upal Ghosh ~ University of Maryland Baltimore County
Mr. Ratan Agaral ~ Moderator, President – WHEELS Global Foundation
Webinar Summary
Solving complex problems in highly resource-constrained environments – whether rural/remote villages in India, Africa or the USA – requires even greater application of the latest technologies and highly innovative frameworks. While many of the graduates of IITs and other similar premier institutions from India have achieved name and fame in the Corporate world, many have chosen the path of research and academic pursuits in top Universities. Top 100 Universities in the USA have several dozen of these bright minds, creating promising innovations with opportunities to create the next Microsofts or Googles and solve tough problems in under-served populations. Currently, there are no well-defined and structured pathways for the second category of innovation to get to the target beneficiaries. This webinar series addresses that gap by identifying and spotlighting these promising innovations through these webinars where WHEELS’ ecosystem of NGO & social impact partners can directly learn, interact and help translate their promise into deployments and impacts.
In this first of the series, our audience will have the opportunity to learn about two such high-impact innovations and best practices – one in the health domain and the other in the water domain.
Today, there are tens of thousands of premature babies needing delicate care through life-saving incubators. However, the cost of these devices makes them unaffordable and inaccessible to most of the medical facilities in rural/remote areas. The result is the use of grossly inadequate alternatives and several thousand avoidable deaths.
Cardboard incubator is amazing innovation by Prof Govind Rao (IIT-M alumni, currently teaching at University Of Maryland, Baltimore County) making incubators available at a fraction of cost.
In the second topic, Prof Upal Ghosh (IIT-B alumni, also teaching at University Of Maryland, Baltimore County) will share the research and learnings about water quality challenges in surface and ground water, especially given the newer dynamics of global warming and population growth.
We look forward to the participation of all mission-aligned alumni, professionals, partners, public-private entities, and of course donors for an engaging session and interactions.
Join US LIVE on ZOOM
Saturday ~ Jan 04, 2025
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 8:30 pm IST
You can join the webinar 15 min early (i.e. 09:45 AM EST OR 8:15 PM IST) to watch the slide show on WGF-related projects & videos.
WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF), “An Initiative of IIT Alumni, USA” with the mission of Technology-Enabled Philanthropy. WHEELS has also been selected by NITI Aayog, Govt. of India as a member of the Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer. WHEELS has also signed an MOU with the Ministry for Panchayati Raj for a technology partnership in Rural Development.
Panelists Overview
Prof Govind Rao is Professor of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. His Ph.D. degree was from Drexel University in Chemical Engineering. He has been a faculty member at UMBC since 1987.
Dr. Rao’s research has focused on applications of fluorescence spectroscopy to bioprocess engineering. His lab has developed next-generation sensors for low-cost non-invasive monitoring of oxygen, pH and pCO2 in bioreactors. In addition, novel sensors for glucose and glutamine have been developed. These sensors have led to a paradigm shift in bioprocess technology, as they collectively enable High Throughput Bioprocessing. In addition, the Rao lab has focused on developing novel applications of Green Fluorescent Protein in Bioprocessing. Its unique fluorescent properties and ease of use in a variety of culture systems have provided new insights into heterologous protein production. Recently, the Rao lab has started developing the next generation of sensors based on surface plasmon coupled fluorescence. These promise to lead to ultra-sensitive and ultra-fast sensors but at low-cost.
He has received several awards. These include the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, Outstanding Teaching and Research Awards from UMBC, the Van Lanen Award from the American Chemical Society, the Gaden Award from Biotechnology & Bioengineering, the University System of Maryland Regents Award for Excellence in Research and he has been named a 2003 Innovator of the Year by the Maryland Daily Record. Dr. Rao has several patents and these have been licensed to Fluorometrix, which he co-founded. Dr. Rao has served as the Chair of the Biotechnology Division of the American Chemical Society and on the Editorial Board of several prominent journals. In 2007, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (Prof. Govind Rao | LinkedIn)
Dr. Upal Ghosh is a professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering (IIT-B’89) and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering. His group performs research in environmental engineering and science with a focus on the fate, effects, and remediation of toxic pollutants in the environment. His fundamental research has contributed to the development and transition of nature-based remediation technologies that work by altering sediment geochemistry and enhancing biological degradation. Technologies developed in his group are being implemented in full-scale to provide sustainable solutions for large-scale coastal restoration cum remediation efforts. Dr. Ghosh has also led the development of advanced monitoring tools for pollutant bioavailability, especially work on passive sampling for measuring ultra-low concentrations of pollutants in water. (Dr. Upal Ghosh | LinkedIn)
Mr. Ratan Agarwal serves on the Wheels’ Board as President, bringing nearly three decades of rich experience in building and scaling multiple new start-ups and executive roles (in strategy, operations, marketing, and business development) at several Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Ratan is a co-founder and managing partner of CARBON Group Global, a global sustainability solutions-holding company, creating rapid replications (‘CARBON Copies”) of proven solutions with market-based models in Education & Learning, Women’s Empowerment, Resources (Food, Energy, Water), Health, and Economic Development.
In addition to the CARBON role, Ratan is dedicating his time in supporting innovation ecosystem in northeast corridor through his investment activities (via Keiretsu Forum and Mid-Atlantic Bo-Angels) and mentoring (at local incubator TechLaunch NJ). Ratan is a Board Advisor to several start-ups in Cloud/SaaS, software, and digital marketing.
While at Cisco, Ratan led the incubation and launch of Cisco’s IoT solutions and Cloud Infrastructure services, in addition to running a multi-billion global services business. Prior to Cisco, Ratan led the marketing & business development of two business units at Telcordia and led several consulting engagements at A.T. Kearney. Ratan received his MBA at Wharton School and Masters in Structural Engineering at IIT Bombay and lives in New Jersey (Ratan Agarwal | LinkedIn)
