Letter to Student Series : Volume 2 Issue 12

My Dear Student Friends,

Greetings!

This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Founder, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement. Welcome to “Letter to Student Series- Volume 2 and Issue 12”. Hope you enjoyed reading my previous letter (they are available at http://i2itm.blogspot.in/). The goal of these letters is to inspire students across the country and make them Future Ready / Industry Ready.

I would like to dedicate this letter to all young innovators. I wish you would join this club. Do you?

12-year-old Peyton Robertson, developed ingenious sandbag for flooding problem. This sandbag is made of expandable polymer which is lightweight, easy to transport when it is dry. When it is wet, it becomes a dense solution to hold bag firmly. When you add salt to it, the bag becomes heavier than approaching seawater. He also developed an interlocking fastener system which holds the bags in place as the polymer expands which eliminates gaps between sandbags. When bag becomes dry, it resumes its normal position. He got first prize in 3M Young Scientist Challenge. He is holding three pending patents (to maintain a golf ball’s resting temperature, which helps in bouncing even in the cold weather, retractable training wheels-learn to ride bikes etc ). He developed sandbag because as a resident he was facing difficulties during hurricanes in South Florida. If you want to read more, please do visit http://ideas.ted.com/this-scientist-has-three-patents-pending-he-also-happens-to-be-12/ Best wishes Robertson for your future projects. Thank you TED for sharing such a inspiring story of Robertson.

Alzheimer is sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.A. Infact, it cannot be prevented and only 45% of affected patients diagnosed. However, 15 year old boy named Pravin Ravishanker attempted to improve this percentage. Ravi Shanker developed a software tool called ALZCan to diagnose Alzheimer, before its onset. This software is combination of neuroscience, statistics, and computer programming. Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, he is predicting biological indicators of the disease. He is able to detect one year before with 68% accuracy and 2 years before 55% accuracy. Kudos to Ravi Shanker for his amazing effort. To read more, please visit, http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/g2257/the-next-generation-young-innovators-who-are-already-making-a-difference/

In similar attempt, 17-year-old from New York, Kenneth Shinozuka developed socks for Alzheimer's patients which alert family members when a relative strays from bed. This helps from dangerous fall or injury. The SafeWander button which allows family members to see when a relative leaves his or her bed. We can monitor their activity through mobile app. For this, he won $50,000 and the Scientific American Science in Action Award. Shinozuka founded  SensaRx, a start-up focusing on integrated healthcare technology.

Similarly, Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai , when she was 11 years old, created a water filtration system using corn cobs. The corn-cob filter removes 80% of contaminants including detergents, oils, and other particulates. Srisai's invention won the Scientific American's Community Impact Award at last year's Google Science Fair. To know more, please do visit, http://www.businessinsider.com/the-greatest-inventors-under-18-2016-5?IR=T/#kenneth-shinozuka--created-socks-for-alzheimers-patients-that-alert-family-members-when-a-relative-strays-from-bed-4  

Sahil Doshi, 14-year-old innovator from Pittsburgh, developed PolluCell, a battery that uses carbon dioxide and other waste materials. It is providing low-cost alternative to electricity. To know more, https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/9-young-inventors-who-may-just-save-the-world

My Dear Friends, Appreciate your valuable time. See you in my next letter. Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to write to you and help me to learn, unlearn and relearn. I personally thank all websites, authors who are publishing / writing such an inspiring stories for common good and contributing for better world. Positive Storytelling and Letter Writing are powerful tools to establish vision in our life. Please do write to someone you trust / your mentor regularly. You can also reach to me at sdindia2020@gmail.com I am happy to respond to your letter.

With Best Wishes,

Dr. Ravi Saripalle

Request you to answer the following five questions and calculate your Future Readiness.

1.         I read / hear stories of amazing people           

 (A) weekly once (10 marks)           (B) monthly once (5 marks)           (C) Irregular reading (2 marks)                                      (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

2.         I write letter / mail to my mentor (other than parents) for guidance (professional / personal)

(A) every 6 months (10 marks)      (B) yearly once (5 marks)               (C) Irregular writing (2 marks)                                        (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

3.         I practice my passion or natural intelligence (to know your intelligence https://goo.gl/vgyD54) 

(A) weekly 4 hours (10 marks)       (B) weekly 2 hours (5 marks)        (C) Irregular practice (2 marks)                                      (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

4.         I manage my academics with consistent percentage or grade 

(A) A Grade and above  (10 marks)            (B) B Grade and above  (5 marks)              (C) C Grade or below (2 marks)                                                      (D)Consistent Failure (0 marks)

5.         I do physical activity and maintain good health  

(A) weekly 4 hours (10 marks)       (B) weekly 2 hours (5 marks)        (C) Irregular practice (2 marks)                                      (D)Not Interested (0 marks)

Check Your Score and Title

I wish you should be either Performer (your score should be between 40-50) or Challenger (your score should be between 25-40). You should not give any scope to be  Lounger (relaxed) with 10-25 score or Laggard (slower than desired) with score less than 10.

About Author:    Dr. Ravi Saripalle is Founder of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement and Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of Engineering (A), Vizag, AP, India. As part of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling Movement, Dr.Ravi is trying to instill inspiration through spreading positive stories of amazing people in the form of short stories, embedding them in the form of letters (epistolary form) and sending them to thousands of schools, colleges, universities districts administration across India. Also conducting Storytelling Workshops in select institutions. Providing customized mentoring to inspired students. Dr. Ravi is having 18 years of experience in Industry, Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current mission, Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade.  Ravi can be reached at sdindia2020@gmail,com or http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ or https://www.facebook.com/i2istorytellingmovement/ 

Previous letters are available at http://i2itm.blogspot.in/

Disclaimer: The goal of this i2iSM letter series campaign is to inspire students / youth through storytelling and develop innovative leaders to build strong nation. In this process, I have taken several data points from various websites, NEWS articles, books, videos etc. I sincerely thank all the editors for providing such an insightful stories and information. To the best of my knowledge, I tried to acknowledge all the sources. I sincerely apologize for any omissions, grammatical mistakes and hurting any reader’s sentiments. I request all the readers to understand the spirit behind this effort. This effort doesn’t involve any commercials. Letter series is for free distribution.