Saturday, September 1, 2001
The Society Automotive Engineers’ 66-member nomination committee has selected Dr. Syed M. Shahed of California to take over as president early next year. However, Shahed will act as president-nominee till SAE’s general balloting concludes next month.
The vice president of advanced products and systems of Garrett Engine Boosting Systems said he wants to regulate software technology changeovers in the automobile industry.
Shahed, who graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad, received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He has been the president of American Society of Engineers from India and is chairman of the SAE’s Southern California chapter. He is also a fellow of the Institute for Advancement of Engineering and American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The SAE has more than 80,000 members.
University Teacher at Engineering Symposium
Tejal Desai is among 81 young engineers selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s seventh annual symposium to be held in Irvine, Calif., Sept. 13 through 15.
Desai is an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The 31-year-old academician and other participants have been nominated either by their counterparts or academic institutions, organizations and even government entities for their demonstrated leadership qualities and accomplishments in research. The symposium is entitled “Frontiers of Engineering.”
At 26 she became the first professor of the university’s newly-created department of bioengineering. Her research focuses on micromachining to produce minute implants that can carry required cells to ailing bodies while protecting them from attacks by the immune system. She uses microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which are millimeter-scale machines etched from silicon.
Desai has received recognition and awards for her research. “The beauty of using MEMS in tissue engineering and organ replacement is that you can tailor precise architectures on micron and nanometer levels. And you really can’t do that with any other technologies,” she said.
Kiran Desai to Head N.J. Democratic Party Committee
Kiran Desai was sworn in recently as the deputy vice chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. Desai was one of two Indian Americans endorsed by New Jersey’s Middlesex County Democratic Party in April to run for the state legislature in the November 2001 election from the 13th District.
An accountant by profession, Desai is popular in the Tri-State Indian community for his involvement in cultural and religious activities. His campaign for the upcoming election focuses on education and the environment.
Desai is president of the Zoning Board of Adjustments in Old Bridge and also a member of the Middlesex County Planning Board. At the recent state committee meeting, McGreevey noted that Desai was a “strong voice for New Jersey’s Asian Americans.”
International Delegation to Converge at GOPIO Conference
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin will hold its third conference on entrepreneurs of Indian origin around the world September 23-26 in New York.
The organization expects top entrepreneurs and businessmen of Indian origin from all over the world to attend the four-day symposium.
