With a small vision to transform my passion for science into a real impact on the community, I applied for a volunteer position at the Adventure Science Center in Downtown Nashville. After a phone call, interview, and email afterward, I walked into an experience that would influence my school career and provide several opportunities to make a difference. For the first few months, I was running around as an assistant to educators, gathering equipment for live science demonstrations to collecting tickets for the planetarium shows. Yet when I received an opportunity to work with the elementary school campers at the weeklong ScienceQuest camps, I took the chance and never looked back. Exploring STEM topics by engaging the children in activities and games, I was able to kindle their interest in science and shape their dreams. My interactions with these children ages 5-10 were mostly funny, full of jokes and messy snack times. Yet, somewhere along the afternoons, I learned that Jack wanted to be a farmer, Andy wanted to study rocks and dinosaurs, Stella loved origami, and Elijah couldn’t wait to meet an alien one day. Through the Center, I also was presented with field trips with the campers to volunteer with local organizations in river cleanups, tree and bee pollinator garden plantings, and community outreach. The most surprising aspect of my volunteer experience was how my mindset going into the project contrasted with the mindset when I was finished. I presumed that I would be teaching the kids and that flow of knowledge would be one-directional. I was proved wrong very badly. If I could take away one thing I learned from my experience, it would be to embrace the inner child in myself. Noting how the children chased a wild dream and aspired for a happy future, I learned how to cast away doubts and face the hurdles in everyday life. I learned to embrace my wild dream because only then I could support someone else’s dream. I learned to be humble, confident and strict, yet kind. The most difficult part of the project was for me to accept that I did not have to revolutionize the community or the world for my volunteer work to be considerable. I soon learned that my small efforts could make a significant difference in a child’s life. I learned that a cause of few hours per week had an amplified effect on the families and the community. Becoming friends with even 10 kids out of the hundred in camp for a week, I was able to impact lives by teaching new topics in STEM and participating in learning activities alongside them, bestowing an understanding that they were supported in their journey of learning. And even if was able to help one child, it would make a significant difference in one life. I would strongly encourage students to volunteer for a purpose, even if for an hour. Although volunteering is strongly associated with ‘giving,’ I have learned through many instances that it is also about ‘receiving.’ Receiving a sense of contentment, joy, and personal growth and motivation through learning and interaction with the various people one would never have met if not volunteering.

With a small vision to transform my passion for science into a real impact on the community, I applied for a volunteer position at the Adventure Science Center in Downtown Nashville. After a phone call, interview, and email, I walked into an experience that would influence my school career and provide several opportunities to make a difference. For the first few months, I was running around as an assistant to educators, gathering equipment for live science demonstrations to collecting tickets for the planetarium shows. Yet when I received an opportunity to work with the elementary school campers at the weeklong ScienceQuest camps, I took the chance and never looked back. Exploring STEM topics by engaging the children in activities and games, I was able to kindle their interest in science and shape their dreams. My interactions with these children ages 5-10 were mostly funny, full of jokes and messy snack times. Yet, somewhere along the afternoons, I learned that Jack wanted to be a farmer, Andy wanted to study rocks and dinosaurs, Stella loved origami, and Elijah couldn’t wait to meet an alien one day. Through the Center, I also was presented with field trips with the campers to volunteer with local organizations in river cleanups, tree and bee pollinator garden plantings, and community outreach. The most surprising aspect of my volunteer experience was how my mindset going into the project contrasted with the mindset when I was finished. I presumed that I would be teaching the kids and that flow of knowledge would be one-directional. I was proved wrong very badly. If I could take away one thing I learned from my experience, it would be to embrace the inner child in myself. Noting how the children chased a wild dream and aspired for a happy future, I learned how to cast away doubts and face hurdles in everyday life. I learned to embrace my wild dream because only then I could support someone else’s dream. I learned to be humble, confident and strict, yet kind. The most difficult part of the project was for me to accept that I did not have to revolutionize the community or the world for my volunteer work to be considerable. I soon learned that my small efforts could make a significant difference in a child’s life. I learned that a cause of few hours per week had an amplified effect on the families and the community. Becoming friends with even 10 kids out of the hundred in camp for a week, I was able to impact lives by teaching new topics in STEM and participating in learning activities alongside them, bestowing an understanding that they were supported in their journey of learning. And even if was able to help one child, it would make a significant difference in one life. I would strongly encourage students to volunteer at a purpose, even if for an hour. Although volunteering is strongly associated with ‘giving,’ I have learned through many instances that it is also about ‘receiving.’ Receiving a sense of contentment, joy, and personal growth and motivation through learning and interaction with the various people one would never have met if not volunteering.

It was the first-grade show-and-tell day. Kids my age brought their toy cars, dolls, pencils, a rock, and many drawings. And I, what did I bring? A torn-up and crayon scribbled in book on aliens. I opened it exactly to a drawing of a weird looking alien with huge black eyes and said, “I want to meet him one day!” I think half my peers were traumatized and the other half laughed at my weird choice of show-and-tell. Jamshedpur, India, 2006 – growing up in an a small hut like house where the tin roof leaked when it rained, a time when my father worked till 2 am at nights to pay my school bills, and my mother cooked in a humid corner of the house – I was the happiest child who loved going to school. Instead of a TV for entertainment, my obsession was with the stars in the night sky. Although I knew no English nor the word ‘astronaut’ at the time, I knew with my heart that I wanted to go to space – whatever it takes. As any normal child growing up, I had too had my trantums over wanting a doll, a pink pencil, or ice-cream from a road side stalls. I remember my father taking out his torn and worn out black wallet from his back pocket of his jeans, drawing out a 50 rupees note, and buying me the little toys. Little did I know the importance of that 50 rupees note then. The immense value it held to my family at that time. The more useful ways that that note could have been used - to pay a part of my school fees, to pay a part of the house rent, or to buy 2 packets of milk for next week. My father’s consultancy job, with no guarantee of payments on time, would leave my parents wondering if they could meet the ends this month. Yet, in this dire situation, my father’s attachment was not to the material bill, but rather to the happiness and joy it brought to a 4- year-old me. Watching my father work late nights to face his challenges head on, I realized that success was no wish come true nor did it have shortcut. He became my main driving force – encouraging me to finish that astronomy project at 2 am or study for a U.S. history test. Reminding me to be passionate about my dreams. Reminding me to fulfill a promise I made to myself as a child – a promise to touch the stars, to become an astronaut, to gaze deep into space from the ISS. His sacrifices brought me 1000 miles closer to my dreams, but now it is in my hands to continue this journey. And my journey is on the rocket of curiosity about to take off into the mystery of space.

Teleportation. Epilepsy. Quantum Physics. Seizures. At first, there seems no relation between these words. It seems a wild brainchild of a student sitting in the back of the car at 3:40 pm on a ridiculously long road trip. And it is. It is the ongoing story of my senior thesis on epilepsy and physics. At the end of junior year, I was greeted by the looming prospect of a senior thesis. I had the summer to come up with a project dedicated to solving a problem in the world - big or small. I scavenged my mind for anything, spent weeks reading Quanta magazines so I could become inspired by emerging solutions - yet, I had no idea whatsoever. I became increasingly frustrated and stressed every day. During the Labor Day weekend, on family road trip to a West Virginia farm, I remembered my engineering project from 10th grade. We had partnered with the Biomedical classes to focus on a disability that patients with various medical diseases faced through their life. Our group of 2 biomedical and 3 engineering students designed semi-magnetic gloves for children with Cerebral Palsy to enjoy the joy of coloring that accompanies childhood memories. Revisiting this project sparked a new perspective in me: that my interests can be applied to other fields of studies. I immediately sought for my love for Theoretical Physics and 'impossible physics.' Making a teleportation device or a time traveling machine was out of question (for now). While researching teleportation, I learned that research has already found that the brain would not age or crash through time travel. The study connected how the oscillations in the hippocampus revealed that human brains are capable of registering the rush of teleportation. I recognized that information can be used for epileptic patients who experience seizures. Over 3.4 million people are affected by Epilepsy, often undiagnosed of aggressive seizures. These seizures can result in unconsciousness or even death in severe cases. Fueled by the recent death of an epileptic college student in my community, I was determined to indent this problem and started researching and design my thesis. This problem held meaning to me after seeing the demoralization of children who had epilepsy and how they were treated in school and personally witnessing an epileptic friend’s harsh journey after suffering seizure attacks. By modeling how the brain reacts to teleportation using graphs and experimentation data from previous studies and some programming from my side, I modeled the oscillations of the neuron firings inside a brain in order to predict the exact timing of seizures in patients with Epilepsy. If these patients were moved to another location to calm themselves, thus dampening the brain wave oscillations, the seizure could be delayed or even terminated. Since I had no resources to readily 'teleport' these patients, I planned on using Virtual Reality as imitation. Through my engineering thesis class, I am working on creating a product to more efficiently address epileptic seizures than mechanized devices like the Vagal Nerve Stimulator. This is my ongoing thesis: not a create a perfect solution, but to hopefully create a product that can impact even one patient’s life. The most difficult part of the project has been for me to accept that I did not have to revolutionize the community or the world for my thesis to be considerable. I have learned that my small efforts could make a significant difference in a child’s or patient’s life. I have learned that a cause of few hours per week has an amplified effect on the families and the community.

A fruit juice stall, the fox, and an astronaut The rain beating against the tin roof on the humid night. Mom in the hot kitchen making dinner. You would find me waiting, with my little doll in my hand, at the door of our small rented house; waiting for dad to get back from work. Because, it was a Friday. And that meant that dad would put me on his Honda motorcycle and take me to the local bazar in Jamshedpur. I was like the greedy fox from the Panchatantra: where instead of chasing sheeps, I chased the arrival of Fridays. I awaited the moment my father came home from work, so he could take me to the juice vendor. The juice stall was my favorite place – a small wooden cart laden with rainbows of different fruits. One could smell the intoxicating concoction of all from a distance, as if they were one giant cocktail. And then the mesmerizing sugarcane machine – which glistened as the freshly flattened stalks of sugarcane formed a flow of clear sugarcane juice. My eyes feasted on the sight before me – moving wildly to comprehend the mountain of fruit that lay on the stall. Weirdly shaped bright yellow fruits, round green fruits with pink insides, fruits bigger than my hand - they left me wondering where they all came from? Did they grow on trees or magically appear on the cart? In this chaotic cornucopia, what caught my attention was a glimpse of the brightest red I had ever seen. An alien looking fruit - looking as if it had traveled from outer space. Never before had I seen such a fruit. At that moment, 4-year-old me knew I wanted that specific one. I waved my little arms, pointing to the strange fruit, ‘’Papa, I want this one!’’ My father took out his black wallet from his back pocket of his jeans, drew out a 50 rupees note, and handed it to the man. And a quick 5 minutes later, I was the happiest girl in the world, clutching my dad from one hand, and downing a red juice from the other. Little did I know the importance of that 50 rupees note then. The immense value it held to my family at that time. The more useful ways that note could have been used - to pay a part of my school fees, to pay a part of the house rent, or to buy 2 packets of milk for next week. My father’s consultancy job, with no guarantee of payments on time, would leave my parents wondering if they could meet the ends this month. Yet, in this dire situation, my father’s attachment was not to the material bill, but rather to the happiness and joy it brought to a 4-year-old me. My father's drive to complete his dreams finally brought him to the U.S. in 2013. His success also brought me closer to America. Closer to my dreams of becoming an astronaut. I would never forget my birthplace country India; my family, my childhood, my memories, and my initial struggles will always keep India in my heart. But America was the dream country that I always imagined to study in - the country that would propel me to space. Watching my father work late nights to face his challenges head on, I realized that success was no wish come true nor did it have shortcut. He became my main driving force – encouraging me to finish that astronomy project at 2 am or study for a U.S. history test. Reminding me to be passionate about my dreams. Reminding me to fulfill a promise I made to myself as a child – a promise to touch the stars, to become an astronaut, to gaze deep into space from the ISS. Reminding me to stand strong with my dream through middle and high school when people questioned its legitimacy. His sacrifices brought me 1000 miles closer to my dreams, but now it is in my hands to continue this journey. A journey on the rocket of curiosity to take off into the mystery of space. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it cannot kill a human because it possesses the power of its execution. Besides, a cat has nine lives – but I only have one. And I intend to live it fully curious.