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TRADING PARTNER |
Karan K. Bhatia, US assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and international affairs, has been nominated to be deputy US trade representative. Bhatia has previously served as deputy under secretary of commerce for industry and security in the Bush administration.
Prior to that, he was Chief Counsel for the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Export Administration. In September 2005, President George W Bush announced his intention to nominate Bhatia as trade representative.
Before joining the Bush team, Bhatia was a partner in the Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where he was a member of the firm’s international and corporate groups and the administrative partner for its international aviation, defence and aerospace practice areas.
Strong on academics, Karan has a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics. |
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BRAVING KATRINA |
When Katrina came to town, it knocked Congressman Bobby Jindal out of his home. But that didn’t deter the man who represents the Louisiana district. He was out to care for the people who had voted for him.
As one Louisiana citizen says on the blogspot of Louisiana Libertarian, “I believe Congressman Jindal, who is my Congressman, has conducted himself as a statesman throughout this whole ordeal. He has not taken the opportunity to take partisan cheapshots, unlike other Louisiana politicians of both parties. He was one of the very few Louisiana Congressmen to actually secure money for flood control, where as the rest of the delegation did nothing but complain about it.” |
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CHARIBUSTER |
Technology Review magazine has Narasimha Chari among the Top 35 young innovators for setting the wireless mesh networking standard. He created elegant algorithms that tailored mesh networking, once an exclusive province of the military, for routine civilian communication. Acknowledging the, Chari says, “It is quite an honour to receive this award, but the innovation we’ve achieved (and continue to achieve) at Tropos is the work of many highly-talented individuals, of which I’m only one.”
In 1992, after receiving the third-highest score out of 80,000 on the Indian Institutes of Technology entrance exam, Chari left India for Caltech. A graduate in mathematics and economics from Caltech, Chari did his Masters in physics from Harvard. In 2000, he co-founded Tropos Networks with Devabhaktuni Srikrishna (an old Caltech classmate). |
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SPEED THRILLS |
IITian Rajit Manohar is one of the latest stars in the IT firmament, says Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review magazine. Rajit has been noticed for his enhancement of chips. An onboard clock harmonises the different functions of a computer chip. He speeds up chips and lowers power consumption by removing the clock. His signature chips are 10 times more energy efficient than earlier clockless chips. Along with some of his former students, Rajit has started a company (Achronix Semiconductor) to commercialise some of the results of their completed projects.
Born in Mumbai, he was at IIT Bombay for two years and was transferred to Caltech where he completed his BS, MS and PhD degrees in computer science. He joined Cornell in 1998, where he was one of the founders of its computer systems lab. |
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GOEL’S GOALS |
Trained as both a physicist and a physician, Anita Goel, was named among the world’s top 35 young high-tech innovators by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Technology Review magazine. Along with a PhD in physics from Harvard and an MD from the Harvard-MIT Division of health sciences and technology, Anita is also a Fellow of the World Technology Network.
The young lady studies the tiny proteins that edge their way along DNA. “Many obstacles can come on the road from the first inner conception of an idea to its actual material realisation. But a resolute purpose, faith and a steady effort can enable even seemingly ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats,” she says. |
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REDEEMED LIDDAR GIVEN CANADIAN POSTING WITH UN |
Bhupinder Liddar, whose earlier appointment to Canada’s consulate in Chandigarh was shelved due to unfounded security suspicions, has now been made Canada’s representative to UN agencies in Nairobi, Kenya.
The feisty Liddar, who fought his government for cancelling his earlier plum posting and who was given a formal public apology by the country’s foreign minister for the mistake last month, has now been appointed after a two-year hiatus to head the Canadian offices at the UN Environment Programme and the UN Human Settlement programme known as Habitat.
“It’s a great honour, going to an international organisation, and especially the United Nations, to be part of the international scene and to work in a field like the environment,” Liddar said. |
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