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Two Indian students on USA Today's top-20 USA Team

J M Shenoy

An engineering student, whose career goal is to be a physician and scientist, was chosen this week by USA Today to be on its 2000 All-USA College Academic First Team. Neelaksh Varshney's achievements include organizing a database on Bosnian war crimes for Physicians for Human Rights.

A few months ago Varshney, engineering major at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, was selected as a Rhodes scholar. The Rhodes Scholarships, established in 1903, bring outstanding students from across the world to pursue their studies at the University of Oxford for two years of study, with the possibility of renewal for a third.

Varshney is the first UAB student to be a Rhodes Scholar. There are 32 Rhodes scholarships. He will be studying psychology, philosophy and physiology at Oxford.

USA Today selects 20 students from across America for their academic achievements and commitment to society. This year, Jacob Chacko, another Indian American, is on the list. The First Team was chosen from 828 high-achievers nominated by their schools. Each will receive a trophy and $2,500. Forty more students are selected for the Second and Third Teams.

Cited among Varshney's achievements by the USA Today selection committee was his article about using tele-medicine in rural areas which was published by a Princeton University bio-ethics journal. He has also created a neural network model of how the brain processes motion.

"I am fascinated with the possibilities of using the best of engineering and medical knowledge and help people across the world," Varshney said.

"You can use wonderful engineering skills to ask really important questions in medicine and neuro-sciences," he told USA Today.

He is trying to see if he can train a neural network simulator to predict motion well enough to catch fly balls, USA Today said.

"He has a very rare gift for listening carefully and building a strong sense of community, thus making everybody a part of the group and intensifying their commitment," the newspaper quoted his professor as saying.

Like Varshney, Jacob Chacko too is passionate about commitment to the underprivileged. For many months, Chacko, a senior at the University of Southern California and majoring in biology and gerontology, has led a mentoring partnership for the underprivileged high school students in Los Angeles.

"There are many bright young children out there who need a little bit of encouragement and mentoring, and they can become high achievers and be role models in their own communities," he says.

Chacko is a Marshall Scholar. Like Rhodes Scholarships, the Marshall Scholarships are also highly competitive. The Marshall Scholarships were instituted by the British Parliament in 1953 as a gesture of thanks on behalf of the British people for assistance received from the United States in the aftermath of the Second World War. Forty Americans are chosen each year as Marshall Scholars.

The scholarships cover two years of study in any discipline, at either undergraduate or graduate level, leading to the award of a British University degree.

A co-chairman of his school's soccer team, Chacko makes time to organize elementary school soccer camps.

"I feel the responsibility to give back to the society," he says. "As an immigrants' child, I feel the need to do so more urgently."

His academic and sports achievements are a tribute to his parents, Chacko adds. "I need to share with them everything I do and want to do," he says chuckling. "There are times they tell me that I shouldn't phone home so many times a day."

"He is strongly motivated to help others," one of his professors told USA Today "and he accomplishes this not only by his hard work, but also by leading and inspiring others."

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