20-Year-Old, India-Born Sandra Nair to Study Alongside World-Renowned Theoretical Physicist at Stanford University
NASSAU, Bahamas, Nov. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. today announced Sandra Nair (20, Kerala, India) as the first 2019 Templeton–Ramanujan Fellowship recipient, up to $5,000 USD monetary grant for furthering educational pursuits and development in STEM. The award, part of the highly competitive Spirit of Ramanujan STEM Talent Initiative (SOR), is the first of 30 financial grants to be issued yearly for the next three years, totaling $550,000.
Sandra, an international student, is in her third year of undergraduate studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, where she majors in physics and mathematics. The Templeton–Ramanujan Fellowship will support her research with Shamit Kachru — the Wells Family Director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics at Stanford — in Summer 2019. Under his mentorship, Sandra will study the physics of black holes, exploring the interplay of mathematics and physics as found in string theory and quantum field theory.
“I am delighted that the first Spirit of Ramanujan winner hails from India and will be working with my good friend and collaborator Shamit Kachru,” said Ken Ono, the director of the Spirit of Ramanujan and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University. “He is a fabulous mentor and leading figure at the interface of mathematics and string theory. And I’m particularly pleased that Shamit has been using Ramanujan’s math in his study of black holes.”
“Professor Kachru is a wonderful mentor as well as a world-renowned theoretical physicist, whom I feel extremely privileged to work with,” said Sandra. “One day, I hope to have made extensive and successful collaborations among those in theoretical physics and mathematics communities and am confident that the Spirit of Ramanujan community will be a huge help in actualizing this goal.”
The Spirit of Ramanujan STEM Talent Initiative strives to find undiscovered geniuses around the world. Honoring the legacy of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the initiative supports emerging engineers, mathematicians, and scientists who lack traditional institutional support through financial grants and mentorship opportunities. In the last two years, the initiative awarded grants to 16 students who used the funding to support research and study in math. Now in its third year, the program has widened its international talent search to all STEM fields and more than doubled the number of awards.
“Stanford has programs to support its own students, but there are gifted students who don’t match up with existing funding streams. Sandra is a prime example, as she is not a Stanford undergraduate, and is not eligible for US citizen-restricted funding as an Indian national,” said Professor Kachru. “Programs like the Spirit of Ramanujan offer a wonderful opportunity to get involved with the education of such students.”
The Spirit of Ramanujan STEM Talent Initiative is presented by Ken Ono, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University; Art of Problem Solving; Expii, the open personalized learning platform; and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, in conjunction with Pressman Film, producers of the motion picture The Man Who Knew Infinity.
The priority submission deadline is December 31, 2018, with rolling admission until May 30, 2019. For more information about the Spirit of Ramanujan and submission guidelines, visit https://spiritoframanujan.com.
About Templeton World Charity Foundation
Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) was established in 1996 in Nassau, the Bahamas, to serve as a global philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to big questions of life and the universe. Sir John Templeton established the Foundation to foster ambitious thinking and creative communications on diverse topics to stimulate humility, curiosity, and enthusiasm for new discoveries.
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