Outreach in Action
COMMUNICATION
From science communication to teaching a course or presenting my research at a conference, I enjoy engaging people from all walks of life, from students to researchers and the public in general. During my undergrad, I voluntarily taught 'Space Sciences' to my juniors and learned a lot while preparing for each lecture. In my senior year, I attended an international conference(2nd COSPAR Symposium) in Brazil, where I presented my independent and collaborative work in an oral and a week-long poster presentation. I was the only undergrad at the conference and the first from my institute. I have experience in addressing a range of audiences, comprising a class of 30 students to about 1500 at a time.
LEADERSHIP
In my career as both a student and a mentor, I led several initiatives, projects and programs. Inspired by "Science Toys" from the 2nd highest civilian awardee, Padma Vibhushan Shree Arvind Gupta, I developed "Space Toys". Moreover, I trained school teachers to promote astronomy and space sciences in their classrooms. Furthermore, I also led the development of astronomy activity booklets. I took the initiative and conducted NASA's SallyRide EarthKAM in various schools across India. At a personal level, I led numerous outreach programs with help from local students in rural areas of India. I worked hard to create awareness among the masses, discussing misconceptions about several astronomical phenomena. During my undergrad, I led a group of students to represent our college at an award ceremony, where we got the "Best Emerging College in Northern India" award. While interested in aeromodelling, I organized an inter-college "Paper Plane" competition. Many of the works I led caught media attention.
INCLUSION
I have contributed to various projects and programs, which allowed me to engage people from all sections of society, including the specially-abled. Regardless of the platform, I have involved people from undergraduate students to helpers in various hands-on activities. Observations to hands-on and from demonstration to role-playing in skits, skills I employed have been inclusive. Although challenging, engaging people from non-STEM background have been quite fulfilling. Getting a different perspective of our Universe during my interactive session motivates and reminds me about my role and responsibilities towards society.
I vouch for collaborative efforts to reach far and wide. Apart from endeavours made at the institutional level, at a personal level, I collaborated with NGOs and remote schools across India. Such efforts have not only benefitted students but also people in local regions. Some NGO schools I worked with organized campaigns to create awareness about astronomy and its role in our lives.
VOLUNTEERING
Beyond my responsibilities as a student or employee, I have dedicated a fair amount of time to promoting outreach while pursuing my interests through volunteering opportunities, entailing talks, hands-on and role-playing activities. To this end, I even volunteered to handle the video recordings of a 2-day workshop on developing astronomy-themed experiments for undergrad. In another workshop organized by IUCAA, I helped participants with testing the solid-state photometers they fabricated over a telescope. Many such opportunities have helped me gain experiences which otherwise would not be possible within my job domain.
