Kashir Scientist

kashir scientist

A non-profit educational forum to encourage research in Science among school & college going students & impact upon outreach at grassroots level

Kashir Scientist, founded in 2011, is a non-profit organization of research scientists, students and teachers from Jammu and Kashmir conceived with sole intention of encouraging school & college going students to pursue science education & impact upon its outreach at grassroots level. This idea was tantamount owing to the geographical location of state showing least progress in the field of science and technology. In wake of dismal performance at Science & technology front, There was a need felt to conceptualize a science educational forum that will oversee to all these facets and encourage science pursual at grassroots level through coordinated efforts & for greater impact. Kashmir is all where talked to be full with immense talent and dedication among the youth, a proper guidance and right direction at the right time was missing to tap that potential for altogether development of state. This forum is dedicated to create a general awareness and facilitate a free flow of information to help the young budding students who want to pursue scientific research as their career by providing them with right counselors & platform to choose among options available and not let the talent to get wasted and to prevent brain drain from happening. Kashir Scientist brings together scientists from disparate fields in an interdisciplinary approach to develop a platform whereby students can interact, discuss science and seek advice regarding scientific and other alternative careers. Their discussion platform at social media interface Facebook, Twitter & live video lecture series on diverse fields from latest scientific inventions & discoveries to outreach activities, from patents to publications, & from fellowship programs to career counseling is all getting praise and attracts the best in business to leave a greater impact for the budding aspirants. This very interactive interface where scientists/students exchange papers, books and other reading materials (lectures and seminars) is a blessing in disguise for everyone when Kashmir is facing immense political instability and insecurity. From time to time scholars discuss scientific problems and share reagents, protocols etc and with already more than 2000 members, Kashir Scientist has proved to be promising and keeps growing at an ever-increasing rate.

Mission statement

The mission of Kashir Scientist forum is clear as is evident from its outreach activities to

  • Offer guidance and career counseling to the students at the graduate, undergraduate and high school levels.
  • Organize mini-scientific workshops in the secondary and high schools in order to create a training environment to up bring and promote the talents and skills of early-career students.
  • Offer guidance and online tutorials to crack the various competitive exams in India like IISER, IITs, NCBS, TIFR, CSIR NET JRF, GATE and abroad like the Max-Planck International PhD programs.
  • Facilitate summer training opportunities at Indian research institutes. Provide skillful advancement activities, information, and scholarly resources for students including undergraduates and graduates.
  • To expand the mode of scientific communication by sharing the latest scientific findings.
  • Minister and cater to the needs of fellow researchers regarding scientific literature.
  • Promote general public participation by disseminating information regarding science, technology and medicine to a broader audience.
  • & the long-term goal being to educate the legislators about the benefits of scientific knowledge for the whole society, emphasize the need to upgrade the infrastructure in the current universities and build independent research institutes.

In addition to all the above mentioned mission statements, It is emphasized upon that social sharing and discussions be held on this website, thereby, offering a platform to interact with other like-minded visitors.

Board Members

Kashir Scientist forum was initially an idea conceived by Syed Mubarak Hussain being its founder and Director. Later a board was formulated to oversee and implement its mission statement and more members were included as board staff. Insha Rasool, Asif Bakshi, Riyaz Ahmad Shah, Anha Bhat administer different science outreach programme within state and from outside as well.

SPROUT: A sister concern Mentorship Program of Kashir Scientist

Vision & Mission

SPROUT programme was introduced as adjunct to Kashir Scientist forum to empower the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to take the responsibility of Human Resource Development by acquiring academic excellence in Scientific Knowledge and harness it as the means of Sustainable Economic Growth. It was also stressed upon to strengthen the community by diffusion of knowledge, imparting of skills and creating new opportunities for the upcoming generations by transforming the pedagogy in the field of science with innovative methods of teaching, scientific and career outreach from school to University level and bringing in the culture of tech startups which collectively will lead to the growth of skilled workers and prepares them to deliver their best locally and globally.

This engagement was the culmination of initial success that JK Scientist forum achieved in attracting school & college going students to pursue science education & research. It was conceptualized to cater to the basic academic needs of aspiring students in terms of opportunities, discussions and mentorship back home and abroad. This collaborative association is entrusted to mentor school & college going students as a career counseling platform to encourage them to pursue modern & applied biologics in addition to basic systems biology up through their universities and finally by guiding them to research institutions of their choice & interest. Anybody interested is provided the chance of mentorship as a greater initiative for inclusiveness by a simple contact to any of the members whose contact details are provided at all the interface levels. Organizing science outreach activities in schools, colleges & universities and by providing them with mentorship & logistic support has greatly revolutionized the pursual of science education in state in last decade. This scientific calibration at grassroots level will certainly pave way for greater outreach, further impact of science education in state, will prevent brain-drain in state, in addition to tapping of this immense talent in the best service to humankind.

There are various resource persons who oversee all the administrative, collaborative, mentorship & science outreach programmes of Kashir Scientist forum. They have and are working selflessly to further its impact at grassroots level and for inclusive growth by counseling the aspiring buds wherein from school to college level and from there to institutions of higher learning both at local as well as global level. We are very much thankful to all the active members who have and are still extending their helping hand in making this forum all inclusive and beneficial to one & all irrespective of his/her affiliation.

We the Scientific community of state working locally as well from overseas wishing them all the very best in their future endeavor’s in strengthening the roots of STEM education (Science, Technology, Mathematics & Engineering) in State.

  • Science and Education Outreach Wing

Mubarak Hussain Syed (HHMI/University of Oregon)

Pir Ghulam Jeelani (MPI/DZNE, Bonn, Germany)

Matt Clark (HHMI/University of Oregon)

Shabeer Hassan (Harvard University)

Humaira Gowher (Assistant Prof. of Biology, Purdue University (Lab Webpage)

Aijaz Wani (Welcome trust / DBT fellow, Kashmir University)

Abrar Qureshi- Ramalingaswami fellow (Kashmir University)

Abdul Haseeb (DST-INSPIRE Faculty – Kashmir University)

Raees Andrabi (Scripps Institute, San Diego)

Riyaz Ahmad Shah (Indian Institute for Science, Bangalore, India)

  • Career Counseling Wing

Humaira Gowher (Assistant Prof. of Biology, Purdue University (Lab Webpage)

Tanzila Mukhtar (University of Basel)

Insha Rasool (POSTECH, Life Science, South Korea)

Sajad Hussain Andrabi (IIIM Jammu)

Mohd. Jamal Dar (IIIM Jammu)

Ashraf Dar- (Ramalingaswami fellow Kashmir University)

Abdul Haseeb (DST-INSPIRE Faculty – Kashmir University)

Altaf Bhat – Ramalingaswami fellow (Kashmir University)

  • Mentoring Wing

Mubarak Hussain Syed (HHMI/University of Oregon)

Humaira Gowher (Assistant Prof. of Biology, Purdue University (Lab Webpage)

Shaida Andrabi – Johns Hopkins (Grant writing, Postdoc applications etc)

Insha Rasool (POSTECH, Life Science, South Korea)

Dr. Sajad Hussain Andrabi (IIIM Jammu)

Tanzila Mukhtar (University of Basel)

Matt Q. Clark (Grant writing, SOP writing etc, PhD applications in US universities)

Pir Ghulam Jeelani (MaxPlanck/DZNE, Germany, PhD applications Europe Max-Planck)

Aashiq H Kachroo  (Concordia University, Montreal) (Grant writing, Postdoc applications etc)

Aijaz Wani (Welcome trust / DBT fellow, University of Kashmir)

Altaf Bhat (Ramalingaswamy fellow, University of Kashmir)

Ashraf Dar (Ramalingaswamy fellow, University of Kashmir)

Tufail Bashir

Muzamil Majid Khan

Misbah-ul-Haq

Ahsanulhaq Qurashi (Assistant Prof., ……….)

Shafquat Majeed (University of Kashmir)

Mohmad Yaseen Bhat

Gulzar Ahad Wani (MPI, Cologne, Germany; Master and PhD programs in Germany)

Anha Bhat (NIT Srinagar)

——-more to come here

  • SPROUT Programme

Asif Bakhsi

Volunteers are needed, interested can kindly contact at [email protected]

The author is freelance columnist & currently working as DST INSPIRE (PhD Research Fellow) at CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine canal road Jammu, (J&K). He can be contacted at +919906778863.

 

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Sheikh Umar Ahmad

Sheikh Umar Ahmad is freelancer and currently working as DST INSPIRE at Regional Research Laboratory Jammu.

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