President Obama named 14 individuals and one organization as the newest recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) last week. This is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government for outstanding efforts in science, engineering and mathematics mentoring.
Among the recipients is Tilak Ratnanather, Ph.D., a longtime member and volunteer of AG Bell. Ratnanather is Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Center for Imaging Science at Johns Hopkins University. He is the chair of the AG Bell Research Symposium, held biennially as part of the AG Bell Convention.
Ratnanather has devoted himself to recruiting and mentoring an unprecedented number of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing in the United States and abroad into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
"My students are benefiting from my experiences as a deaf person and thus do not have any additional worries associated with their hearing loss. They have rewarded me and others by graduating with honors, getting doctorate degrees, doing postdoctoral work, completing medical school, and becoming professors," said Ratnanather.
He has a simple yet powerful objective for his mentoring programs: to provide opportunity in STEM for people with hearing loss who may not have otherwise been exposed to STEM. He achieves this objective through extensive and involved networking, allowing his protégés to serve as mentors in turn. Ratnanather's motivation to recruit and retain individuals with hearing loss in STEM is built on the certainty that these individuals can contribute a unique perspective in STEM.
"Just as my mentors at University College London, University of Oxford, City University London and Johns Hopkins University took a chance on me, I am paying it forward for the next generation of students who are deaf and hard of hearing and have chosen to thrive in the demanding, challenging and exacting environment of mainstream higher education," added Ratnanather.
Click here to learn more about the award.
