Mathew George Nominated Councilman Candidate for North Hempstead

Mathew George, a resident of Mineola (Long Island) was nominated to run as a Councilman for District 3 of North Hempstead by the Democratic Party of Nassau County on May 28, 2009 at its convention at Cradle of Aviation Museum.

This is first time an Asian American is running as a major party candidate in the Town of North Hempstead, which includes Mineola, Garden City Park, Villages of Williston Park and New Hyde Park. The district has a large concentration of Indian Americans.

George immigrated to the United States in 1986. A chemistry graduate from M.V.M. Bhopal and post graduate from Ratlam Government College, he also completed a Bachelor of Education at Regional College of Education in Bhopal, a Master of Science Education at New York University and a Master of Education at Columbia University's Teachers College.

After working as a teacher in Mumbai and Nigeria, George started as a teacher with New York City Department of Education and is currently working as an Assistant Principal in a New York City high school.

George also has varied experience as a research scholar at College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and as a Teacher Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory. As an educator, George has made substantial contributions to science education through professional development for teachers and equipping teachers with varied instructional strategies.

A tireless community worker, George has worked with youth and young adults for over 30 years. He has helped hundreds of troubled youths in inner city schools to graduate from high schools. Most of the time, troubled kids come from troubled families. They were provided with additional support so as to help them continue at school, graduate and stay out of trouble to become good citizens.

[ BY VRN ]

Three Indians among most creative biz people

Prith Banerjee, A R Rahman and Padmasree Warrior are among the 100 individuals featured in FastCompany’s list of world’s most creative people in business.

According to the business magazine , creativity is not fettered by rules, and in choosing the world’s most creative people in business, it had to look for ‘dazzling new thinkers, rising stars, and boldface names who cannot be ignored’. The latest list features those individuals whose creative talent addresses larger issues: ‘from the future of energy infrastructure to the evolution of philanthropy to next-generation media.’

PRITH BANERJEE, who is director of HP Labs, ranks as the 11th most creative person in business by FastCompany. Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago and supervised PhD students, Banerjee was the Walter P. Murphy Professor and Chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Banerjee also founded Binachip Inc and AccelChip Inc.

PADMASREEWARRIOR, Chief technology officer, Cisco, ranks 33rd in the list. She was also named as one of the top 15 most influential women driving innovation (and revenue) in corporate America. Warrior, who joined Cisco in December 2007 after stepping down as the vice president and CTO of Motorola, has been known as a driving force for innovation at Motorola. Warrior, 47, raised in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from IIT Delhi and a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University. In 2007 she was awarded Doctor of Engineering, Honoris Causa from New York’s Polytechnic University.

A.R. RAHMAN, who won two Oscars for his composition in the film Slumdog Millionaire, is 47th in the list. His superhit composition Jai Ho has been downloaded more than 100,000 times on iTunes and was re-recorded as a hit collaboration with the group Pussycat Dolls. Rahman began composing music at a very early age. He has won numerous awards for his extraordinary talent – two Oscars, 12 Filmfare awards, 4 National Film Awards, 1 BAFTA Award, and 1 Golden Globe.