Vijay Kowtha
Membership-at-Large Constituency Group.
For distinguished accomplishments and extraordinary dedication as a former member of the Board, as well as significant contributions to the Society’s mission and service to the Membership-at-Large Constituency Group.
Sigma Xi Experience
Dr. Kowtha started his mentoring in Washington DC to return the favor of his mentors in NYC where he did graduate training at the VA Medical Center in Brooklyn NY while taking courses at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He was exposed to the breadth of biological sciences coming from mathematical sciences at Courant and science as an art was deeply injected by Dr. George Bugliarello Brooklyn Poly President a huge Sigma XI supporter. His mantra was science was fun and we underestimate fun. We confuse it with distraction and not being serious. But that’s not really what fun is all about. Fun is when you are enjoying yourself and when you are having fun what you are doing is so interesting that you concentrate on
it and want to know it better.
Dr. Kowtha followed the footsteps of George as a Biomedical Engineer working at NIH, Naval Research Laboratory before retiring in 2019. He was active in the Edison Chapter at NRL and worked in the Sigma XI International Component for over 20 years. Recently he was active in the Membership At Large component of Sigma Xi and was elected to the Board of Sigma Xi for two terms. Over the two decades of mentoring students at a Makerspace concept has moved it to mainstream where the feeling we get from doing good science and building neat stuff, which is another name for engineering. We really care about what it is we are figuring out or building
and so we pay close attention. We not only do our best but we figure out ways to do things differently and better. Our world depends on people to do this because that’s how we make progress and make the world better.
Everybody benefits when smart people with creative minds think about things, figure out new ways to do things, and then build on their ideas in ways that benefit other people. Dr. Kowtha has promoted the mantra of science and engineering as fun over the 30 years in science building partnerships with 4H, Washington Academy of Sciences, First Robotics, AAAS, IEEE and DCCEAS. His students from the inner city Washington DC remember him as robotics mentor They had fun experience and have in their mind for years to come, whether they become a scientist or an engineer or not. Of course, with George's mantra," if you love this fun the way we did when we were starting out, I hope they will stick with it and have a great time doing neat things."
Biography
Dr. Vijay Kowtha is a strong and visible leader in the support and encouragement of young people in their studies in Engineering and specifically in formulating areas of responsive research. He was a leader in STEM education endeavor long before it became a national acronym, and his accomplishments stand as a foundation to the quest in the promotion of STEM since 1980s in the inner cities. Shortly after returning from England in 2007, he promoted basic research using undergraduates who visited basic research facilities both in US and abroad. Several midshipmen completed their doctoral work under his guidance at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College in UK and Chalmers in Sweden. These doctoral students worked in basic research in USA and mentored US college students locally in diverse engineering fields. Dr. Kowtha has organized STEM events promoting basic research at the USA science festival, Sea and Air Exposition and Sigma Xi annual research meetings. His efforts resulted in responsive research and workforce development. Recently he formed a new non-profit called MASER (Mentors Advancing STEM Education and Research) with two MOUs with local universities. Dr. Kowtha also mentored high school students in First Robotics competitions for two decades, teams won national level competitions and many students have graduated and are now gainfully employed in federal workforce.
Dr. Kowtha exemplifies better than any scientist in articulating research, engineering and policy issues engendered by the application of science and technology while as a basic researcher at NIH and at Naval Research Laboratory and currently representing IEEE, Washington Academy of Sciences and Sigma Xi.
Dr. Kowtha received his degrees in Applied Mathematics and BioEngineering from Courant Institute and Tandon School of Engineering New York University and Rutgers University. He worked at the VA Medical Center Brooklyn, NY, NIH and Naval Research Laboratory before retiring in 2019. He is currently a Senior Consultant with Management Advisory Services at LMI Consulting LLC. He is a volunteer historian and a biophysicist in the Washington, DC area. In the past he was actively involved in neuromorphic computing at NIH in the Laboratory of Biophysics NIH. As President of Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society he started the algorithmic seminars in systems molecular biology. As a member of IEEE Washington DC he has focused on the history of IEEE and the ONR Global work on systems science where he hopes to push the boundaries for science education. He has also been active with Sigma Xi and Washington Academy of Sciences for the past three decades. Dr. Kowtha has judged in interdisciplinary science panels for WAS over the past twenty years.