Community Service

Volunteering as a mentor has helped me develop the empathy necessary for an engineer to identify and solve social issues. During college, I was chosen to be a cultural mentor to foster music culture due to my leadership and musical talent. I mentored several bands and created new avenues for musicians to showcase their talent. Based on my accomplishments and peer reviews, I was also selected as an academic mentor to assist 12 underprivileged freshmen. I held many meetings with my mentees to understand their problems and helped them develop solutions.

In response to a series of student suicides, I took the initiative to organize a Suicide Prevention session in conjunction with the Rotary Club and invited India's leading Psychiatrist to speak on the topic. Additionally, I recognized the importance of breaking the taboo of discussing mental health in the student community and invited a top-tier comedian to engage students in a unique and interactive manner, promoting open conversation and understanding on the subject.

I co-created a platform that helped students in going on dates on the first Valentine's Day after a series of covid lockdowns to reduce the stigma associated with social interaction between different genders in Indian society. We presented three hand-picked, verified matches based on shared interests to over 500 registrants, fostering a positive and inclusive environment for all students.

As a developing country, India faces financial challenges for those pursuing a career in the performing arts. During my tenure as the head of Mood Indigo's Events department, I established an avenue known as "Talent Fiesta" to provide a stage for committed indigenous artists advancing India's cultural legacy. We hosted about 25 indigenous artist groups to exhibit niche art forms in an Open-Air theater with over a thousand attendees and provided them with online publicity to help them secure future engagements.

As part of a course project for the Industrial Design Centre at IIT Bombay, my team and I analyzed and recommended measures for making the campus accessible to people with disabilities. We explored several locations on campus that lack infrastructure for the mobility of disabled people, particularly those who rely on wheelchairs for locomotion. We then identified user pain points through interviews with individuals with disabilities and proposed a set of recommendations to make each problematic site accessible to people with disabilities. The project was graded AA (10/10), and the authorities took up our recommendations for further scrutiny, making a tangible and meaningful difference in the lives of people with disabilities on campus.

I also recognized the issue of students being unable to decide which skills to learn due to the existence of more than 50,000 skills worldwide. Through my research, I analyzed Google searches and discovered that 40% of the vocational searches were for advice on what courses to enroll in and which skills should be acquired. As a result, I conceptualized a platform that evaluates vocational decisions and recommends relevant skill development avenues, helping students make informed decisions about their future careers.