If I can do it, even you can do it,” says Viraja Kollam, 24, who is pursuing Master’s in Aerodynamics from the US-based Auburn University, here on Monday.
Representing India at global level through her hard work, she says: “At Auburn, innovations are traditions. By this I mean Auburn loves to follow various traditions for game day or certain festivals but being innovative is always important and required. Things which might be old are never boring and are very engaging here,” adding that coming from a middle-class family and learning aerospace engineering was not easy for her.
As girls in India, do not come forward to study Aerodynamics, Viraja, who hails from a small town in Pune, appealed to the Indian girls to come forward and go for Aerospace Engineering and Auburn is a great place for that.
‘’It is the value of education that we provide to the Indian students,’’ says Joseph Majdalani, alumni and chairperson of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University.
“We do not compromise with the quality of education. We have a lot of faculty from India like Professor Pradeep lal, who teaches mechanical engineering and there is a great connection between teachers and Indian students.”
With many alumni exploring NASA, Infosys, aviation industry and many other projects, Majdalani said: “Our 36 per cent of students are hired by NASA and all of them are from India”.
In coming days, Auburn University will conduct more seminars and workshop in Indian schools and colleges to motivate and encourage more students who want to build their career in Aerospace engineering, he said.