IANS
New York, Jun 30: An Indian American has been chosen for this year's Spirit of Liberty award for his contribution to his community.
Ramesh Gangolli, 72, who migrated to the US in 1963 and whose career is focussed on mathematics, will be honoured July 4 in Seattle.
Seattle's Ethnic Heritage Council gives away the Spirit of Liberty award every year to individuals who have made significant contributions to his or her ethnic heritage and community and whose work has benefited the larger community.
After coming over to the US, Gangolli became interested in volunteering in the Indian American community in Seattle. At that time there were only about 100 Indian families in the area.
He thought the music of South Asia could be a conduit for cultural understanding.
"I think there's a universality about music. There's always an audience for it, and it's a natural way for people to communicate as well as share their culture," the Northwest Asian Weekly quoted Gangolli as saying.
What began as an unnamed event - mini concerts mostly featuring musicians from India - turned into a respected concert series that has since 1981 staged more than 300 events of music and dance.
"I am glad he (Gangolli) was nominated, and I am glad people are finally recognising his contributions," said Alma Plancich, executive director of the Ethnic Council Heritage.
Gangolli was born in Bangalore and grew up in Mumbai. He lost his left arm in a train accident at the age of 19. He finished first in his bachelor's examinations at the University of Bombay and won a scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge in 1957 to earn his Masters.
He obtained his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961 and came to Seattle to teach mathematics a year later. He became a naturalized citizen in 1971.
For the past five years, Gangolli has been involved in a project that advocates better mathematics education in the Seattle Public Schools.
More about Ramesh Gangolli:
Ramesh Gangolli was born in Bangalore, India, and educated at the Universities of Bombay and Cambridge, and at MIT. After taking his doctoral degree at MIT, he taught there for a year before joining the faculty of the University of Washington, Seattle in 1962. Since then, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics, serving as Chair between 1981-84 and 1991-93. He has been active in mathematical research as well as in education during most of his career, and has served in a number capacities in service to the profession: on advisory committees of the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council, as a Trustee of the American Mathematical Society, Chair of the AMS's Committee on Education, and in other similar roles. For the last five years he has served as Principal Investigator of two (NSF supported) projects involving K-12 mathematics teachers from six school districts in the Seattle Metropolitan Area. One of these is a Local Systemic Change project involving middle and high school teachers, the other being an Elementary school project that focuses on leadership as well as systemic issues.
Ramesh Gangolli also maintains a serious interest in the classical music of India and teaches in the Ethnomusicology Program in the School of Music. He trained as a vocalist under the guidance of several well-known vocalists of India, and has also been engaged in the study of the texts of the oral repertoire of the hereditary lineages of musicians of North India. He has given a number of recitals and lecture demonstrations in the US and in India relating to his work. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Washington. He also serves at present as President of Ragamala (a volunteer organization based in Seattle, devoted to the Music of India and South Asia), which he helped to found in 1981.