SFU wants to become Canada’s “bridge to India,” says President Andrew Petter, who is accompanying BC Premier Christy Clark on a trade mission to South Asia, Nov. 8–18.

Petter is attending meetings in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chandigarh aimed at strengthening relationships with new and existing academic and industry partners in the areas of clean energy, public health, new media and business research.

“SFU has deep connections to India,” says Petter. “As Canada’s most engaged research university, we have actively sought guidance and expertise within our local South Asian community to help build a strong, scholarly bridge to India.

“We will reinforce our international network of academic and industry partners through important new collaborative research projects, co-op programs and field schools, and staff and student exchange initiatives.”

Currently, six per cent of SFU’s international students are from India, and SFU students have completed 24 co-op work terms in India in the past year alone.

SFU researchers are active in a number of India-based projects, including development of a new treatment for bacteria-infected newborns and a campaign to address the critical state of cardiovascular health.

Partners in research

• SFU engineering science professor Ash Parameswaran and several students are working with a pair of Indian institutes on a faster way to determine the correct antibiotics for bacteria-infected newborns in rural India.
• Engineering science researcher Erik Kjeang is collaborating with India’s Luminous Power Technologies to develop and commercialize products related to clean energy. The collaboration will see India’s leading power-backup solutions provider set up shop in Canada.
• Health sciences professor Scott Lear is working with Indian educators and a pair of Canadian school districts to develop strategies for curbing childhood obesity in both countries.
• Biomedical physiology and kinesiology professor Miriam Rosin and her research team are employing new technology to identify pre-cancerous mouth lesions often associated with chewing betel leaves in India. She’s also working to create a parallel program there.
• SFU’s Bioinformatics for Combatting Infectious Diseases group is working with Indian researchers to combine low-cost whole-genome sequencing with new genomic knowledge to speed up development of more effective antimicrobial drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools.

SFU students to India

• More than 50 SFU students have worked or volunteered in India in the past five years.
• Ten are currently completing work terms in various regions of India as part of the BC-India Innovation, Exchange and Mobility Initiative (see related story).
• Several senior SFU students from the Faculty of Health Sciences are participating in an international co-op program at India’s Destiny Reflection. The organization offers shelter and education to help sexually exploited women in India gain independence.
• SFU film professor Patricia Gruben is leading a field school exploring the contemporary culture of India in cooperation with Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.
• Newly graduated kinesiology student Ish Jhaj is building a soccer program for young girls in Punjab. Her first camps took place this summer and she will return in December to grow the program in more villages.

Indian scholars to SFU

While President Andrew Petter is in India strengthening academic and industry ties, a trio of Indian scholars visited SFU last week on a similar mission.

The scholars met with university and industry officials as part of the SFU and Canadian government BC-India Innovation, Exchange and Mobility Initiative to support collaborative research, trade and investment activities between the two regions.

They included:

• Daya Gaur, head of computer science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IITR), leading researcher in bioinformatics and computing applications to healthcare, and an SFU alumnus with master’s and PhD degrees in computer science.
• Himanshu Tyagi, assistant professor at IITR’s School of Mechanical, Materials and Energy Engineering, who is working to develop clean and sustainable energy sources.
• Durg Viyay Rai, director and senior professor at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering’s School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at Shobhit University in New Delhi. Rai is helping the two universities explore medical diagnostic devices markets in India and develop a program to test diagnostic concepts in an Indian environment.

“The impact of their visit will be seen in the years ahead,” says SFU applied sciences dean Nimal Rajapakse, “as we bridge our local economies to benefit BC companies and create new opportunities for our students.”

SFU an Indian engagement leader

SFU is arguably the first Canadian university with an integrated India strategy. Since 2006, the SFU-India Advisory Council—comprised mainly of BC South Asian community members—has supported numerous initiatives including an international cardiovascular conference and a South Asian cultural festival (above). The council also supports an SFU-India student mobility awards program, funded largely through an annual SFU-hosted Diwali event.

SFU's new Indian MOUs

While in India, SFU is signing memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with:

• The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore, to explore new research programs, exchanges and other opportunities between the two schools, which already collaborate in several areas.
• Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (Faridkot), confirming SFU’s intention to help expand Baba Farid’s health-science programs.
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, to develop a joint SFU-IIT graduate program for about 15 engineering and computing science students.