After a long journey, we finally arrived to Visakhapatnam! 30 students from the US and over 250 students from India have been diligently working all semester towards their smart city projects, and finally, we meet in one place – Visakapatnam, India.
We started our day by getting on the bus to Andhra University College of Engineering. Dr. Valli from Andhra University received us with a warm welcome, and had an opportunity to meet and greet students from top Universities in India (many of which are compared to Harvard and MIT), schools included: MICA, AU, IIT Madras, Bangalore, Gitam, IIT Roorkee. The session also created a space for judges to provide feedback to Indian students. Open Innovation was a hot topic on the first day of meeting.
While sharing and discussing our ideas among each group, we saw the dedication and hard work in the Indian students proposals. Hearing the ideas that students developed within a three-month time period was impressive. More than ever, we are motivated to do our best as Julio Dominguez, Cal student, said, “the Indian students had innovative ideas that inspired us to work even harder to make this smart cities initiative a reality.”
All students had the honor and privilege of having dinner with distinguished guests, including the chief advisor to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and chancellor of Andhra university, Dr. Valli, who asked: how can we make students ask questions? how can we improve the classroom? how can we provide experience in the classroom? I encourage interaction with our Indian students. The Education and Entertainment group had the chance to hear from Dr. Lakshminarayanan about the needs of India and how the education system can be improved. Divya Suri, Cal student, shared, “talking to Dr. Lakshminarayanan was inspiring as he is an advocate of learning through reading and how this can improve the education system in Vizag.”
The day concluded with closing remarks by Professor Darwin who also presented Dr. Valli with a Garwood award for Outstanding Leadership & Management. The evening continued with more casual interactions for an opportunity to connect cross-culturally. The hospitality of every individual we met, from the hotel staff to Andhra University, made us feel welcomed and grateful. Indeed, many connections were established with only a few hours into Day 1.
Rosie Serrato