Indian-American wins 2011 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement

Introduction

Indian-American student Ramya Rangan has won the 2011 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, America's top achievers honour. Ramya received this award for her achievements in science and mathematics. Ramya, a student at The Harker School in San Jose, California, will receive a US$ 5,000 college scholarship. Ramya's interest in mathematics and science originated more than ten years back when she began completing Kumon math problem sets.

Ramya, while in high school, found that apart from mathematics, other sciences posed similarly intriguing problems. She took her first AP class – AP Calculus BC – in the eighth grade.

"AP courses gave me a chance to acquire more in-depth knowledge of various fields, and to learn with gifted peers from incredible teachers", said Ramya. She considers AP Physics C her favourite AP class to date, as it exposed her to interesting physics problems and gave her experience with laboratory work. "The lessons I learned on topics like data analysis and scientific writing have been incredibly useful in research work, and I'm sure they will continue to be useful throughout my life," she added. Ramya plans to study computer science in college, after having learnt through AP Computer Science that algorithmic thinking interests her.

College Board President Gaston Caperton said in a press release that "Along with the 99 regional winners, these students represent our best hope for a bright future, where America is a world leader in science, technology, math and engineering—the foundation of the 21st century economy."

The Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, established in 1998, is a signature programme of the Siemens Foundation and is managed by the College Board.

Source

India Brand Equity Foundation, March 05, 2012