AZ India

F E E L A T H O M E www.azindiatimes.com PAGE - 22 Apr 2019 1-844-AZINDIA National Engineers Week Future Cities by Middle School Students By Dr. Kohinoor Kar, Ph.D., P.E., PTOE If you are not aware of any Arizona middle school student being innovative to create a dream city of distant future somewhere in the wide open space, this ar- ticle may surprise you a bit. To celebrate the National Engineers Week (officially in mid-February), the Future City Competition (FCC) at the state as well as the national levels is organized throughout the country (https://futurecity.org ). The FCC program introduces young students to engineering concepts through practi- cal applications of mathematics and sciences. A group of three to five students are mentored by volunteer engineers and teachers as they design and build their vision of the urban world of tomorrow. In our state, this competition has been successfully organized by a group of highly motivated engineers and scientists for over 20 years. Parents, teachers and men- tors work closely with the participating students for at least four months before the final event. The students are expected to deliver the following five items: • Virtual City Design – uses SimCity software available at no cost to the students. • City Essay – describes the future city and its characteristics. • City Model – scaled and 3D using recycled materials including at least one mov- ing part. • City Presentation ¬– team delivers in front of competition judges. • Project Plan – shows the team organization and implementation of project management. All the hard work and dedication put in by these teams ultimately pays off. There are several awards based on criteria developed at the national level. These are judged by volunteers from the engineering community. Also, professional sci- ence and engineering societies in the community sponsor specialty awards. Even if a team does not win an award, they get to experience and learn throughout the process, which pushes them to brainstorm together, think critically, and make innovative decisions. Although the participants are roughly between 11- and 14-years old, their talent in planning and developing a future city and maturity during presentation is beyond imagination. As a lead judge of the professional society, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), I had the honor to work with three other judges and select one of about 100 competing teams for the “Best Multimodal Transportation” award on the Arizona regional final in January 2019. This year’s ITE award winner is Desert Wind Middle School, Maricopa, for their city called Freiheit. Schools around the state compete, and the regional finals are held in Phoenix metro area. Thousands of attendees gather in a large competition venue, and it is worth seeing how these young students perform. 2019 Future City Regional Final Competition, ITE award winners from Desert Wind Middle School But that’s not the end. The top team from the regional final competition goes to Washington, DC for the national competition. Arizona schools have been re- warded with many awards in the past. This journey is huge for the team visiting the national capital in the experience they gain through developing such high quality deliverables and competing among their peers from around the country. It is a win-win effort for everyone if you think of the purpose of this competition and the future of the young students who participate. If you have any questions on this article, please contact author (trafficsafetyex- pert@gmail.com ). If you are interested in FCC for 2020 or in the future, please contact the Arizona Coordinators (Arizona@futurecity.org ). Satyajit Ray - The Visionary of Indian Cinema By Anindita Roy Biswas midastouch322@gmail.com ..from page 1 The Master Raconteur His genius demonstrates an elaborate observation and subtle handling of char- acters and situations. It is a rare blend of intellect and intensity. His controlled, precise, meticulous strokes evoked deep emotional response from the audience. Each film depicts a fine sensitivity without using melodramatic excesses which evolved a cinematic style that is almost invisible. He strongly believed - " The best technique is the one that's not noticeable ". His cinema befits to a timeless style of story-telling that touched the onlookers in some way which corresponds to a genre that includes the works of Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Chaplin, Fellini, Bergman, Renoir, Ritwik Ghatak and likewise. Utterly different in style and content, and yet timeless creators of world cinema. Mr. Ray described himself as "self-taught”, who learned his craft by watching Western films. For capturing atmosphere he emphasized, " how to catch the hushed stillness of dusk in a Bengali village, when the wind drops and turns the ponds into sheets of glass dappled by the leaves of the trees, and the smoke from ovens settles in wispy trails over the landscape, and the plaintive blows on conch shells from homes far and wide are joined by the chorus of crickets, which rises as the light falls, until all one sees are the stars in the sky, and the stars blink and swirl in the thickets. " Magnum Opus Satyajit Ray's films are literary; using a simple narrative, usually in a clas- sical format, but greatly detailed and operating at many levels of interpre- tation. His first film, Pather Panchali (1955) established his reputation as a major film director, winning numer- ous awards including Best Human Document, Cannes (1956) and Best Film, Vancouver (1958). It is the first film of a trilogy - The Apu Trilogy - a three-part tale of a boy's life from birth through manhood was one of the most luminous series in film history. The other two films are Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959). His later films include Jalsaghar (1958), Devi (1960), Teen Kanya (1961), Charula- ta (1964), Nayak (1966), Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969), Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), Ghare Baire (1984), Ganashatru (1989) and Shakha Prasakha (1991). Agantuk (1991) was his last film. Mr.Ray fashioned understated films on diverse classes of society, the clash of transforming values and the effects of rapid politi- cal and economic change on individuals. His foremost films won numerous ac- colades at international festivals. True Weaver of Cin- ematic Art Satyajit Ray (May 1921– April 1992) hailed from a family involved with art and literature. His major hobby was culti- vating about movies and he founded Calcutta's first film society in 1947. He began his career as a commercial artist (1943- 56). After terrible hard- ship for finance, his first film was completed in aid of West Bengal Govt. Nonetheless, that poignant tale was an instant success among sophisticated Bengalis, and Ray became a full- fledged director. The "Apu" trilogy provided a cosmos of the changing society of modern India by progressing from a joint family via migration to cities and culminating with the isolated protagonist. For decades, he was India’s peerless auteur in the West. A bestselling writer, noted lyricist-composer, brilliant graphic artist, and renowned magazine editor- Ray’s flair was far-reaching. He was a true polymath — designing the calligraphy, handling the cinematography, writing all the screenplays of his films, many of which were based on his own stories. He even designed a new typeface. In 1961, he revived and continued to publish the Bengali children's magazine " Sandesh ", which was founded by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray. Recognition and Awards In 1978, Berlin Film Fes- tival ranked him as one of the three all-time best directors. In 1992, Satya- jit Ray received the hon- orary ‘ Academy Award Lifetime Achievement ’ - " In recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures and for his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world. " Other honors include " Lègion d'Honneur ” (France) and " Bharat Ratna ". Along with in- troducing authenticity to creative cinema, he also outlined the social fabric after partition, when a culture was trying hard to reascertain itself. Each frame shot by him perceived as poetry on celluloid which charismatically captures the nui- sances of nature. The philosophical and allegorical narrative structure; an extant veneration to rustic folklore — seizes the very unique time of a burgeoning and hustling society. The gentle quality of his filmmaking is never forced. Akira Kuro- sawa depicted aptly-” The quiet but deep observation, understanding and love of the human race, which are characteristic of all his films, have impressed me greatly….I feel that he is a "giant" of the movie industry... Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon. ” Portrait sketch of the director by the Author