He is helping to build the world's most compact satellite. He plans to travel to Nepal this fall to swap American healthcare information with Nepali medicine men. He is a double major in engineering and biology. What's next for this 20-year-old sophomore?
According to one friend, Amish Parashar '03 "pretty much does everything." And it's probably true.
The sheer number of activities in which the Seal Beach, California native participates causes him to wish only that he could "budget his time better."
And despite his involvement in so many pursuits, Parashar affirmed that "I care about everything that I do." Once involved in a project, Parashar said, he always gives it his all.
He has been working with a five-member team of graduate and undergraduate Dartmouth students for over two years to create a cube"shaped satellite measuring just 10 centimeters on a side.
If the already-completed prototype successfully finishes the testing phase, the satellite will be one of the smallest of its kind.
Going against the current NASA trend to build bigger, better and more expensive technology, Parashar and his colleagues are attempting to create a smaller model to which parts can be added and subtracted "kind of like Legos."
Because the College has no formal space program, Parashar and his fellow orbit-enthusiasts have not only been garnering technical support and funding from the Thayer School of Engineering, but from international sources as well.
This Fall term, Parashar plans to fly to Nepal on a Tucker Fellowship with "Bridges," an organization with which he joined to form an international team to investigate health status in the area.
Hopping from rural village to rural village, Parashar will meet with local officials to exchange information on modern preventive medicine for tried and true home remedies.
"Hopefully it'll be kind of a dialogue," said Parashar, who does not speak Nepali but hopes to get by on the linguistically similar Hindi with which he is familiar.
On a Tucker Foundation-sponsored spring break trip earlier this year, Parashar and 14 other Dartmouth students traveled to Costa Rica to build a house for a low-income Central American family.
The house, which was designed by an engineering student here at the College, helped spark his dual interests in academics and community service. Once there, Parashar said he found himself inspired by those whom he sought to aid.
"It was amazing how willing he was just to help us help him," Parashar said of the head of the family for whom they built the new home.
As president of Milan, Dartmouth's south Asian society, Parashar said he is most proud of this year's award-winning Milan Culture Night, which sold out two shows at Collis Commonground during Spring term.
"It was packed. There was standing room only," he said. "When people work together you can do something incredible."
Parashar said Milan has helped him to become more in touch with his Hindu and Indian roots.
"[My background] teaches a lot of tolerance and accepting people for what they are. Everybody has something they can contribute," he said.
Parashar said he sees Dr. J. Everett Koop '37, former United States Surgeon General and current Dartmouth Medical School professor, as his main role model.
"It's not so much his accomplishments," he said, "because a lot of people are really accomplished. It's about his drive and motivation."
Parashar noted that during the AIDS scare, Koop "took it upon himself to really make a difference," transforming the role of the Surgeon General from a traditional military position to the public health official that it is today.
In the little free time he does have, Parashar said he enjoys the outdoors, especially winter activities, in which the warm weather back home prevents him from participating.
As for the future?
"I have a big conflict," Parashar said of the proverbial next step. The double major said he didn't know whether he would find his niche in engineering or medicine, but continues to hope that he may be able to find an occupational interface between the two.
Combining interests and ideas would probably sound like a good idea to friend Rebecca Meyers '03, who said, "it's hard to even pin down one word that would describe Amish."
