Q+A: Mahashri Ranjith Kumar on the power of STEM to tackle global challenges, doing what you love, and empowering youth as changemakers…

If you had infinite time, money and resources to solve just one global challenge, what would it be, and why?

If I were given all such means to solve any one global challenge, it would be climate change. In our day-to-day lives, pollution, heat waves, droughts, rising temperatures, and forest fires have become common words. Several plants and animal species have become extinct as a result of such climatic changes. It is gradually taking over all lives. It’s our urgent priority to solve such a big challenge to ensure a bright future for the young generation and to save our world itself! 

How did you get involved in STEM?

A few years ago, I was devastated by how droughts were impacting the locals in my area. I strived to make a change and started working with other like-minded young individuals to develop possible solutions for climate action. The research was a huge challenge but I kept reminding myself that I have the potential to make an impact and that truly drove me further than expected. Engaging in different hands-on tasks made me go an extra mile and I was fascinated by the plethora of challenges that STEM could potentially solve, and I subsequently spread that vibe to everyone around me to help them realize how STEM could be part of our solutions to solve any world challenge! The merits didn’t end with just that; other youngsters were also inspired by our doings and they engaged in STEM activities as well, and that’s definitely the main thing that propels me to stay involved in STEM! 

If you could share one tip for someone who's new to making a difference through STEM, what would it be?

That one tip would be: Simply do what you love! You could do a thousand different STEM-related tasks and still be dissatisfied if you haven’t quenched your thirst for what you’re really curious and interested about. Doing what you love gives you much more motivation and dedication to meet your goals, and when you do, the sense of accomplishment is just exceptional! To do so, it’s important to discover what you’re truly passionate about by following your intuition and then work towards it. It’s that easy! 

How do you think STEM is impacting your community?

From touch-screen phones to synthetic food, STEM is impacting every human’s life extensively at this point. Living in an area where water-borne diseases have significantly reduced as a result of better water purification methods, I see magic right in front of my eyes - thanks to STEM. The benefits of STEM are truly endless because it is impacting every nook and corner of the world in a vast range of ways and that’s why STEM contains the answer to practically every global challenge, one way or another.

What do you hope that the Youth STEM Summit will achieve in terms of empowering youth globally to tackle the world's biggest challenges, and why do you think this is important?

There are a potential 1.8 billion young and innovative minds in this world who have a lot to give back to the community. With young people being the backbones of our future, I hope this summit stands as an eye-opener for them to realize and become aware of the wonders that STEM can create to mitigate real-world challenges. It’s important that young people perceive this - especially because they have everything in them to change the world, - and the summit would empower them to do so!

What are you most excited for about the Youth STEM Summit?

I’m most excited about the impact of the summit! The Youth STEM Summit is going to be a revolutionary event where youngsters get an opportunity to realize how much potential and capability they adhere to change the world with STEM being a part of the solution. The summit will be a space for youngsters to learn, grow, and inspire not only each other but the entire world with their doings! I’m super pumped to see how much young innovators, scientists, trailblazers, and changemakers can apply their learnings from the summit and implement it in the real world as a takeaway from the summit to put forth a positive impact!