Faculty Speak to 2,000 Professors at India Conference

Faculty Speak to 2,000 Professors at India Conference

by | Mar 30, 2018 | Achievements

Professors Anil Maheshwari, Vicki Herriott, and Scott Herriott at the Second National Teachers’ Congress

 

Scott Herriott addressing the audience at the Congress

 

Anil Maheshwari and Vicki Herriott with teachers from MIT-WPU

 

Scott and Vicki Herriott with Kamna Gaur, the young TM instructor from Delhi who helped them teach the Transcendental Meditation technique to the faculty and students at
MIT-WPU

College professors in India heard presentations by Professors Anil Maheshwari and Scott Herriott at the Second National Teachers’ Congress hosted by Maharashtra Institute of Technology-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) in Pune, India, in January.

National Teachers’ Congress (NTC) is a convention of higher education teachers from India, and teachers of Indian origin living abroad, with the mission of facilitating the exchange and dissemination of creative and visionary ideas and best practices through interaction with peers and thought leaders from all walks of life.

The MUM faculty were invited to give plenary addresses, along with the Dalai Lama and about 30 other eminent educators and political leaders. Over 2,000 teachers took part in the Congress, mostly from India but also including hundreds of visitors from a dozen countries.

In his address to the Congress, Dr. Maheshwari spoke about the ultimate goal of education: to help students prepare to live a blissful life. Dr. Herriott gave a presentation about the fourth state of consciousness and its role in education, showing references to this state of consciousness in the Mandukya Upanishad and the Bhagavad-Gita. He cited research showing that 8,000 students practicing the advanced TM-Sidhi®program together would radiate an influence that would help create peace in the world. “World peace is a mere byproduct of a properly founded system of education,” Professor Herriott said.

In addition to being invited to address the Congress, Scott and Vicki Herriott were there to teach the Transcendental Meditation® technique at MIT-WPU. Along with a young Transcendental Meditation instructor from Delhi, they taught 20 faculty and students from the Department of Vedic Science and the School of Education and 40 students in the College of Business. There are now more than 100 practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique at MIT-WPU.

This private university was founded by Dr. Vishwanath Karad in 1983 and currently has 65,000 students. MIT-WPU strongly supports MUM’s Consciousness-BasedSM education and has resolved to build a meditation hall for 4,000 students. During the Congress Dr. Karad met privately with the MUM faculty.

Waqas Hussain Finds the Mathematical Equation for Transcendental Meditation

Waqas Hussain Finds the Mathematical Equation for Transcendental Meditation

by | Mar 15, 2018 | Achievements

Computer science student Waqas Hussain

 

Hosting an awards ceremony at MUM in 2017

 

With the MUM Student Government

Waqas Hussain earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Air University in Islamabad, Pakistan. After graduation he worked as a software engineer on a variety of projects, including a system to recognize different stages of Alzheimer’s disease, a tomato and potato plant disease-detection system, and an electronic voting platform designed to eliminate electoral fraud.

While traveling in the U.S. Waqas visited MUM and, after talking to professors, decided to apply for the Computer Professionals Program. He was persuaded by the program’s focus on the practical versus the theoretical aspects of computer science. “I like that the faculty keep us up-to-date with whatever is new in the industry,” he said. “They also focus on what’s good for the students and help us with writing resumes and finding jobs.”

Waqas was impressed by how much he benefited from the practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique in terms of his creativity and focus, so he decided to demonstrate its efficacy with a mathematical equation. He presented his theory to President John Hagelin and the MUM senior faculty and was encouraged to continue his research.

Waqas calls his equation the “Transcendental Equation” which describes the seven states of consciousness, including the process of experiencing pure consciousness. In addition, he is working on an article with MUM Professor Cathy Gorini on relating the Transcendental Meditation technique to principles from mathematics and computer science to be published in the International Journal of Mathematics and Consciousness.

“Waqas has a deep appreciation for his daily practice of TM; this, along with his penetrating understanding of computer science, is the key to his success,” said Professor Gorini. “I am looking forward to his work connecting the science of consciousness with the science of computers.”

During his eight months on campus, Waqas also served on the MUM Student Government as the representative of the Computer Science Department.

Last November Waqas started his curricular practical training with a software company in Princeton, New Jersey, where he is working on a robot capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. He is very enthusiastic about the TM® technique and shares his experience with everyone he meets. He hopes to continue his research on the TM equation and return to MUM.

MBA Team Gets Top Score Amid Increasing Competition in Global Business Simulation

MBA Team Gets Top Score Amid Increasing Competition in Global Business Simulation

by | Mar 5, 2018 | Achievements, Excluded from search

The MBA accounting team that finished in the 99th percentile (from left to right: Pondpat Tohsanguanpun, Ram Neupane, Merveille Tiani)

 

The team worked together for three weeks and completed eight rounds of simulation.

 

Professor Andrew Bargerstock with the entire class who participated in the Capstone simulation
(photos by Ken West)

A team of MBA accounting students finished in the 99th percentile in an online integrated decision-making simulation that involved 1,271 master’s-degree-level teams worldwide. During the past seven years, MUM has consistently placed at least one team in the top 10 percent, while the number of competing teams has increased more than tenfold.

This year’s top-ranking team included Ram Neupane (Nepal), Merveille Tiani (Cameroon), and Pondpat Tohsanguanpun (Thailand). The students were participating in the competition while enrolled in Dr. Andrew Bargerstock’s MBA Capstone course.

“We had four teams competing during the three weeks ending Feb 5, and our class performed overall at a level higher than 81 percent of the participating graduate schools worldwide,” said Professor Bargerstock.

The online Capstone simulation challenges students to draw on their acquired knowledge to create and execute a strategy in a competitive and dynamic environment. Students have the opportunity to test their assumptions and learn from their mistakes so they are better prepared for their careers. They get the chance to apply what they have learned across all disciplines of business and experience what it’s like to run a business in a competitive marketplace.

“With each round of the simulation, we experienced layers of growth in 360-degree vision, which is so important for guiding a successful business,” said Ram Neupane.

“The Capstone simulation enabled me to revisit each section of a company and see how each decision that we made had an impact on the financial statements, the productivity, and our ability to meet customer demand,” said Merveille Tiani. “It is, therefore, an ideal tool to experience Maharishi’s five qualities of executive mind, which are comprehension, creativity, initiative, vigilance, and foresight.”

Other U.S. universities in the top 10 percent included DePaul University, Indiana University, Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Massachusetts, University of Northern Iowa, and Western Michigan University.