Studying to make a difference back home

Late at night, after attending classes that comprise a 6.5 credit course-load, teaching high school students at The Learning Corridor, and tutoring fellow college students in math or economics, Shyam Gouri Suresh ’03 works in the library, where he unwinds with “some of the best students on campus.”

“Working there late at night is, I think, the best thing to do if you want to broaden your perspectives,” Gouri Suresh says, referring to the valuable discussions he has with fellow student workers at the library.

A native of Jamshedpur, India, and a soon-to-be double major in engineering and economics, Gouri Suresh is certainly not lacking in breadth of perspectives. His comment points to an inquisitive nature and respect for any viewpoint that may help him better understand, and contribute to, the College and global communities.

Engineering: in and out of the classroom

Having already declared his engineering major, Gouri Suresh has reached beyond the classroom through his involvement with the Trinity Robotics Team and, more recently, through summer work in the College’s electrophysiology laboratories. The latter engaged him in a project to develop a virtual instrument system that may replace the recording and analysis system presently used by faculty and students to detect and quantify bioelectric events.

“[He] applied himself to the task of completing the project and made significant progress during the summer,” says Joseph Bronzino, Vernon D. Roosa Professor of Applied Science.

Gouri Suresh admits he had some initial thoughts about pursuing enrollment at a larger technical university, but says he has benefited hugely from his decision to stay at Trinity, a setting that offers him smaller class sizes and close relationships with accessible members of the faculty. One such faculty member is Associate Professor of Engineering John Mertens.

“He is the definition of ‘student,’” Mertens says. “He wants to learn everything! He’s incredibly thorough in his work, and digs up very interesting related information that he brings to class and shares with the rest of us.” 

While Gouri Suresh’s contributions to the engineering program are impressive, his ability to simultaneously pursue a rigorous education in economics may strike many of us as truly staggering.

Using economics to “give something back”

Gouri Suresh never took an economics course before coming to Trinity, but became interested in the discipline when he came to this country.

“I saw the huge difference between the level of poverty here and what’s back home, and that disparity is very striking,” Gouri Suresh says. “So it seems to me that it’s important to give something back to India.”

Indeed, Gouri Suresh, who was already active in literacy programs in India before coming to Trinity, says he plans to return home and use what he has learned in college to start a grass-roots organization to promote literacy and address what he calls a “vicious cycle” of poverty and corruption. He says he may also become involved in politics if he feels that his grass-roots efforts are not effecting adequate change.

“Working at the grassroots is very good. It’s very useful for the people you’re working for, but it doesn’t impact everybody,” Gouri Suresh says. “[Politics] is the easiest way to make a huge difference. It would be arrogant to assume that you can impact everybody—it’s impossible—but I think an effort needs to be made by somebody, somewhere, sometime.”

Gouri Suresh is also quick to point out that his early experiences as a student of Miguel Ramirez, professor of economics, were pivotal to the course of his academic studies.

“He was so inspiring that I decided to take economics, as well, as a major,” Suresh says.

Independent research and discovery

In the fall of his sophomore year, Gouri Suresh took on an independent study project under the guidance of Ramirez to explore the advancement of the economy in post-war India. He says he was surprised to discover  “a huge disparity among the opinions of experts.” Ramirez says he was enlightened and impressed by his student’s work.

“He did an outstanding job at examining this topic,” Ramirez says. “I learned a great deal from his discussion of how privatization is taking place in India today.”

Ramirez, who says Gouri Suresh’s research project was more akin to the work of a graduate student than an undergraduate, says that his student’s inquisitive nature is apparent in the classroom, as well as in his independent work.

“He always had a questioning attitude, but in a positive way, in the sense that he was always trying to develop an idea to the next step,” Ramirez recalls.

Ramirez may likely remember Gouri Suresh for something he says he never witnessed before, and which he describes as “mind-boggling.” On multiple choice exams and quizzes, Ramirez says, Gouri Suresh not only selected the correct answers, but also took the time to write essays explaining why the other answers were incorrect and, in some cases, why an argument could be made to select the “wrong” answers.

Following his graduation from Trinity, Gouri Suresh hopes to enroll in a master’s program in development economics, or find a job that may further enhance his applications to graduate programs in the future.

“He’s not only a terrific student, but also a lovely human being,” says Ramirez.

 –Michael Bradley