The Clinton Global Initiative University has recognized Ananya Bandyopadhyay at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for her humanitarian project for women of India. Here, Bandyopadhyay folds her hands in the Indian greeting saying “Namaste” on Christmas Card Lane in Madison last December. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Ananya Bandyopadhyay, an alumna of Bob Jones High School’s medical academy, has gained affiliation with Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U).

A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) sophomore, Bandyopadhyay is majoring in biomedical engineering, minoring in mathematics. “I’m on the pre-med track,” she said.

Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2007, Clinton Global Initiative University brings together college students to address global challenges with practical, innovative solutions. Participants create action plans, build relationships, participate in hands-on workshops and follow up with CGI U as they complete projects. (cgiu.org)

The University of Miami will host this year’s CGI U on March 6-8.

Bandyopadhyay is president of Engineers Next Door (END), founded with three other UAB biomedical engineering majors. “Our mutual desire is to help people around the world by utilizing our educational knowledge and skills we have accumulated … and give back to the community — both locally and globally,” she said.

Involving medicine, engineering and public health, Bandyopadhyay’s ‘Commitment to Action’ will “provide safe, sanitary facilities for women of lower castes in a rural village in India as a preventative measure to rape,” she said. “About 665 million people in rural India defecate in open locations. More than 60 percent of rapes occur when victims visit these unsecured locations.”

“It’s culturally unacceptable for women to defecate in the open. Many are forced to wait until night, exposing them to attack in male-dominant villages,” she said. Her project will span two years minimum with volunteers visiting India.

Bandyopadhyay’s project will compete with other accepted students for funding.

“Ananya is an outstanding student with a project that has international impact,” Bob Jones medical academy chairman Melinda Lawson said.

Ananya’s parents are Alak and Anindita ‘Ana’ Bandyopadhyay. He teaches computer science at Alabama A&M University. Ananya’s brother Ankit is a Discovery Middle School seventh-grader.

After graduating from UAB in 2017, Bandyopadhyay plans to enter medical school. “I’ve always aspired to be a physician. Taking … biomedical sciences at Bob Jones further cemented my goal,” she said.