GOSH 2024 Candidate Statement: Sakti Subramanian

Community Governance Elections
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This thread is for the candidate statement of the 2024 GOSH Community Council Election candidate Sakti Subramanian (@SynBio101). Sakti, you can reply to this post with your candidate statement. I have included the candidate statement template below for your reference:

2024 GOSH Community Council Election Candidate Statement Template

1. Candidate Name:

2. Please provide a short biography, and describe some of your participation and contributions in open science hardware and the GOSH community (approximately 3-5 sentences):

3. Please provide a position statement (approximately 3-5 sentences) indicating why you are running for Community Council, your priorities for the community, and what you hope to achieve:

4. Tell us how your experience, skills, and/or qualifications allow for effectively serving and governing communities (approximately 2-3 sentences):

5. Please detail which of the eight existing Community Council governance domain(s) you are interested in taking on (this does not have to be a firm commitment), plus what you would like to do within that domain(s). (approximately 2-3 sentences)

6. Please confirm that you are able and willing to participate in regularly scheduled council meetings at least twice a month.

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1. Candidate Name
Sakti Subramanian

2. Candidate Biography
I serve as a Co-Founder at Great Lakes SynBio and a Project Head at iGEM Community, where I work to advance the training of under-represented students in Synthetic Biology with low-cost educational kits and regional community building. In the capacity of these efforts, I have received funding from GOSH and led several partnerships with international stakeholders, including AfricaOSH.

I am also an active contributor to the Open Science Hardware and Frugal Science movements through the lens of Synthetic Biology. I have worked on low-cost, non-invasive diagnostic tests for breast cancer and skin cancer using biomarkers found in blood. Prior to this, I worked on iGEM Friendzymes at the BioBlaze Community Lab, a global initiative with fiscal sponsorship from GOSH that had a mission to democratize biotechnology and globally distribute the means of enzyme production.

3. Position Statement
As a high school student, I entered the field of Synthetic Biology at a community lab in Chicago that later closed down. I began to notice that science and technology has yet to reach communities due to their age, their geographic region, or both.

Since then, I remain unwavering in my commitment to make science and technology widely accessible and appreciated in all communities - without the aforementioned barriers. GOSH is a perfect network to center this effort due to its focus on open hardware devices with contributors from across the world.

As an international community focused on science and technology, we need to ask ourselves - how can we make sure our fields are available to everyone?

4. Qualifications
With a strong background in open science - through hardware, education, policy, and community - I believe that I will be an effective Council Member to govern the GOSH Community. I have fostered open science collaborations across the world that would be beneficial for GOSH, via involvement in different Synthetic Biology networks (iGEM, JOGL, SynBioBeta, Reclone). With fellow Council Members, I believe that I can expand GOSH’s outreach to communities where science and technology may not be widely accessible or appreciated.

5. Community Domains

  1. Gatherings/Events: I would like to contribute to GOSH gatherings across the world, as well as lead collaboration events with external partners.
  2. Community Support: I would like to ensure that GOSH provides a welcoming community for hardware folks to share their ideas, questions, and comments.

6. Yes, I am able and willing to participate regularly in council meetings at least twice a month.

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