A week into his American citizenship, Surinder Jain and his wife, Harmit Kaur, were on their way to the National Museum of the United States Air Force for a little sight seeing. While heading north on Interstate-75 from Cincinnati, Jain caught a glimpse of his destiny.
“If I hadn’t been on my way to the Air Force museum, I would have never seen this college,” Jain said. “I became a believer in destiny. I cannot explain it any other way.”
More than 27 years later, Jain, the Interim Associate Dean of Science, Mathematics and Engineering at Sinclair Community College, received the 2010 Outstanding Scientists and Engineers Award in Education on March 4. The Affiliate Societies Council of Dayton presented the award.
“I’m very proud of the achievement I’ve accomplished at Sinclair,” Jain said.
In 1983, Jain and his wife stayed in Cincinnati with his sister-in-law where the two began working on their resumes to find a place to start a new life.
“We landed (in the U.S.) with four suitcases and $19,” he said. “We left our two kids behind with my parents because we weren’t sure where we would end up and if we would have a job or not.”
After catching a glimpse of Sinclair on I-75, Jain and his wife applied at the college. Both Jain and his wife interviewed for the same position, the dean at the time called Jain and told him to figure out who wanted the position more.
“(Kaur) said ‘I’m not driving from Cincinnati to Dayton every day, so you take the job,’ ”Jain said. “The next day we got a call and the dean said he would hire her as full-time adjunct faculty. So we have been in Dayton ever since and we have only worked at Sinclair since we came here. Dayton is our hometown.”
Jain, who has been in education for 43 years, began his career as a research assistant at Punjabi University in Patiala, India. Jain was an assistant professor at the university until his move to the United States in 1983.
Jain was hired as a faculty member in the Electronics, Engineering and Technology department. In 1985, Jain became the department chair and held the position for 22 years.
“During my tenure, we totally updated all the labs,” Jain said. “I got almost $1 million in grants for the department exclusively for faculty training and online courses. I tried to bring in the latest technology in the department.”
In 2007, Jain took over his current interim associate dean position.
Jain said his wife, who has also been with the college since 1983, is his greatest inspiration. Kaur is a professor in the Math department.
“I attribute a lot to her,” Jain said. “She is such a great companion and mentor.”
Jain said he has noticed a lot of changes at Sinclair since 1983, but the college’s reputation has stayed the same.
“Whenever I go to national conferences, Sinclair is so well respected and so well known,” he said. “(Sinclair) has always been on the national map as an elite college.”