MY Camper Nafis Jalil: Combining science, engineering and economics
17-year-old Nafis Jalil from Bangladesh is interested in the physics behind climate change, the engineering in environmental sciences, and the economics that enable the development of science.
Nafis Jalil from Bangladesh.
17-year-old Nafis Jalil lives in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and attends to International School Dhaka’s International Baccalaureate program.
“My curriculum demands a well-rounded approach to my studies. My courses are focused in higher level mathematics, physics and chemistry, with also higher level economics,” Nafis explains.
Nafis heard about MY Camp from Parth Vaidya, one of the 2011 MY Campers from India.
“I had been studying about climate change adaptation and mitigation techniques for some time, and MY Camp happened to come along to provide an opportunity for me to apply my knowledge in a creative situation,” says Nafis, one of the members in MY Camp’s Climate Change group.
He is also working with an NGO called Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative that aims to promote environmental awareness and youth leadership in the cause of the environment.
For the second phase of MY Camp application process Nafis did a project plan on the design of a global climate change observation network.
“My idea was to use the world’s merchant fleet to perform as an organic climate change observation network, where each ship unit would be fitted with the necessary instruments to record climate change factors and all ships will collectively send the information to a central system for further climate change modeling,” Nafis says and adds that since childhood ships have fascinated him, even though he doesn’t live in a coastal city and has had only a few experiences at sailing and cruising.
Science runs in Nafis’s family as both of his parents are University Professors in the fields of pharmaceutical science and microbiology. Nafis considers them as his rolemodels along with his school science teachers and many noted scientists.
“I am particularly a fan of the famed Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman. He had a rockstar personality and was exceptionally humorous for a scientist! One of my favourite quotes of his is: ‘For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.’”
In the future, Nafis will follow the footsteps of his parents and other rolemodels in science. However, unlike his parents, Nafis has never been particularly intrigued by the biological sciences.
“I have always found pure sciences more charming, and am passionate about theoretical physics and pure mathematics,” Nafis says. Climate change interests him due to the physics behind it.
“I have also become interested in the engineering side of environmental sciences, and developed a strong interest in economics and the theory of the development of science from an economic perspective.”
As for his future studies and career, Nafis is still unsure. “My biggest conflict at the moment is choosing whether I should go for pure sciences or engineering sciences. I would love to study in North America. In any case I think I would go for research and teaching as a career track, instead of entering the industry.”
Besides science, Nafis’s other passion is photography and he has even done some professional work for weddings and portraits.
Have a look at Nafis’s project plan.
Read more about Millennium Youth Camp from Finland’s Science Education Centre LUMA’s website.
Elisa Lautala works as web editor for University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science. Elisa likes all kinds of cultural events, good books, warm weather, and aqua-jogging.