Meet Prakasam Tata

Dr. Prakasam Tata is originally from Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India. After his

M.Sc. degree in India and working there for seven years on rural water supply and

wastewater treatment problems, he migrated to USA and received his Ph.D. degree

in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University, New Jersey. After serving on the

faculty of Cornell University, he moved to Chicago in 1974 to work at the Metropolitan

Water Reclamation District and retired in 2002 as the Assistant Director of the R & D

department. He is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Center for the

Transformation of Waste Technology, a non profit organization, and as a Distinguished

Professor of Environmental Health and Sciences at the Maharajah Institute of Medical

Sciences on an honorary basis. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville and

served on its Board, International Service Committee, and District 6450’s Hunger

Committee. He and his wife, Padma, are blessed with two daughters and a son and five

grandchildren.

Team Update

Our regular meeting spot has been the Filter coffee house in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. This weekend we worked on finalizing our bios and aggregating fun facts about Chicago for our brochure. We've made sure to tie the facts into our own vocations. Some of the interesting ones we are thinking about sharing include:

• The world’s largest public library is Harold Washington Library Center located at 400 S. State St.
• The 4 stars on the Chicago flag represent Fort Dearborn, the Chicago Fire, the World's Columbian Exposition, and the Century of Progress Exposition.
• The first televised U.S. presidential candidates’ debate was broadcast from Chicago’s CBS Studios on September 26, 1960, between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
• Since, 1980, more than 750 feature films and television production have been made in Chicago, leaving behind $1.3 billion in the local economy.
• Chicago is one of the world’s top ten global financial centers and and the second largest business district in the United States.
• Chicago hosts 12 Fortune Global 500 companies
• Taste of Chicago is the world’s largest food festival held in Grant Park for the duration of 10 day and draws approximately 3.5 million people with over 70 vendors.
• The Orthogenic school, where Dana works, was founded by the famous psychologist Bruno Bettelheim.  He was a front runner in changing treatment for mental illness by moving away from procedures used in hospitals and asylums.

Meet Elliot Hunt

Elliot Hunt is originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas. He has lived in Chicago for a total of four years and proudly calls it home. He has cooked professionally for eight years, and currently is the lead line cook at mk restaurant, a fine dining establishment in downtown Chicago. He loves food and cooking but also enjoys spending his time visiting museums, travelling, homebrewing his own beer, playing scrabble, and riding his bike. He is excited to explore Gujarat and be exposed to all of it's wonderful cuisine.