Former President and a stalwart in science, Dr. Abdul Kalam, felicitated IRIS and Intel ISEF winner, Hetal Vaishnav. He was amazed at the kind of work Hetal had undertaken and blessed her with well wishes. He also urged the youth to challenge their limits and think out of the box.

Hetal Vaishnav, a student from Rajkot, a small town in Gujarat was determined to pursue Research and Innovation from a young age. She worked on a project and participated at Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) for the 1st time in 2006. She won the National Award in 2008 and participated at Intel SIEF 2009 where she won prestigious awards. She and her brother, Ankur Vaishnav, made another innovative project and won a National Award in 2010 and were then selected to participate at Intel ISEF 2011. There, they won a 2nd Grand Award of $1500 for their project: Recycling Rexine Waste--A Novel and Economical Approach. 

Former President Dr. Abdul Kalam & Intel ISEF winner, Hetal Vaishnav