By Saniya Kamat (III) Pingry welcomes Dr. Parminder Haven, who will be teaching Chemistry 1 and 2, while serving as an iRT advisor and Form V co-advisor.
Dr. Haven was born and raised in Punjab, a state in the northern part of India, where she lived until she turned 24. Dr. Haven received her Bachelors in Education and Science from Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, Punjab, and received her Masters in Chemistry from Punjabi University in Patiala, Punjab. She then earned her PhD from Hunter College in New York.
Before coming to Pingry, Dr. Haven was a long-term substitute teacher at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx and taught at an all-girls school in New York City. After spending twelve years in research, while also teaching college students, Dr. Haven decided to come to Pingry. She described her decision: “For the love of science! [I] wanted to inspire young kids to not be afraid of science.”
In her free time, Dr. Haven enjoys running, cooking, going on long drives with her family, reading Punjabi literature, and baking without eggs. “I make a really good eggless cake,” she said, “Chemistry helped me with that.” So far, Dr. Haven has “absolutely love[d] everything about Pingry . . . It’s very inspirational to see young minds doing the right thing and embodying Honor Code.”. This year, Dr. Haven hopes to develop a bond with her students; she wants to “help them thrive to the best of their capacities and do the best they can.” Welcome to Pingry, Dr. Haven!