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An assistant dean in the University of Arizona's College of Engineering has won a prestigious Purpose Prize, awarded to Americans over 60 who have made a positive impact on their communities and the world.

Ray Umashankar's $10,000 honor was announced by Civic Ventures, a national think tank focusing on baby boomers, work and social purpose. The prize is part of the Encore Careers campaign, which aims to engage boomers in second careers that combine social impact and personal meaning.

Two of the 15 winners, including Umashankar, were recognized for doing work outside of the United States.

Umashankar, 66, is executive director of the ASSET India Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps the children of sex workers in his native India with computer skills and jobs. ASSET stands for Achieving Sustainable Social Equality through Technology.

The two-year-old foundation was inspired by Umashankar's daughter, Nita, who witnessed firsthand the deplorable lives and bleak futures of sex workers and their children during a year-long stay in India.

The U.S. State Department estimates 20 million to 65 million Indians face forced labor, many of them women and children.

Initially both Ray and his wife, Sue — director of the Global Business Program at UA's Eller College of Management — were taken aback by their daughter's decision to help Indian children caught in the sex trade.

"We knew the dangers in this area — pimps and brokers, et cetera, and we thought, 'How is this girl born and brought up in the U.S. going to deal with this?'" Ray Umashankar said.

"I questioned her at length and when I realized how determined she was, I told her she needed to do research on reliable non-government organizations. … I know how money can disappear very quickly in other countries."

It wasn't easy, but Umashankar was able to persuade some major corporations to support the foundation — partners including Dell, Intel and Silicon Laboratories.

Now, ASSET India has become a huge passion and given him a new sense of purpose.

"I have thanked my daughter time and time again," he said. "I am so invigorated and excited every single day, no matter what Wall Street is doing."

The Indian way of paying respect is to touch someone's feet. That's what happened when the Umashankar family recently visited teens at one of the centers established by ASSET India.

"They never thought it was possible they would ever touch a computer," he said.

Umashankar and his daughter chose computers as a job focus because other Indian job programs for those living in poverty focused on trades such as vegetable vending and sewing, which don't produce enough income to keep desperate young people away from the sex trade, he said.

Currently 460 students are benefiting from ASSET India. The idea is that eventually the program will be self-sustaining, with IT companies supporting it, and students paying back minimal tuition once they obtain jobs.

"They are truly the most marginalized community. They suffer from abuse, neglect, rape, mutilation, so many social and economic issues," said Nita Umashankar, a doctoral student at the University of Texas in Austin who holds two undergraduate degrees from the UA.

"Having been raised by very liberal and educated parents and a very strong mother, I felt strongly about giving back such freedoms to women. I didn't want to take it for granted."

She said working with her father has been another huge benefit of the project.

"I am absolutely honored to do this with him. It is a dream come true. He is a great philanthropist, father and husband — a true leader."