Indian Scholars Elected as TWAS Fellows

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) elected 11 new fellows representing leading research institutions in India during the 25th TWAS General Meeting held at Muscat, Oman from October 25-29, 2014. This year, TWAS elected 52 new members, including 46 new fellows and 6 Associate Fellows, with highest 11 fellows from India with diverse academic contributions in agricultural sciences, chemical sciences, engineering sciences, physics, mathematical sciences, molecular biology, medical & health sciences and biological systems and organisms.

One of the most prominent fellows is Dr. Swapan Datta, DDG of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) who is a well-recognized agricultural scientist particularly in rice biotechnology for his pioneering research on genetic engineering of indica rice. His outstanding research includes marker free Golden Rice and high iron rice which would be useful in reducing malnutrition in developing countries. Dr. Datta is the fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and a recipient of the Paul Johannes Bruhl Memorial Medal in 2010, the P. Maheshwari Medal in 2006, and the CGIAR Science Award for his work on the enhanced iron and zinc accumulation in transgenic indica rice.

Three scientists including Venkata RK Chary of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai; Dinakar Salunke of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Gurgaon; Chandrima Shaha of the National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi have been inducted for their contributions in structural, cell and molecular biology. Others fellows are Samir Kumar Brahmachari of CSIR, New Delhi; Hemanta Majumder of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata for contribution in biological systems and organisms. For contribution in Medical and Health Sciences, Poonam Salotra of the National Institute of Pathology (ICMR), New Delhi; Swapan Kumar Pati of the JNCASR, Bangalore for Chemical Sciences; Siva Ram Murthy Chebiyyam of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Chennai for engineering sciences; Vasudevan Srinivas of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai for mathematical sciences and Suni Mukhi of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune for contribution in physics have been selected.

Based in Trieste, Italy, TWAS was founded by Nobel physics laureate Abdus Salam in 1983 to promote science and engineering for sustainable prosperity in the developing world. The academy boasts a lineup of 1,148 elected fellows—15 of them Nobel Prize winners—from 90 countries.

More information about 46 new TWAS fellows at: http://twas.org/article/forty-six-new-twas-fellows