Four people, including scientists and engineers, have been selected for the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Awards of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) for 2020. This year’s awardees are: K. Rajalakshmi Menon, B.S. Murty, Sethuraman Panchanathan, and Keshab Panda.
This is an annual award that recognises exceptional contributions made by IISc. alumni to their profession, institute and society as a whole, said IISc. in a press release. Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IISc., said that the awardees are highly accomplished individuals who had made exceptional contributions to their fields of study.
One of the awardees, Dr. Menon, scientist and program director at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said: “We are honoured to confer this award upon them in recognition of their achievements.”
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The awardees
According to a release by IISc., Dr. Menon has made pioneering contributions to the design, development, testing, deployment and operationalisation of the indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control system, which have been inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Another awardee, Prof. Murty, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, has been been recognised for his contributions in the fields of high entropy alloys, non-equilibrium processing of materials by mechanical alloying among others.
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Prof. Panchanathan, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S., has been recognised for his contributions to research on human-centred computing solutions benefiting individuals with disabilities.
Mr. Panchanathan had been appointed to the U.S. National Science Board and the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said the release.
Dr. Panda, currently serving as CEO & MD of L&T Technology Services Ltd., has been selected for the awarded for his contributions to engineering R&D, in particular for steering the growth of engineering services businesses such as Satyam and L&T.