AWARDS APRIL 2015

AWARDS APRIL 2015

• Sangeeta Bhatia: An Indian-origin scientist at MIT, who has developed artificial human microlivers for drug testing, has won a prestigious $2,50,000 Heinz award for her work in tissue engineering and disease detection. Sangeeta Bhatia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been named the recipient of the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment. The award includes an unrestricted prize of $ 2,50,000.
  
  The Heinz Awards annually recognise individuals for their extraordinary contributions to arts and humanities; environment; human condition; public policy; and technology, the economy, and employment.
  
  Ms. Bhatia’s team has pioneered the fabrication of artificial human microlivers, which are being used by many biopharmaceutical companies to test the toxicity of drug candidates. She is also using microlivers in the lab to model malaria infection and test drugs that can eradicate malaria parasites completely. She hopes to eventually develop implantable liver tissue as a complement or substitute for whole-organ transplant.
  
• Sachidanandan: K. Sachidanandan has been selected for this year’s Muttathu Varkey Literary Award. This is for the first time that a poet has been selected for the award.
  According to the organisers, 2015 was the 75th anniversary of Muttathu Varkey’s debut into Malayalam literature with a poem titled Aathmaanjali. So it was decided to have the 24th edition of the award be given to poetry
  
  Mr. Sachidanandan has been selected for his poem titled Malayalam, which appeared in his collected work of the same title. A three-member jury comprising M. Leelavathy, K.P. Sankaran, and C. Benjamin selected the work.
  
  The award carrying a purse of Rs.33,333, a citation, and a memento will be presented at Kodungalloor on May 28, the death anniversary of Muttathu Varkey.
  
• C N R Rao: Scientist C N R Rao was conferred with Japan's highest civilian award for his contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science cooperation. The Emperor of Japan conferred the country's highest award, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, on the Bharat Ratna, a release by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) said.
  Rao is a National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the JNCASR.
  
  The renowned scientist, who has published more than 1600 research papers and authored about 50 books, has been bestowed with about 70 honorary doctorates, received the highest civilian award from several nations and is an elected member of almost all scientific academies across the globe. He had also worked as the Chief Science Advisor to Prime Ministers of India.
  
• Babasaheb Purandare: The Maharashtra government has decided to confer the Maharashtra Bhushan on the right-wing historian, Babasaheb Purandare, whose major works have contributed much to the cult of King Shivaji. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh, a citation and a memento.
  Mr. Purandare is known as Shiv Sahir (Shivaji’s poet) because of his bestselling narrative Raja Shiva Chatrapati and Janata Raja, a much-performed play, replete with medieval Indian pageantry that recreates the 17th century atmosphere in Maharashtra through incidents in Shivaji’s life.
  
• Miranda Lambert wins big at 2015 ACM awards
  Lee Brice grabbed the award Single of the Year at 2015 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards and Jason Aldean took home the award of Male Vocalist of the Year. Miranda Lambert was named as Female Vocalist of the Year at 2015 ACM, and she also managed to grab Album of the Year award for her album ‘Platinum.
  
• Xi Jinping: Pakistan conferred its top civilian award 'Nishan-e-Pakistan' on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his outstanding contribution in promotion of relationship of China's relationship with Pakistan. The award-giving ceremony was organized at the President House where president Mamnoon Hussain conferred the award on 61-year-old Xi..
  
• Yale World Fellows in US: Two Indians are among 16 scholars selected for the 2015 Yale World Fellows in the US for their exemplary mid-career work. An Indian conflict reporter, Rahul Pandita and a health care founder, Zeena Johar has been selected by the prestigious Ivy League university. They were chosen from a pool of about 4,000 applicants for the New Haven, Connecticut-based university's signature global leadership development initiative.
  
  With the addition of Pandita and Johar, the global Yale World Fellows network now includes 17 Indian Fellows, more than any other country since the programme was established in 2002. Pandita is mostly known for his reportage on Maoist insurgency in central and eastern India, and on the turmoil in Kashmir. Johar's SughaVazhvu health care center is working to create a primary-care delivery network through rural clinics. Every year, the University invites a group of exemplary mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.
  
• Sunitha:The 24th Yudhvir Foundation Memorial Award will be given to Prajwala founder Sunitha Krishnan for her extraordinary achievement in the rescue, restoration and rehabilitation of victims in trafficking and her exemplary care and support to HIV patients.
  
• Dr M V Jagannadham: Senior scientist at CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Jagannadham has been awarded with Eminent Mass Spectrometrist Award by Indian Society for Mass Spectrometry (ISMAS). The award was given in recognition of his contribution in the field of biological mass spectrometry. Dr Jagannadham, a member of the team for establishing the proteomics facility at CCMB, developed chemical modification methods for peptides followed by mass spectrometry to improve the efficiency of de novo sequencing.
  
  These methods help in the identification of proteins from the species of unknown genome sequences and also to validate the sequences obtained from database searches. He is a member of the Editorial board of ‘Proteomics Insights’ and Associate Editor of ‘Journal of Integrated OMICS’. His current research is focused on the structure and functional studies of the outer membrane vesicles from gram-negative bacteria.
  
• Satya Nadella: Microsoft’s Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella was honoured with the White House Champions of Change on 16 April 2015. He is one of the 12 local Champions of Change who were honoured for their exemplary leadership. Champions of Change honour is given to those who support working families and help make change in their companies or communities.
  
• Susanta Lahiri and Kattesh V Katti: Prof. Susanta Lahiri and Kattesh V. Katti received Hevesy medal Award 2015 for their outstanding contributions in the fields of radio and nuclear chemistry.
  
  The awards were given to them on twelve Apr 2015 at the Tenth International Conference on ways and Applications of Radio-analytical Chemistry organized in USA.
  
  Susanta Lahiri is a professor at Chemical Sciences Division, Saha Institute of nuclear physics in Kolkata. He won the award for his contributions to heavy ion induced radioisotope production, converter targets, green chemistry and tracer packet technique. He is also credited with co-creating Ununseptium chemical element (atomic number 117) together with other national and international scientists.
  
  Kattesh V. Katti is a professor at the Cedntre for radiological research, University of Missouri in Columbia, the US. His research interests in the domain of Nano Science and Technology include exploring chemical, biophysical, magnetic and photo physical properties that are unique to specific nanoparticulates, toward the design and development of sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
  
  The Hevesy medal Award 2014 was presented to Heino Nitsche of University of California in recognition of his international contributions to heavy element chemistry and actinide environmental chemistry.
  • The award is the premier international award of excellence honoring outstanding achievements in radio and nuclear chemistry.
  • It is named after chemical scientist george de Hevesy (1885-1966), who received the nobel prize for Chemistry in 1943 for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers within the study of chemical processes.
  • The award was established in 1968 by the Editor-in-Chief and the (then) publishers of the Journal of Radioanalytical and nuclear chemistry (JRNC).
  
  
• Amitabh Bachchan, Karim Aga Khan get Padma Vibhushan
  Amitabh Bachchan and Karim Aga Khan were among the eminent personalities awarded the Padma Vibhushan, country's second highest civilian honour.
  
  President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the awards at civil investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on 8th April.
  
  Senior Supreme Court advocate K K Venugopal and well known Jain philanthropist D Veerendra Heggade from Karnataka were also conferred the Padma Vibhushan.
  
  Renowned Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua and computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar were given the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian honour.
  
  Hockey player Saba Anjum, women cricketer Mithali Raj, economist Bibek Debroy, former Infosys top executive Mohandas Pai and musician Ravindra Jain were given Padma Shri.
  
• President confers Bharat Ratna and Padma awards
  President Pranab Mukherjee on 30th March conferred the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna on legendary educationist and freedom fighter Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award was conferred to Veteran BJP Leader L K Advani, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh badal and religious leader Jagadguru Swami Rambhadracharya.
  
• Peltier Award to Rajani Ganesh-Pillai
  An Indian-American professor Rajani Ganesh-Pillai, who uses a game called "BaffaBaffa" to teach culture's role in business and how it can affect transactions and relationships has won the prestigious Peltier Award for innovation in teaching.
  
  Pune University graduate Rajani Ganesh-Pillai, assistant professor of marketing at the North Dakota State University (NDSU), will be recognized during the annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence scheduled for May 6 with three other faculty members.
  
  The Peltier Award was established by Joseph and Norma Peltier to honour innovation in teaching.Ganesh-Pillai will be recognized for her efforts to bring hands-on experience, theory-based understanding and an enhanced global perspective to her marketing students.
  
• 2015 International Achievement Award to Subadhra Devi Rai
   Subadhra Devi Rai, a senior lecturer at the School of Health Sciences (Nursing) at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), has been named winner of the 2015 International Achievement Award by the International Council of Nurses' Florence Nightingale International Foundation. She became the first Singaporean to get the biennial prize since its introduction in 1999. She will receive the prestigious award on 21 June 2015 at a conference in Seoul.