The Swarnajayanti Fellowships were launched in 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of India 's independence. These prestigious fellowships are meant to encourage young scientist to undertake basic research in frontier areas of S&T, and achieve standards of excellence which are comparable to the best in the world. The fellowships are open to outstanding Indian young scientist, in the age group of 30-40 years, with proven track record in six research areas that include: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Geology, Biology and Engineering. The selected candidates, after a few rounds of national level short-listing, are given an attractive fellowship and substantive financial support towards their research programme for a maximum period of five years. The support under the project covers grant for equipment, manpower, contingencies, consumable, travel including international travel and administrative and infrastructure support. More information about this fellowship can be obtained from Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/ser-index.htm)

Dr. P. K. Panigrahi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, originally from a village in Orissa, has been working at IIT Kanpur for last eight years. He has been awarded AICTE Career Award (1998), BOYSCAST fellowship (2000) and Alexander-van-Humboldt Fellowship in 2004. He is involved in the development and implementation of various techniques useful in aeronautics, naval, laser and nuclear engineering.

 

 

Dr. Sandeep Verma, Department of Chemistry Department, IITKanpur, has been awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowship in Chemical Sciences for exploring the role of conserved peptide motifs in aggregative proteins as focal points for dimerization and subsequent oligomerization resulting in plaque-like amyloidic aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Creutzfeldt Jakob's disease, to name a few. His laboratory has successfully demonstrated aggregation in conserved functional segments from the human prion protein and HIV-1 V3 loop, an important protein from the AIDS virus. His research publications have appeared in several international journals and moreover, his contributions from have been recognized by his peers in the form of an AICTE Career Award (1999), B.M. Birla Science Prize (2003), and Chemical Research Society of India Medal (2005).