The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) has announced the winners of the INSA medal for young Scientists for the year 2018. Thirty young scientists from institutions and universities across the country have been selected for their contributions to science and technology.
INSA is a national science academy established in January 1935 ‘with the object of promoting science in India and harnessing scientific knowledge for the cause of humanity and national welfare’. The INSA medal for young scientists was launched in 1974, in association with Kothari Scientific Research Institute with an aim of distinguishing young scientists of extraordinary promise and creativity who have made notable research contributions in science and technology.
Any scientist, who is a citizen of India and below the age of 35, who has made notable contributions to any branch of science and technology, can be nominated for the medal. Nominations are made by fellows of INSA, earlier recipients of the award, scientific societies of national standing, university faculty, post-graduate departments and research institutions. Upon receiving the recommendations, the Council of the Academy selects up to thirty winning candidates.
This year, Dr. Prerna Sharma, an Assistant Professor at Department of Physics, and Dr. Mayank Shrivastava, Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and Dr. Chandra MR Volla, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Mumbai are among the thirty winners of the medal.
Dr. Sharma heads the Soft Matter Lab at IISc. She was nominated for the medal for her contributions to solving technologically important problems in soft matter physics using colloidal particles. Dr. Shrivastava heads Mayank Shrivastava’s Devices Lab at IISc and works on development, enablement and integration of nano-scale CMOS and power MOSFET devices in System-on-Chip applications. Dr. Volla has been nominated for his contributions towards developing a cost-effective catalyst using cobalt for C-H functionalization reactions.
Notably, each awardee will receive a bronze medal, a certificate and a cash prize of ₹ 25,000. He/she will also be considered for a visit abroad with full support for presenting their research work at conferences or participating in collaborative research projects.