IISc alumna wins Kalam fellowship at US varsity

Bengaluru: Veena Subramanian, a Master`s student from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here, won the second A P J Kalam Post-Graduate Fellowship from the University of South Florida, the American varsity announced on Saturday.

"The Fellowship was instituted in 2015 in honour of (former) President Abdul Kalam, who visited the University in 2012," said the varsity in a statement from Florida.

The Fellowship facilitates Indian students like Subramanian to pursue a PhD in specified Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SGEM) programme, with four year tuition waiver and $18,000 (Rs 11,52,000) stipend per year.

Subramanian plans to use the PhD programme at the University to make an impact in genome integrity and aging mechanism, which will enhance the understanding of issues facing the elderly and help researchers to find solutions to their pressing needs

"Aging is a feature that is conserved across species and one of the risk factors for pathologies like Alzheimer`s, metabolic disorders, type II diabetes and cancer, all of which are health challenges of this century," the statement quoted her as saying.

Born and raised at Kottayam in the southern state of Kerala, Subramanian graduated in Biotechnology engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology in Tamil Nadu and did Masters in Cell Biology at the IISc.

"Subramanian`s academic credentials and passion for research exemplifies all that embodies a Kalam Fellow. We welcome and anticipate her contributions to our Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology," said the US university`s Vice President Roger Brindley.