BHUBANESWAR: Scientist Prof Kshirod Kumar Jena will be conferred this year’s prestigious Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence. Prof Jena is professor emeritus at KIIT University’s School of Biotechnology.
This was announced by the Odisha Bigyan Academy under the Science and Technology department, on Thursday. Different other awards for scientists were also announced. The Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence carries a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh along with a medallion, memento and citation.
The Samanta Chandrasekhar Award - which is given for outstanding research contribution in science and technology - will be conferred on chief scientist of ICAR-NRRI in Cuttack, Sanghamitra Samantray, Prof Vedangdas Mohanty of NISER and NIT-Rourkela’s Prof Subrat Kumar Panda. The Samanta Chandrasekhar Award will also be given to Prof Pinaki Dutt of PGIMER, Chandigarh, for excellence in the field of life sciences.
Assistant professors in SCB MCH, Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar, and NIT-Rourkela, Dr Sarita Sekhar Patnaik, Apramita Chand and Rakesh Kumar Prusty will receive the Odisha Young Scientists Awards respectively. The award will also be given to Warangal-based National Institute of Science’s Dr Sanjay Kumar Panda.
Pranakrushna Parija Popular Science Book Awards will be given to Rabindranath Majhi and Tulasi Swain for their books in general and children’s books categories.
The young scientists and the authors will receive a cash award of Rs 25,000 with a citation and a memento. The awards and felicitation ceremony will be held soon, a release from the department stated.