KARWAR: Sasiguli village in Siddapur taluk is in a celebratory mood after local lad Dinesh Vasanth Hegde was awarded the highly competitive three-year Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) grants by US space agency NASA.
Dinesh, a research assistant in space science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), is on the moon after being selected for the scholarship of 1.35 lakh dollars by NASA. Far away in South India, residents of his native village are thrilled by his achievement. “We are all very proud of him. He studied in a tiny village and went to America for studies. Now, he has got a scholarship,” said Girish Hegde, a relative. “For students like us who studied in rural government schools, a scholarship from an organisation like NASA is something unimaginable,” he added.
A second-year doctoral student, Dinesh is working as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Department of Space Science, UAH Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research. NASA's grant is to help him continue his research into space weather. Dinesh's proposal is titled, “Modeling Space Weather with Quantified Uncertainties.” His research guide is Dr Nikolai Pogorelov, a space weather scientist and Professor in space science.
Expressing happiness over the award, Dinesh said that the offer letter is a big boost to his efforts. “Initially I had thought that I had not been selected. Since the notification deadline was already over, we had thought that our project would not have been selected. I double checked the offer letter to make sure of the selection, Then I called my sister to share my joy,” he added.
“I feel very happy for my brother. He is doing his PhD now. This scholarship has been big news. His teachers, his school and everyone are celebrating,” said Divya Vasanth Hegde, his sister, an Assistant Professor in a private institute at Mysore.
Dinesh has a humble background. His entire schooling was in rural areas in Kannada medium. He did his primary education at Vajagadde Government Primary School and his High School at Ashoka High School in Harsikatta near Vajagadde. He did his MSc from Mysore University. His father Vasanth Hegde died due to COVID-19 three months ago. His mother Ganga Hegde is a homemaker and stays in Sasiguli village.
Katherine Davidson, another space doctoral student from UAH, was awarded the scholarship to continue her research into the processes that cause the light shows on Earth called auroras by NASA along with Dinesh.