President Obama today named fourteen individuals and one organization as the newest recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. In the list is an Indian-American and a Sri Lankan origin scientist and teacher. Murty S. Kambhampati, a professor of biology at Southern University at New Orleans, and Tilak Ratnanather, an associate professor in the biomedical engineering department of The Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, are mentors who represent winners from 2012 and 2013. They, along with the remaining 12, who were nominated by peers, will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. Each awardee will also receive $10,000 from the National Science Foundation.
“These educators are helping to cultivate America’s future scientists, engineers and mathematicians,” President Obama said. “They open new worlds to their students, and give them the encouragement they need to learn, discover and innovate. That’s transforming those students’ futures, and our nation’s future, too.” The awards go to individuals and organizations who have been exceptional in mentoring students, particularly those belonging to groups that are underrepresented in these fields.
Kambhampati graduated in biology and chemistry from Andhra University in 1979. He went on to get a Masters in Botany from the same institution in 1999. He did his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. joined Southern University in 1999. He joined Southern University in Louisiana in 2004. He has received several awards including the 2008 Minority Access, Inc., National Role Model faculty Award, Arlington, VA, several Chancellor’s, Grantsmanship, and Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Mentoring. He is listed in the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 2004 and 2005.
Ratnanather, originally from Sri Lanka, was born with a profound hearing impairment in both He studied at two schools for the deaf in England for his early education, and went on to get his Bachelor degree in Mathematics from University College London, U.K. in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences from Oxford, U.K. in 1989. His research focus at JHU is on the analysis of brain structures which include hippocampus, cingulate gyrus, planum temporale etc., which are implicated in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, major depression, speech and language processing. According to his biography on the JHU website, his other interests also include the physiological fluid mechanics of the cochlear outer hair cell and continuing education via online web courses in applied mathematics.