The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Kapil Sibal gave away the CSIR Young Scientist Awards 2006 to six scientists on the occasion of 64th Foundation Day of CSIR.
The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/- each. The award aims to promote excellence and recognise outstanding work in science and technology in the CSIR system.
The award winners are: Dr. Mohammad Sohail Akhtar (Biological Sciences), Dr. B Rajkumar Banerjee, Dr. Srinivas Hotha (Chemical Science), Dr. Sandip Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Prakash Kumar (Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences) and Dr. P. Thankaivelan (Engineering Sciences)
Mohammad Sohail Akhtar is a scientist in the Molecular and Structural Biology Division of Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute. He did his MSc from Calicut and PhD from JNU. His research area is Molecular Biophysics.
The Minister also gave away CSIR Chemical Technology Prize 2006 to ‘Team IIP’ at Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun and Business Development and Technology Marketing Prize to ‘Team CLRI’ at Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh, a plaque and a citation.
‘Team lIP’ has won the award for developing Comb Type Polymeric Wax Crystal Modifier and Dewaxing Aid Additives for Production of lube oil base stocks. ‘Team CLRI’ has won the award for significantly enhancing the business and markets for its knowledgebase.
CSIR Technology Awards, given annually, were instituted in 1990 with a view to foster and encourage in-house multidisciplinary team efforts and external interaction for technology development, transfer, marketing and commercialisation.