Hasnain is Hyderabad varsity VC

Dr Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain, director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), has become the new vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad. His selection for the post has been cleared by President APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr Hasnain is the first director of CDFD. He is the recipient of several national and international awards, including the prestigious GD Birla award for scientific research, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Golden Jubilee Biotechnology Fellowship Award and Ranbaxy Research Award. He succeeds Kota Harinarayana as vice-chancellor. Very recently, he has been conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award. Dr Gowrishankar J will serve as the acting director of CDFD until a full time director is appointed.

Malvinder Mohan Singh takes charge as CEO and MD, Ranbaxy

Brian Tempest is chief mentor and executive vice chairman

Dr Brian W Tempest as chief mentor and executive vice chairman of the Board

As part of effective succession planning at the top level, the Board of Directors decided to promote with immediate effect, Dr Brian W Tempest as chief mentor and executive vice chairman of the Board. Simultaneously, Malvinder Mohan Singh, president Pharmaceuticals and executive director, succeeds Dr Brian Tempest as CEO and managing director of the company. Singh, while continuing to report to Dr Tempest, assumes complete operational responsibility for the company and will be focused on spearheading Ranbaxy's growth to its target of achieving $5 Billion of global sales by 2012.

Drawing upon his long experience and in-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical sector at the global level, Dr Tempest will play a key advisory role on strategic issues, and on enhancing Ranbaxy's global brand equity.

Commenting on the announcement, Tejendra Khanna, chairman, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, said, "With the changes now approved by the Board, I see the company combining insightful mentoring of a high order with strong operational leadership. This will give Ranbaxy, the extra edge to grow, innovate, consolidate and establish new benchmarks for performance at the global level."

The Board of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd expressed strong optimism about the company's future and observed that it is poised for significant growth across global markets. Ranbaxy is well-positioned in the global marketplace to capitalize on its established competencies in R&D, rich product pipeline, global reach, assured product quality, management depth, speed-to-market operating style and strong corporate governance.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw receives WIBTA 2006 award

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon India

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon India, received the Wharton - Infosys Business Transformation Awards (WIBTA) 2006 award, Asia Pacific in the Technology Change Agent category. The award is constituted by Infosys Technologies Ltd in association with Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Speaking on the occasion, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who spearheaded Biocon's growth from a traditional enzymes manufacturer to fully integrated biopharmaceutical firm with major R&D initiatives said, "As Information Technology becomes a key driver of stakeholder value for an organization, it is operational excellence through continuous innovation that determines success. It is a pleasure to have our efforts in this direction be recognized internationally through an award as distinguished as WIBTA."

The award was presented by NR Narayana Murthy, chairman of the Board and chief mentor, Infosys Technologies and Patrick Harker, dean of the Wharton School and Esther Dyson, the editor-at-large of CNET Networks. The awards, which are entering their fifth year, recognize visionaries and organizations that use technology in an innovative and creative manner to revolutionize their businesses.

Speaking at the awards function, NR Narayana Murthy said, "Organizations should look beyond technological innovation as a means of delivering business impact to realize that innovation has the potential to transform a whole community. WIBTA is a tribute to the leaders, who envisioned and executed the transformation process propelling their organizations to new-found growth and impacting the society as a whole."

Padma awards conferred

A total of 106 Padma awards have been conferred this year. The awards are traditionally announced on the eve of the Republic Day. The award winners in the field of science and engineering include Dr Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain (Padma Shri), director, CDFD, Hyderabad; Prof Obaid Siddiqui (Padma Vibhushan) of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore; Dr Madhav Gadgil (Padma Bhushan) of Agharkar Research Institute, Pune; Dr Swaminathan Sivaram (Padma Shri), director, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Dr Bonbehari Vishnu Nimbkar (Padma Shri) of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, Phaltan and out of the five foreign nationals who have been conferred with the prestigious awards, renowned Mexican agricultural scientist Norman E Borlaug has been awarded Padma Vibhushan.

Dr Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain

Dr Seyed E Hasnain obtained his PhD from JNU (1980), New Delhi and worked briefly at the University of Delhi before leaving for a National Cancer Institute Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Alberta, Canada, where he was subsequently awarded the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Fellow Award to work at the Department of Medicine. He then spent a couple of years at the Texas A & M University, USA and returned to India in 1987 to work as a staff scientist at the National Institute of Immunology (NII). Dr Hasnain, who was a visiting scientist at Oxford was appointed as the first director of CDFD in February 1999. He has recently been appointed Vice-Chancellor of University of Hyderabad. A member of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) of the DST, he is the recipient of several national and international awards. Dr Hasnain has authored more than 160 original research papers and several book chapters. He has about a dozen patents filed in India and abroad.

Dr Norman E Borlaug

Dr Norman E Borlaug

Dr Norman Ernest Borlaug joined the Rockefeller Foundation staff in Mexico in 1944 to increase the production and productivity of Mexican wheats. This Iowa native continued as director of the National Wheat Program in Mexico until the research center, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT), was formed in 1965. He continued as director of Wheat Programs in CIMMYT until he retired in 1979.

Dr Borlaug devoted his energies to improvement of wheat for more than 30 years. He contributed more than any other person to the "Green Revolution." Dr Borlaug serves on many boards and advises governments in the developing world on food production. Dr Borlaug's highest honor, the Nobel Prize for Peace, was awarded to him 1970.

Prof Obaid Siddiqui

Prof Obaid Siddiqui

Prof. Obaid Siddiqi is the founder director of the TIFR National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore. He began his research career in microbial genetics. He made contributions to the understanding of DNA transfer and recombination in fungi and bacteria. His experiments (with A. Garen) on the suppression of 'nonsense' mutation in E. Coli were an important step in the understanding of chain termination in polypeptide synthesis. In the seventies Prof. Siddiqi turned to behavioral genetics and neurobiology. His work (with S. Benzer) on paralytic mutations of Drosophila led to the identification of the genes that block nerve conduction and synaptic transmission. He and his associates have carried out pioneering experiments on neurogenetics of the chemical senses in Drosophila which have led to an improved understanding of how olfactory information is encoded in the brain of the fruit fly.

Dr Madhav Gadgil

Dr. Madhav Gadgil is one of the best and most prominent ecologists in Asia and arguably the most distinguished ecologist in India. Both his research and conservation interests successfully blend community ecology and human sociology as an unbroken continuum. He has had a profound effect on conservation in India, not only through his own work, but also by training many outstanding young ecologists. Originally a fish biologist when he went to Harvard for his PhD, Gadgil became interested in issues of life history evolution and the role of dispersal in population dynamics. He co-authored an influential book (M Gadgil and WH Bossert 1970, Life History Consequences of Natural Selection), and papers on selection of optimal life histories for plants, and on r and K theory. After returning to India, he established the Center for Ecological Sciences at the IISc. His membership in several Academies of Science, and his active participation in international organizations and committees on ecology and conservation, also document his international stature and recognition.

Dr Swaminathan Sivaram

Dr Swaminathan Sivaram is a polymer chemist of great distinction and is currently the director of the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Over the last 23 years, working as a research scientist and R&D Manager at IPCL and NCL, he has demonstrated how good science and technology work can be done in India. He has received several awards/honours including the prestigious Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science & Technology (1995).

The outstanding scientific achievements of Dr Sivaram have spanned a variety of areas in polymer science, namely synthesis, new and improved catalysts for polymerization, novel processes for monomers, and formulated products for scientific end applications.

Dr Sivaram has established an active school of research in Ziegler Natta polymerization of olefins at NCL. His contribution to the area of polymer science and technology have had significant impacts on national development.