The Best Ph. D. Thesis Awards
Prof. B. M. Udgaonkar, the then Professor, Theoretical Physics Department, in memory of his daughter, Late Geeta Udgaonkar, in the year 1983 started this award. Initially the award was for the best Ph. D. thesis in Physics only. The Endowment Committee initiated the nucleation of the TIFR Alumni Association (TAA). One of the aims of TAA is to constructively involve the Alumni of TIFR in the activity of raising Endowments. TAA took the initiative to institute two new additional Best Ph.D Thesis Awards on the lines of the well recognised TAA-Geeta Udgaonkar Award for best thesis in the school of Natural Sciences. In addition to the support received from the members of the TAA, the core amounts have been made available to the Endowment fund by the family members of the distinguished mathematician late Prof. Harish-Chandra and family member and colleagues of late Dr. Zita Lobo, a member of the Department of Biological sciences at TIFR. Prof.Harish-Chandra had worked with Dr. Homi Bhabha during the formative years of the TIFR, before moving on to the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, U. S. A. The TAA-Zita Lobo Memorial Award is for the best Ph.D thesis in Biological and Chemical sciences and The TAA Harish-Chandra Memorial Award is for that in Mathematics and Computer Sciences. All the three awards have also received further financial support from the Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd., Bangalore, where some members of the TIFR alumni are serving. Now, the award carries the cash prize of Rs.10,000/=, a medal and the citation. The award is presented to the awardees on Founder's Day of the TIFR (October 30) every year and the awardees give a special lecture later, as per their convenience.
List of the Recipients:
TAA-Geeta Udgaonkar Award for the Best Ph.D. Thesis in Physical Sciences.
Year Name/Department
1983 Dr. N. C. Rana, ex-Research Scholar, Theoretical
Astrophysics Group
1984 Dr. Zita Lobo, ex-Research Scholar, Molecular Biology Group
1986 Dr. D. J. Saikia, ex-Research Scholar, Radio Astronomy Group
1987 Dr. Dr. S. Ramakrishnan, ex-Research Scholar,
Low Temperature Physics Group
1988 Dr. M. Ravikumar, ex-Research Scholar, Chemical Physics Group
1989 Dr. R. Ramanujam, ex-Research Scholar,
Theoretical Computer Science Group
1990 Dr. N. Krishnan, ex-Research Scholar, Cosmic Ray and
Solar Physics Group
1991 Dr. S. Mazumdar, ex-Research Scholar, Chemical Physics Group
1992 Dr. A. Majumdar, ex-Research Scholar, Chemical Physics Group
1993 Dr. S. N. Majumdar, ex-Research Scholar, Theoretical Physics Group
1994 Dr. L. C. Tribedi, ex-Research Scholar, Nuclear Spectroscopy Group
2000 Dr. Ghosh Sandip, ex-Research Scholar,
Dept. of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science.
2001 Dr. Raychaudhuri, ex-Research Scholar,
Dept. of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science.
2002 Dr. Paramekanti Arun, ex-Research Scholar,
Dept. of Theoretical Physics
2003 Dr. Sanjib Sabhapandi (Thesis title : “Avalanches in Driven Systems”)
2004 Dr. Vinod Kumarappan, ex-Research Scholar
2005 Dr. Bipul Pal, ex-Research Scholar
2006 Dr. Arvinder Singh Sandhu, ex-Research scholar
2007 Dr. Vaibhav Prabhudesai, ex-Research scholar
2008 Dr. G. Aravind, ex-Research scholar, Dept. of Nuclear Physics
2009 Dr. Aditya Kalkar, ex-Research scholar, Dept. of Nuclear & Astro Physics
2010 Dr. Arnab Sen, ex-Research scholar,Theoretical Physics Group
TAA-Harish-Chandra Memorial Award for the Best Ph. D. Thesis in Mathematics and Computer Sciences.
2001 Dr. Raghuram A., ex-Research Scholar, School of Mathematics,
(Thesis title: “Some Topics in Algebraic Groups”).
2002 Dr. Holla Yogish I., ex-Research Scholar, School of Mathematics
(Thesis title: "A Study of Bundles on Varieties").
2003 Dr. Pranab Sen, ex-Research Scholar
(Thesis title : ‘Algebraic Problems in Computational Complexity”)
2004 Dr. T. Kavitha, ex-Research Scholar
2005 Dr. Ritumoni Sarma, ex-Research Scholar
2006 Dr. Amitava Bhattacharya, ex-Research Scholar
2007 Dr. Dishant Pancholi, ex-Research Scholar
2008 Dr. Shanta S. Laishram, ex-Research Scholar
2009 Dr. Vivek Mallick, ex-Research Scholar, School of Mathematics
2010 Dr. Aribam C. Sharma, ex-Research Scholar, School of Maths.
TAA-Zita Lobo Memorial Award for the Best Ph. D. Thesis in Biological and Chemical Sciences.
2001 Dr. Sahu Sarata Chandra, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Chemical Sciences.
2002 Dr. Sen Subhojit, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Biological Sciences.
(Thesis Title:"Molecular Mechanisms of Genetic Recombination in
E coli and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii"
2003 Dr. H.S. Atreya, ex-Research Scholar
(Thesis title "New Methodologies for the Study of Structure and Dynamics of Proteins)
2004 Dr. Neel Sarovar Bhavesh
2005 Dr. K. Sridevi, ex-Research Scholar
2006 Dr. Vasundhara Navadgi, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Biological Sciences
2007 Dr. Sulakshana Mukherjee, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Biological Sciences
2008 Dr. Ipsita Pal-Bhowmick, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Biological Sciences
2009 Dr. Kalyan S. Sinha, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Bio. Sciences
2010 Dr. Sudha Kumari, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Biological Sciences.
TAA-Sasken Best Thesis Award for the Best Ph. D. Thesis in Technology & Computer Sciences.
2006 Dr.Rahul Jain, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Technology & Computer Sciences.
2008 Dr. Arnab Basu, ex-Research Scholar, Dept. of Technology & Computer Sciences.