HCU Faculty Wins Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize

Dr Surajit Dhara, a faculty member in the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad (UoH), has been selected for the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) prizes for science and technology for 2020.

The award is named after the Founder Director of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) India, the late Dr (Sir) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, and is given each year for outstanding contributions to science and technology.

Dr Dhara receives the award on the basis of contributions made through work done primarily in India during the last five years in the area of physical sciences.

The prize is bestowed on persons who, in the opinion of the CSIR, have made conspicuously important and outstanding contributions to human knowledge and progress - fundamental and applied - in the particular field of endeavour which is their specialization.

SSB prizes, each of Rs 5,00,000, are awarded annually for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in the following disciplines: (i) Biological Sciences, (ii) Chemical Sciences, (iii) Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, (iv) Engineering Sciences, (v) Mathematical Sciences, (vi) Medical Sciences and (vii) Physical Sciences. In addition, CSIR grants an honorarium of Rs. 15,000 per month.

Dr Dhara has worked in the emerging and diverse areas of LC science and technology spanning colloids with tunable interaction and controlled assembly in liquid crystals; topological colloids with 2-dimensional motility and tunable direction of motion; and development of liquid crystal droplet-based tunable microresonators and microlasers.