Infosys Award Function 2011
Programme (09:30 – 13:30)
Expository Lectures
09.30-10.30 hrs : Story of Optimization
Prof. Mythily Ramaswamy
Centre for Applicable Mathematics, TIFR, Bangalore
10.30-11.30 hrs : Biology to Biotechnology:
From understanding life to using it for our future
Dr. Chetan E. Chitnis
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, New Delhi
11.30-12.00 hrs : Tea
Award Function ( 12.00 – 13.30 hrs)
Welcome : Prof. Jayashree Ramadas, Centre Director, HBCSE
Address and : Dr. R. K. Sinha, Director, BARC
award distribution
Vote of Thanks : Prof. Vijay Singh, National Coordinator, Science Olympiads.
Abstracts of the talks:
1. Prof. Mythily Ramaswamy
Story of optimization
This talk attempts to describe the mathematical developments in optimization theory through different periods of history along with simple examples to illustrate the basic calculus ideas.
About the Speaker
Prof. Mythily Ramaswamy was awarded the Diplôme (Diplôme de Docteur de 3ème Cycle) in 1983 and Docteur de l’Université in 1990 from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. She has been at the TIFR, Centre for Applicable Mathematics Bangalore since 1979 and is currently Professor and Dean.
Professor Ramaswamy's main area of research is in the analysis of solutions of partial differential equations. This includes questions related to existence, uniqueness and qualitative properties of solutions. She has obtained important results in bifurcation that have advanced the understanding of solutions for the Taylor‐Couette flow. She also has notable results that concern the symmetry of positive solutions and their uniform a priori estimates and optimal control theory. The latter also has applications in hybrid engineering systems.
Prof. Ramaswamy's research contribution includes numerous publications, collaborative Indo‐French projects and the guidance of Masters and PhD students. She has been a visiting professor at many institutions and Universities all over the world. She is a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, as well as the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad. In 2004, the State Government of Karnataka conferred Mythily Ramaswamy the Dr. Kalpana Chawla Award for Science and Technology.
2. Dr. Chetan Chitnis
Biology to Biotechnology: From understanding life to using it for our future
Rapid advances have been made in our understanding of life processes over the past few decades. Starting with the revelation of the structure of DNA in the 1950s by Watson and Crick to the complete sequencing of the human genome in 2000 this has been a golden era for biology. We will review some of the key breakthroughs in modern biology and discuss how these provide powerful tools to address some of the critical problems faced by humankind in this century.
About the Speaker
Dr. Chitnis received his Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of California-Berkeley in 1990. He completed postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and returned to India in 1995 to establish an independent research group at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. He received the 1995 ICAAC Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Microbiology, the 2000 M. O. T. Iyengar Award for Research in Malaria from the Indian Council of Medical Research, the 2004 Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize in Medical Sciences from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the 2010 Infosys Science Prize in Life Sciences from the Infosys Science Foundation. He has been an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA and Senior Research Fellow of The Wellcome Trust, UK. He is currently a Principal Investigator in the Malaria Group at ICGEB, New Delhi, India. His work is focused on receptor-ligand interactions involved in erythrocyte invasion by malaria parasites. He uses insights gained from these basic studies to develop vaccines for malaria.
