IIT & IACS scientists make Bengal proud on global stage – Times of India

Kolkata News

Kolkata: Two scientists — faculty members of IIT Kharagpur and Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) — have brought international recognition for Bengal. Abhijit Mukherjee of IIT Kharagpur’s geology and geophysics department and Debashree Ghosh from IACS’s school of chemical sciences have dedicated the success to their teams.
Mukherjee, a 2020 Bhatnagar awardee, had already made IIT Kharagpur proud and now he becomes the first Indian in 100 years, anywhere across institutions in the country, to be nominated as the fellow of the Geological Society of America. Mukherjee has been recognised for his insight into groundwater sources, scarcity, sustainability, security and solutions. He has done pioneering research on the increasing arsenic levels in ground water in different districts of Bengal and has been able to predict advancing arsenic maps. He has worked extensively on ground water based drinking water pollution and water scarcity, not only in India but in several other countries, too. His research also includes drying of the Ganges and related climate change impacts on the Sunderbans.
A South Pointer, Mukherjee studied in Ashutosh College and Calcutta University, before moving to the University of Kentucky in the US for his PhD and then to the University of Texas, Austin, for his postdoctoral research, before returning to IIT Kharagpur as faculty. “I am humbled to be recognised by the GSA for my work and for being inducted as a fellow of one of the most coveted portals for all geo-scientists since 1888,” said Mukherjee.
Ghosh, who is from Serampore, has been awarded by the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science for her contribution to quantum chemistry. In 54 years of the history of the award, this is the first time that any Indian has been recognised. Ghosh has been working with proteins in human body and with excited molecules in melanin and with the DNA. She has been studying the behaviour of molecules in the body that come in contact with sunlight entering the body. She has used quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand this. “There’s much to be done and I hope I am able to reach somewhere close to where I dream of reaching,” she said.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/iit-iacs-scientists-make-bengal-proud-on-global-stage/articleshow/84101282.cms