MFCEM Director Awarded Swarnajayanti Fellowship

Professor Nitin Gupta, director of the Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, was among the 17 scientists awarded the prestigious Swarnajayanti Fellowship. Instituted by the Government of India to commemorate the country’s fiftieth year of Independence, the Swanajayanti Fellowship recognizes outstanding research by  young Indian scientists in the fields of biology, chemistry, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and physics. 

Awardees of the Swarnajayanti Fellowship receive funding for five years to pursue their research. According to the Government of India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, “The fellowship is provided in addition to the salary [the awardees] draw from their parent Institution. In addition to fellowship, grants for equipment, computational facilities, consumables, contingencies, national and international travel and other special requirements, are covered based on merit.”

Professor Gupta’s research involves examining the electrical activity of neurons in the hemispheres of the brain and the role these neurons play in determining people’s innate behavioral preferences. The research contributes to our understanding of how and why individuals respond consistently to important stimuli in the environment, despite variabilities in brain wiring. The research also provides valuable insights into long-standing questions in neuroscience, such as how neurons change during learning, how memories are formed, whether they are stored unilaterally or bilaterally, and how they are accessed.

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