April 13, 2010
Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri
Sabareesan A. T., final-year M.Sc. (Biotech) student of the Amrita School of Biotechnology, secured an All India Rank of 15 in GATE, with a total score in the 99.9 percentile.
GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is jointly conducted by the IITs and IISc, Bangalore for admission to their masters programs. GATE score is also considered for admission into other universities.
Sabareesan completed his B.Sc. (Biotech) also from the Amrita School of Biotechnology. While in the M.Sc. program, his teacher, Dr. Anil Kumar, motivated him to prepare for GATE.
“I had no idea about entrance exams or the preparation required,” shares Sabareesan. “Dr. Anil encouraged me. He gave me details about standard text books and journals that I needed to refer to.”
Sabareesan’s impressive GATE score got him admission to the National University of Singapore. Here, he will conduct research under the guidance of Prof. R. Manjunatha Kini, Department of Biological Sciences.
Why the interest in research?
“Last year, I got a summer research fellowship from the Indian Academy of Science. I completed my project at the Banaras Hindu University during June – July 2009. I had an opportunity to interact with many scientists and research fellows.”
Sabareesan is currently working on his six-month project, a curricular requirement, at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, which is a part of the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research.
When asked how his time at Amrita has helped him, he grows serious.
“I have never seen a person as helpful as Dr. Anil Kumar. I also received much help from other faculty members such as Dr. Bipin Nair, Dr. Sujith Nair and Dr. Martin Reick. The librarians were so helpful. They kept the library open till midnight and opened in the morning at 5 am.”
Sabareesan isn’t the only one who benefited. Fellow M.Sc. students, Mary Helen and Supriya P. R. secured All India Ranks of 42 and 62 respectively. They placed in the 99 percentile as well.
In all, over 60% of the class qualified in GATE, CSIR or UGC NET. Nimi Muraleedharan secured an All India Rank of 17 in the CSIR exam. This exam is conducted to assess research aptitude for students of science background.
Rashmi Ravindran Nair, Dhanesh Venugopal, Manisha Jalan and Sandhya P.B. were among those who qualified in the UGC NET exam. They are now eligible for the award of Junior Research Fellowships as well as the post of lectureship in Indian universities and colleges.
We congratulate all the achievers.
