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Washington: Two Indian-origin American scientists, Ashok Gadgil (72) and Subra Suresh (67), were conferred with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, which is the highest honour for technological achievement in the United States, for remarkable medical discoveries.
US President Joe Biden accorded the medals on Gadgil and Suresh on Tuesday. The scientists, who were honoured at the event made discoveries enabling lifesaving medical treatments, helping fight the opioid epidemic, improving food security, advancing accessibility, and much more. Several other American scientists, technologists and innovators were also honored at the awards ceremony.
72-Year-old Gadgil, who was born in Mumbai, currently works as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior scientist of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is a popular inventor and innovator in the field of sustainable development. His work has focused on developing affordable and effective technologies to improve access to clean water, energy efficiency, and sanitation in developing countries.
Gadgil graduated in Physics from the University of Mumbai and completed his postgraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Furthermore, he earned an MSc and PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.
67-year-old Subra Suresh, a Mumbai-born American bioengineer, materials scientist, and academic, is a Professor Emeritus and former dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focusses on the intersection of engineering, physical sciences, life sciences, and medicine. He was the first Asian-born professor to lead any of the five schools at MIT.
Born in India in 1956, Suresh attended high school in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Suresh completed a BTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Later, he received a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Suresh became a faculty member at Brown University in 1983 as the youngest member of the engineering faculty.
The National Medal of Technology is accorded on individuals deserving of special recognition for their outstanding contributions, the White House said in a statement.
“These trailblazers have harnessed the power of science and technology to tackle challenging problems and deliver innovative solutions for Americans, and for communities around the world,” the statement read.
