9 IIT Patna research scholars awarded Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship

NEW DELHI: Nine research scholars from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna have been awarded with the prime minister’s research fellowship (PMRF) in the May 2022 cycle. As part of the scheme, selected research scholars will be receiving a fellowship and a research contingency grant.

Out of the nine selected research scholars, two are from the chemistry, computer science and physics departments each. The other three candidates belong to the mechanical, electrical, and mathematics departments. Six out of the nine scholars are female students.

The PhD scholars who are currently working in various areas of interdisciplinary research and development at IIT Patna and have bagged the fellowship are:

1. Rashi Aditi Ranjan – mechanical engineering

2. Joydeb Saha – electrical and electronics engineering

3. Shruti Saxena – computer science and engineering

4. Subham Raj – computer science and engineering

5. Priyanka Sharma - mathematics

6. Maansi Aggarwal - chemistry

7. Arnab Patla – chemistry

8. Priyanka Dubey – physics

9. Priyanka Priyadarshani Samal - physics

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The PMRF scheme was launched in the year 2018-19. It selects candidates through a rigorous selection process at a national level. The prime minister research fellowship is for students pursuing PhD programme in bachelor's in technology (BTech) or an equivalent course. The scholars under the scheme receive an amount of Rs 70,000 in their first year and a maximum of Rs. 80,000 in their fifth year. In addition this, each fellow will be eligible for a research grant of Rs 2 lakh per year (total of Rs 10 lakh for five years).

PMRF eligibility and selection

Candidates are eligible for the PMRF scheme if they have a mandatory Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) score and degree with a minimum CGPA of 8 or an equivalent.

The selection process includes judging the candidate's research exposure, publications, their performance in international competitions like math olympiads and association for computing machinery (ACM) international collegiate programming contest (ICPC) and grades and recommendation letters. The selection requires a strong research proposal while due weightage is given to publications in reputed journals and conferences.