The 77th Independence Day was celebrated at SRM University-AP with a lot of patriotic fervour. Vice Chancellor Prof. Manoj K Arora hoisted the national flag and signalled the commencement of the festivities.

Prof. Arora highlighted the tremendous progress made over the 76 years since independence, attributing this success to virtues such as patience, resilience, honesty, hard work, and dedication. He recalled the words of the Hon’ble President of India, Draupadi Murmu, who underscored our shared Indian identity transcending barriers of caste, creed, and religion.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Manoj K Arora also recounted SRM University-AP‘s achievements in the past year, applauding not only the faculty and staff but also acknowledging the contributions of security guards, housekeeping personnel, plumbers, technicians, and construction workers, all of whom were cheered by the audience.

Prof. Arora reminded everyone of the university’s strategic goals for the next 5 years, urging collective efforts to realise these ambitions. He expressed confidence that by the end of this period, SRM University-AP would achieve recognition not just nationally, but globally.

Dr R Premkumar, Registrar SRM University-AP; Prof. Bharadwaj Sivakumar, Dean Paari School of Business, Prof. Ranjit Thapa Dean in-charge, School of Engineering and Sciences, Mr Pankaj Belwariar, Director Communications and other faculty and staff were attendance of the festivities.

The programme also witnessed an awe-inspiring parade organised by Campus Life Management and several cultural activities that were put up by the student community.

Barath Sivaraj, a research scholar from the Department of Biological Sciences at SRM University-AP has achieved an outstanding feat by receiving the DST INSPIRE Fellowship, a highly regarded programme sponsored and overseen by the Department of Science & Technology.

Sivaraj’s research focuses on exploring how bacteriophages, a type of virus that infects and reproduces inside bacteria, utilises the bacterial system. This research has earned Sivaraj the Fellowship, which runs for a duration of 5 years. The researcher also gets to carry out his research at any national or international laboratories other than their host institute for a period of 18 months.

Barath expresses his immense delight and pride in receiving this fellowship and considers it a significant milestone in his academic journey. Sivaraj explains that applicants must meet several criteria, such as being a top-ranked student in a full-time postgraduate science programme or a related field at the university level. Sivaraj credits his research supervisor, Dr Sutharsan Govindarajan, for guiding him through the application process. As a future prospect, Sivaraj plans to pursue his post-doctoral studies abroad and eventually wishes to offer his professional services at a reputable university.

We wish him all success!