Two students of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) — Akshatha Kamath of Computer Science and Engineering (2021 batch) and Dhruv Suri of Aeronautical Engineering (2020 batch) — have been awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for pursuing Master’s Programme at Stanford University of US. MIT is a constituent unit of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars programme is an award that fosters a multidisciplinary, multicultural community of emerging leaders from around the world and guides them to collaborate, innovate, and communicate as they prepare to address the complex challenges facing the society.
Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri are the only two students selected from India among the total of 76 students representing 26 countries who have made to the programme this year.
Akshatha Kamath, who hails from Udupi, will be pursuing her Master’s degree in Education Data Science at Stanford Graduate School of Education. A press statement said that she is passionate to develop solutions for personalised learning for diverse learning needs. She has developed several medical technologies winning her the MIT Covid-19 Challenge. She also won the Stanford Health ++ Hackathon at Stanford University, with travel support from the Dr TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Health Informatics, Manipal, it said.
Dhruv Suri, who is from Delhi, will be pursuing his Master’s degree in Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. He aspires to work at the nexus of energy and climate and help vulnerable communities overcome access barriers in India and other developing countries. Dhruv is a co-founder of Candela Energy, a last-mile distribution organisation providing rural villages access to life-improving products and has been awarded by ETH student project house in Switzerland and EarthTech in Australia, the statement said.
HS Ballal, Pro-Chancellor of MAHE, applauded Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri on being awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. “The scholarship is a recognition of the exceptional talent and innovative approach of Akshatha and Dhruv. They have demonstrated that excellence in education, an entrepreneurial mindset and a genuine compassion for the society transform the lives of people. They have upheld the vision of MAHE in letter and spirit,” he said in a statement.
Lt Gen (retd) MD Venkatesh, Vice-Chancellor of MAHE, said that it is indeed a great moment of celebration for MAHE that its students have repeatedly proved to be among the best in the world. “I extend my best wishes to Akshatha Kamath and Dhruv Suri and look forward to more such glories in the near future,” he said.