Women Scientists to Receive Nayudamma Award

GUNTUR: Two eminent women scientists will receive the prestigious Dr.Y Nayudammaaward for the year 2014. Dr. Tessy Thomas, director, Advanced Systems Laboratory of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Hyderabad and Geeta Varadan, Project Director (Mission) of Agni V, and Director, Advanced Data Processing Research Institute at ISRO, have been chosen for presenting the award for their outstanding performance in the field of science and technology.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, founder and managing trustee of the Dr. Y. Nayudamma Memorial Trust, P. Vishnu Murthy, said that this is the first time in the annals of the trust that two eminent women scientists are being concurrently honoured. The award instituted in 1986 by the Dr. Yelavarthy Nayudamma Memorial Trust in Tenali to commemorate the distinguished scientist and internationally renowned leather technologist Nayudamma, is annually given to persons chosen for their outstanding contribution to science and technology. He said that the award will be presented to Dr. Tessy Thomas and Geeta Varadan at a special function to be held at Tenali, the home town of Dr. Nayudamma March 1.Recipients will deliver the 23rd Dr. Y.Nayudamma Memorial Lectures on the themes “Make in India-Defense Needs and Initiatives” and “Remote Sensing Technology for National Needs” respectively.
Ramon Magsaysay award recipient Prof. Shanta Sinha will present the award to Dr. Tessy Thomas and Mrs. Geeta Varadan. The two distinguished awardees join the galaxy of recipients like Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, Dr. Lalji Singh, Dr. Rajendra Pawar, Dr. V. Shanta, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Dr. T. Ramasami, Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, Dr. Nori Dattatreyudu, Dr. Sam Pitroda, Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Dr. V.K. Atre, Dr. R. Chidambaram, Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Prof. J.S. Bajaj, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Dr. Verghese Kurien, Dr. S.Z. Qasim and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.
Dr. Tessy Thomas, popularly known as ‘Missile Woman of India,’ native of Alappuzha (Kerala). She did B. Tech in electrical engineering, M.E. in guided missiles, MBA in operations management and Ph.D in missile guidance. In her career spanning 27 years, she has contributed in various fields, such as Guidance, Control, Inertial Navigation, Trajectory Simulation and Mission Design. She is also the Project Director (Mission) for the long range Agni-5 system. Making a mark in missile technology, a traditionally male bastion, she has designed the guidance scheme for long range missile systems which is used in all Agni missiles.
Geeta Varadan is a graduate in electronics and communications engineering and Master of Engineering in Controls and Computer Sciences. She started her career with electronics & radar development establishment in Bangalore in 1976. After a three-year stint with DRDO, she joined the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in 1979. As ISRO’s Programme Director (Special Projects), she has conceptualised and operationalised the Cartosat 2A/2B and the GSAT-7 programmes for remote sensing and communications respectively. In addition, Varadan has pioneered the development of a real time satellite data processing system using the state-of-the-art GP/GPU technology. Her latest foray is in the area of cyber security and cloud computing