City college alumnus gets European Union fellowship

MYSURU: City youth Syed Usman Taqui (in pic) has been selected for Erasmus Mundus – the European Union fellowship – to carry out research in Membrane Engineering. At 25, Usman is the youngest among the four non-Europeans selected for the fellowship and has topped the global ranking list.
Usman will carry out his research work with the University of Calabria, Italy.He will also visit six partner institutions from Portugal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, France and Belgium.
The fellowship amount for the three-year doctoral programme in Membrane Engineering, which starts in November, will be 1,29,900 euros (nearly Rs 1 crore in Indian currency). He was among the 14 candidates who were in the race for the prestigious scholarship. Every year, the European Union provides scholarship to five candidates, including one European and four non-Europeans.
Erasmus Mundus Doctorate in Membrane Engineering (EUDIME) is a prestigious European fellowship programme designed to implement at the international level excellence, innovation, mobility and multidisciplinary in investigation approaches related to membrane science and technology.
Usman had pursued his master’s in Membrane Engineering under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship worth 48,000 euros (Rs 34 lakh) in 2012-14. Speaking to STOI, he said, “First of all, I just want to thank god for this feat. After completing research for three years, I am planning to take up post-doctoral studies in North America and subsequently academic research in India.”
Usman is an alumnus of SBRR Mahajana Pre-University College. In recognition of his achievements, the college felicitated him on Friday. Usman also delivered a talk on “Relevance of Knowledge Economy — Better Tomorrow” and also on “Career Building — Chasing Tomorrow”. He called on students to inculcate human values by character building and development of multi-dimensional personality through technical education. He highlighted the platform and encouragement provided by the college teachers which led to his academic and non-academic success.
He is the son Prof. Syed Akheel Ahmed, founder vice-chancellor of Yenepopya University and former dean and Syndicate Member of the University of Mysore. He carried out his project at the department of chemical engineering technology, IIT-Bombay. He has bagged numerous prizes and awards from the institutions he studied in. Prominent ones were Best All-Rounder, St. Joseph’s Central School, Mysore; Best Outgoing student, Mahajana PU College, Mysore; and Best Outgoing Student, PA College of Engineering, Mangaluru.
Usman has travelled to 13 countries in Europe and Asia. His mother Ayesha Nasreen is proud of her son’s achievements. Earlier, Usman’s eldest brother Syed Raihan Taqui too had bagged Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to pursue master’s in Education Management in 2007.