Amartya Sen to chair Infosys Foundation jury for social sciences

Updated on: Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bangalore: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen will chair a five-member jury of the Infosys Science Foundation, set up by IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd, to select winners for its awards in five science disciplines, the company said on Wednesday.

"Sen will chair the jury for social sciences. The jury consists of five members who will hold the position for three years. The other four members of each jury will have a renewable tenure of a year," Infosys said in a statement here.

The 76-year-old Sen is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University.

The jury will evaluate nominations keeping in view international research on par with the finest minds in research the world over.

The Foundation will award five prizes of Rs 5 million in each discipline - social sciences, physical sciences, engineering and computer science, mathematical sciences and life sciences.

"The Foundation has been created to recognise accomplishments in pure and applied sciences and the prize money is the largest in the country," the statement noted.

Shrinivas Kulkarni, John D & Catherine T McArthur professor of astronomy & planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, will chair the jury for physical sciences.

Subra Suresh, dean of the school of engineering and Ford professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will head the jury for engineering and computer sciences.

Srinivasa Varadhan, professor of mathematics and Frank J. Gould professor of science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, and 2007 Abel Prize winner, will head the jury for mathematical sciences.

Inder Verma, head of American Cancer Society and Laboratory of Genetics-Salk Institute for biological studies, will be head of the jury for Life Sciences.

The Foundation was set up in February, with a corpus amount of Rs 21.5 crore (Rs 215 million), contributed by Infosys' executive board members and an annual grant by the tech major to honour outstanding contributions and achievements by Indians in various streams of scientific research.

Amartya Sen to chair Infosys Foundation jury for social sciences

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