Kambhampati is an alum of Andhra University.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Dr. Murty S. Kambhampati, a professor of biology at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), in Louisiana, is among 14 individuals and one organization named winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).
Also making the prestigious cut, which is for the years 2012 and 2013, is Sri Lankan American Tilak Ratnanather, an associate professor in the biomedical engineering department of the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.
The awardees will be honored at a White House ceremony later this year. The award recipients each receive $10,000 from the National Science Foundation.
“These educators are helping to cultivate America’s future scientists, engineers and mathematicians,” President Barack Obama said, announcing the names of the award winners, on Friday. “They open new worlds to their students, and give them the encouragement they need to learn, discover and innovate. That’s transforming those students’ futures, and our nation’s future, too.”
The PAESMEM is awarded by the White House to individuals and organizations to recognize the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering-particularly those who belong to groups that are underrepresented in these fields.
Kambhampati holds a Ph.D. from Jackson State University in Environmental Science and a Ph.D. from Andhra University, India in Ecology, according to his faculty bio at SUNO.
Over the years, he established excellent collaborations with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Long Island, New York; Dowling College, Tulane University, Louisiana State University’s Louisiana Biomedical Network, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), Cocodrie, LA to place students for summer internships and ecological field trips.
He is an active research mentor for undergraduates; and serves as the PI and Co-PI on funded state and federal grants and is SUNO’s Beta Kappa Chi/National Institute of Science chapters’ sponsor. His work as a mentor resulted in his receiving several awards including the National Role Model Faculty Award from Minority Access, Inc., in 2008.