News India Times

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Community News India Times (April 18, 2026 - April 24, 2026) April 24, 2026 7 Professor Priyabrata Mukherjee Recognized For Outstanding Teaching By University Of Oklahoma P rofessor Priyabrata Mukherjee, Ph.D, was one of two University of Oklahoma College of Medicine faculty, alongwith Mary Moon, Ph.D., who were honored recently for their excellence in teaching and research. Moon received the 2026 Stanton L. Young Master Teacher Award, and Mukherjee received the Stan- ton L. Young Excellence in Research Award, an April 14, 2026, press release from the University said. This is the 43rd annual presentation of the Master Teacher Award, which recognizes the “transformative power of exceptional teaching” and originates from nominations from students. The award was established through an endowment made by the late Oklahoma City businessman Stanton L. Young, and comes with a $15,000 cash prize, one of the largest in the nation for medical teaching excellence, the University said. According to the details provided by the press release, Mukherjee is a professor in the Department of Pathol- ogy in the OU College of Medicine. He also serves at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center as the senior director of Research Partnership and Collaboration, as well as co- director of the Nanomedicine Program. He was honored for his “dedication to basic and translational science and his leadership in the fields of nanoscience and molecular oncology.” Mukherjee’s research has been continuously funded by R01 grants, considered the “gold standard” in National Institutes of Health funding, and he is currently the prin- cipal investigator on three R01s and co-principal inves- tigator on four other grants. He leads a multidisciplinary laboratory, publishes high-impact papers and creates patentable technologies, the University said. Mukherjee is recognized as an “outstanding mentor” working with high school students through faculty mem- bers. Currently, his laboratory consists of early-career faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and research technicians. His previous recognitions and awards include the George Lynn Cross Professorship and the Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professorship. He also holds the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Endowed Chair in Cancer Laboratory Research. Additionally, he is a foreign fellow of the Indian Na- tional Science Academy and chair of the College of Fel- lows of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering. He is co-chair of theWeb of Life Conference, which brings together experts from different fields to facilitate dialogue and foster collaboration. The news release also noted comments made by those nominating and supporting Mukherjee for the award. They include praise for Mukherjee as “an outstanding biomedical engineer and scientist whose highly creative past and ongoing work holds great promise for our fellow Oklahomans and patients far beyond.” Another said that his work shows an “incredible depth and maturation” and yet another, that he is able to “build large teams of funded investigators who are doing cutting-edge, impact- ful research.” By a StaffWriter Priyabrata Mukherjee and Mary Moon. PHOTO:@MEDICINE.OUHSC.EDU Five Of 2026 Guggenheim Fellows Are Of Indian, South Asian Heritage T he John Simon GuggenheimMe- morial Foundation announced the appointment of the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows for 2026. The prestigious Fellowship this year includes , 223 distinguished individuals working across 55 disciplines. At least five of the Fellows are of Indian, part Indian, or other South Asian origin. Chosen from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants, the Class of 2026 Guggenheim Fellows was tapped based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise, the April 14, 2026, press release said. Established in 1925 by founder Senator Simon Guggenheim, each Fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue in- dependent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.” “Our new class of Guggenheim Fel- lows is representative of the world’s best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship,” Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and President of the Guggenheim Foundation, is quoted saying in the press release. “As the Foundation enters its second century and looks to the future, I feel confident that this new class of 223 individuals will do bold and inspir- ing work, undaunted by the challenges ahead. We are honored to support their visionary contributions.” The five individuals of Indian or other South Asian heritage and the category in which they received the Fellowship, include the following: • Amitav Ghosh, General Nonfiction, Brooklyn, NY • Megha Majumdar, Fiction, CUNY Hunter College, Brooklyn, NY • Kris Manjapra, Intellectual & Cultural History, Northeastern University, Boston, MA • Vivek Narayanan, Poetry, George Mason University, Arlington, VA • Vinod Vaikuntanathan, Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Somerville, MA Since its founding in 1925, the Founda- tion has awarded nearly $450 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 Fellows. This year, applications in the Creative Arts and Humanities were up by 50% and ap- plications in the Sciences were up by 86%. In all, 55 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields, 97 academic institutions, 33 US states and the District of Columbia, three Canadian provinces, and eight countries beyond the United States and Canada are represented in the 2026 class, the press release noted. By a StaffWriter PHOTO:@AMITAVGHOSH.COM PHOTO:LINKEDIN.COM @VINOD-VAIKUNTANATHAN PHOTO:SKETCH BY DYUTI MITTAL @ENGLISH.GMU.EDU PHOTO:@CSSH.NORTHEASTERN.EDU PHOTO: INSTAGRAM @MEGHA.MAJ Amitav Ghosh Megha Majumdar Kris Manjapra Vivek Narayanan Vinod Vaikuntanathan