Renowned biotechnologist Dr Satbir Singh Gosal was on Friday appointed as the vice-chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann approved Dr Gosal's appointment as the V-C after a decision was taken at the meeting of the PAU's board of management. “Renowned scientist Dr Satbir Singh Gosal will be the new vice-chancellor of PAU. I congratulate him,” Mann said in a tweet. A spokesperson of the CMO said that Gosal has the distinction of developing tissue culture methods for more than 20 crop plants, based on which several commercial tissue culture units have been established in Punjab. PAU was without a regular V-C for over a year after BS Dhillon's extended tenure ended last year. Since then, IAS officers had been heading the university as administrative heads. Dr Gosal is a recipient of prestigious Fellowships by The Royal Society London and The Rockefeller Foundation (USA) for his Post Doctoral research at the University of Nottingham, and John Innes Centre Norwich, England. Throughout his career, he served PAU in various capacities, including professor of Biotechnology, Head Department of Biotechnology, Founder Director School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Additional Director Research (Agri.), Director of Research and Member Board of Management. He has also served as consultant, FAO/IAEA, Vienna, Austria and undertook expert mission to Iraq. Dr Gosal has rigorous training on ‘Biosafety of GM crops' from Dan Forth Centre for Plant Science Research, St Louis; APHIS, EPA (USDA), USTDA, Washington DC, USA. He has been an active member of the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) for 3 years at DBT, Government of India. He is a member of a panel of experts in area of Biotechnology for National Fund for Strategic Research of ICAR, New Delhi and Reviewer for the R&D Project Proposals of Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, New Delhi. He has been an honorary member, Board of Assessors, Australian Research Council, Canberra and President Punjab Academy of Sciences. He obtained and executed over 20 externally funded research projects granted by various national and international organizations. He has participated and presented his research findings at 130 national/international conferences/meetings held in India, England, Scotland, Yugoslavia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, Austria, Iraq, China, Australia, Mexico, Germany and US. Welcoming the decision, HS Kingra, president of PAU Teachers Association, said that the government has made the right decision by appointing a dedicated scientist like Gosal as PAU V-C. “We hope he will expedite pending projects and fill vacant posts on priority," said Kingra. Apart from Dr Gosal, two other agriculture experts were in the race for the PAU top post: US-based Lakhwinder Singh Randhawa, a cotton breeder, and Navtej Singh Bains, a wheat scientist.
