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Journalism of Courage
Two professors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have been elected for the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Fellowship 2023-24. The two IIT Kanpur professors are Prof. Bushra Ateeq and Prof. Nitin Saxena.
Prof. Bushra Ateeq is a Professor and Joy-Gill Chair Senior Fellow at the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur. She is revered for her extensive work on cancer research.
The second recipient, Prof. Nitin Saxena, is from the Computer Science and Engineering Department, and is also the founding Coordinator of the Center for Developing Intelligent Systems (CDIS) at IIT Kanpur.
Prof. Ateeq’s research group is predominantly interested in delving into the genetic and epigenetic modifications that trigger the onset and progression of cancer. “With innovative strategies and approaches in their quest, the group is working to uncover the molecular processes driving cancer development and resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs,” the official release stated. INSA acknowledged her contributions to cancer research including her research on the role of a peptidase inhibitor, SPINK1 in the progression and drug resistance of Cancer.
In addition to this, Dr. Ateeq is the recipient of several accolades, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Medical Sciences (2020), the highest Indian science award conferred by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India; Sun Pharma Science Foundation Research Award (2021) in the Medical Sciences – Basic Research category; Elected Fellow (2021) of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), Bangalore; Elected Fellow (2021) of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), to name a few.
An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Prof Saxena along with his batch mate Neeraj Kayal and mentor Prof. Manindra Agrawal, successfully developed a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm. The trio were awarded the prestigious Gödel Prize for outstanding papers in the area of theoretical computer science, and the Fulkerson Prize, in 2006, for this breakthrough.
He is currently a faculty member at IIT Kanpur and has done extensive work on developing novel techniques for understanding algebraic independence over fields of small characteristics. INSA, while announcing the Fellows, has also acknowledged his consistent work on bringing in “techniques from several areas to attack the most important problems in algebraic complexity.”
