The University Graduate School wishes to
congratulate all recipients of awards and fellowships. We have chosen to
feature a recipient in this article to especially honor Saurabh Betawadkar the
recipient of the 2013-2014 Santosh Jain Endowed Memorial Scholarship.
The Santosh Jain scholarship honors the
memory of the spouse of Chaman Jain, a senior lecturer in SPEA. Santosh Jain
was well known among international graduate students. She was born in Lahore,
India, which is now part of Pakistan. She first came to the United States from
New Delhi, India, in 1970 with her husband and their two small children in
order for Chaman Jain to attend graduate school at IU. Throughout the years,
she supported her family as they pursued higher education, and was passionate
about serving her community and promoting education. She was a founding member
of the India Society of Bloomington, a group dedicated to assisting
impoverished women and children in India. She was also well known in the graduate
student community for her culinary skills.
The 2013-2014 recipient, Betawadkar, is
from Hyderabad, a city in southern India. He has a Bachelor of Technology degree
in Biotechnology from Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (SRM) University, Chennai. Betawadkar
says he has always been fascinated with science and all of its wonders. “Thus I
chose Biotechnology as a major” to learn more about science. During his
undergraduate years he had a strong inclination towards protecting and
preserving the environment. This is why he chose Environmental Sciences as his
major at IU.
“Nature has been my
passion,” says Betawadkar. And his main
research interests are the “discovery and use of technology that while
supporting our needs also conserves the environment.”
Among
his many achievements, Betawadkar
counts the Santosh Jain award among the highest. He says that receiving the
award is “an encouragement which I have received from the world for the work I
have done and provides me with a boost to believe in my way of looking at the
world and keeps me going.”
Betawadkar’s passion for the environment goes
back to his undergraduate days at SRM University. He was an active member in a
club called Eco-Youth which worked for environmental conservation on the SRM
campus as well as Chennai. As a member of Eco-Youth he also participated in a
social education street play titled “Tigrave,” focused on protecting endangered
tigers. He was also active in educating peers about environmental stewardship.
Betawadkar continued his
environmental work after his time at SRM University by working with a friend to
promote environmental conservation in Dhanbad, India. He worked with school
children in a program called “Moksh.” They taught the students “the basics
of English and also tried to instill environmental values into them. Suarabh
says, “I have always felt it was my duty to help the needy and will always do
so.”
Betawadkar
looks “forward to a career in committed environmental science and humanitarian
activities.”
Once again congratulations
to Saurabh Betawadkar, the
2013-2014 recipient of the Santosh Jain Endowed Memorial Scholarship.
