8 Indian Universities get Obama-Singh Grant for Higher Education

In a continuation of the educational partnership between India and the United States, eight institutional partnership projects have been selected for the second round of Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative awards.

Each project will be awarded approximately $250,000 that can be used over a three year period, with the objectives of cultivating educational reform, fostering economic growth, generating shared knowledge to address global challenges, and developing junior faculty at Indian and American institutions of higher learning.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama announced the Obama-Singh Initiative in November 2009 as an affirmation of their commitment to building an enhanced India-U.S. partnership in education. Each government pledged $5 million for this endeavour, for a total of $10 million.

U.S. led Partnerships:

1. Harvard School of Public Health
Project Title: Harvard-India Nutrition Initiative
Partner Institution: St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore

2. Ohio State University
Project Title: The STEM Faculty Project: Training the Next Generation of STEM Faculty at Higher Education Institutions in India
Partner Institution: Aligarh Muslim University

3. University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Project Title: Inclusive Universities: Linking Diversity, Equity and Excellence for the 21st Century
Partner Institution: University of Pune

4. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Project Title: Partnering for Success: Advancing Sustainability Research and Education in India
Partner Institution: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Indian led Partnerships:

1. Annamalai University
Project Title: Tamil Nadu Energy Futures: Mapping Uncertainties and Risks.
Partner Institutions: Tennessee Technological University.

2. Assam Agricultural University
Project Title: Engineering ADP - Glucose Pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) enzymes for heat tolerance in rice.
Partner Institution: Washington State University.

3. Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women
Project Title: A Sustainable 'Response to Intervention' model for successful inclusion of children with disabilities -A India-US Partnership.
Partner Institution: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

4. National Institute of Technology - Trichy
Project Title: Cognitive based Curriculum Development Tool for emerging areas of Computer Engineering and Management Studies for improving Teaching-Learning Process.
Partner Institution: University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

India News.