An Indian student from Chennai has received the first 'Pemanda Monappa Scholarship' award to pursue an M.Phil course at the prestigious University of Cambridge in Britain.
Prashanth Venkataraman, a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, is currently a Design Engineer with Saint-Gobain Glass India.
He will pursue an M.Phil course in 'Engineering for Sustainable Development' starting this year, a university release said.
David Willetts, minister of state for Universities, presented the scholarship Certificate to Prashanth during Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron's recent visit to India.
Prashanth said, "I feel extremely fortunate and proud. In fact, I truly want to give back to the people of my country through public service in the future."
The Pemanda Monappa Scholarship was set up in March 2010 in memory of the late Pemanda Monappa, a distinguished and highly decorated officer of the Indian Police establishment, in partnership with the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.
The scholarship provides for study leading to a Master's degree in any of the following subjects: English Literature, Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences (excluding medicine and veterinary medicine), Economics, Computer Science, Law and Technology.