DASNR
International
Student of the Week
Home Country:
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a sovereign country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of over 7500 kilometers. It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia.
Home to the Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's variegated culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means of social protest.
India has a labour force of 509.3 million, 60% of which is employed in agriculture and related industries. Major agricultural crops include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes. The agricultural sector accounts for 28% of GDP. Source Wikipedia
Viajay
Muthukumar
March 31, 2008
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From the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
This week’s international student of the week is Vijay Muthukumar. He is a Master’s student in The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Vijay was born in India; he speaks three languages, English, Hindi, and Tamil. Vijay is a member of the American Pathological Society, The Oklahoma Academy of Sciences, the Advancing Science Serving Society, and the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Association in where he served as Vice-President 2006-2007. Vijay has been awarded with several prizes during his graduate program. In 2007 he won first Place for a paper presentation at the American Society for Microbiology Seminar, he presented a paper titled “Identification of Novel Plant Viruses in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.” He also won the second place for a paper presentation at the Oklahoma State Graduate Research Symposium the title of his presentation was “Metagenomics for the Discovery of Novel Plant Viruses.” He also won another second place for a paper presentation at the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Research Symposium. He has presented his research at the Plant Virology Retreat in Ardmore, Oklahoma; the Tallgrass Prairie Retreat, Oklahoma; and the Phytopathological Society at San Diego California; and at the NSF-EPSCoR Annual Conference in Oklahoma. In addition he has submitted his research for publication to the Journal of Virology Methods.
In his free time Vijay likes to spend time with his wife. They go out for movies, to eat out in restaurants (they love the New Texas Road House) they also love to go to the lakes. Vijay likes to read books, listen to music, watch TV, and clean his car and house. Vijay came to the USA because it is a country that has “one of the world’s supreme university systems. At the graduate level, students often have the chance to work with some of the best minds in the world,” Vijay said. The USA degrees are well known throughout the world for their excellence. USA universities have the best technology and resources for students. Vijay chose OSU because it has an excellent academic program with state of the art research facilities, furthermore he loves Stillwater. Vijay’s future plans are to work for a good biotech company.
Vijay comes from a family of two children, his elder brother (Manoj) works for Cirro Energy in Atlanta as a software Engineer. His father owns a company in Nasik, India (SPAN Hi-Tech), and his wife is a Ph.D student in Plant and Soil Sciences at OSU. Advisor: Dr. Ulrich Melcher Vijays’ advice to students: “Make full use of all the wonderful opportunities this country has to offer.” Interview by: Sandra Rodríguez
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