Kashmiri scientist awarded Nehru Fulbright Fellowship

A scientist from south Kashmir’s Kulgam district has been awarded Nehru Fulbright Fellowship for his contribution in the field of Chemistry.

A resident of Batapora Qaimoh in Kulgam district, Dr. Shahid ul Islam has worked hard to introduce alternative greener agents that can reduce pollution in textiles industries following the ban on carcinogenic synthetic dyes, textile and polymer.

   

“As a Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Shahid will address this issue by designing and synthesizing novel metal/polymer composites from agricultural wastes which align with the general principles of natural-resource efficiency, cleaner production and eco innovation,” reads the content of the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) website which has conferred the award of fellowship to Dr Shahid.

Fulbright-Nehru awards enable the most outstanding students, academics and professionals in India and the US to study, research and teach in the host country.

“Indian scholars are selected through a rigorous application and interview process. Once selected, awardees receive support navigating the visa processing and securing health insurance, as well as a comprehensive pre-departure orientation,” Dr Shahid told Greater Kashmir. Shahid is the only candidate from J&K who has been selected for Fulbright fellowship for the year 2021.

Dr. Shahid Ul Islam is a principal project scientist at the department of Textile and Fiber Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

“I obtained Ph.D from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and after completing my PhD, I led a project at IIT Delhi sponsored by Science and Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India as part of my N-PDF scheme,” he said.

His areas of interest are renewable chemistry, polymeric composites and nanocomposites and advanced functional finishing of textile substrates.

“He has filed for two patents and has published several research and review papers in high-impact reputed international journals,” reads the USIEF website.

He has also to his credit 10 books published by renowned international publishers. His publications have attracted over 2,200 citations and h-index 23.

Additionally, two of his papers appeared in Science Direct’s Top 25 “hottest articles” from the Journal of Cleaner Production in 2014 and 2015.

Shahid is a recipient of several prestigious awards such as the Shastri Indo Canadian postdoctoral fellowship to pursue research at McGill university Canada- the Basic Research Fellowship (BSR JRF) by University Grants Commission (UGC), the DST-SERB National Postdoctoral Fellowship, the CSIR Research Associateship by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the postdoctoral fellowship offer by SouthWest University, China.

He has won the Young Scientist Award at AIB-2018 held at Kashmir University and received an International Travel Support Award (2018) from the SERB, DST, to attend the 91st Textile Institute World Conference (TIWC) in 2018 at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom.

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