US-India announces Obama-Singh awards connecting Universities to solve global challenges

The United States and India Announce Obama-Singh Awards

            Connecting Universities to Solve Global Challenges

In a continuation of the educational partnership between India and the United States, the State Department is pleased to announce the eight institutional partnership projects below for the second round of Obama-Singh 21^st Century Knowledge Initiative awards.  This initiative strengthens collaboration and builds partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education in priority fields.  Each project will receive an award of approximately $250,000 that can be utilized 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 endeavor, for a total of $10 million.

U.S.-led Partnerships:

Harvard School of Public Health

Project Title:  Harvard-India Nutrition Initiative

Partner Institution: St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore

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

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Project Title: Inclusive Universities: Linking Diversity, Equity and Excellence for the 21^st Century

Partner Institution: University of Pune

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:

Annamalai University

Project Title: Tamil Nadu Energy Futures:  Mapping Uncertainties and Risks

Partner Institutions: Tennessee Technological University

Assam Agricultural University

Project Title: Engineering ADP – Glucose Pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) enzymes for heat tolerance in rice

Partner Institution: Washington State University

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

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

The next request for proposals for the Obama-Singh Initiative grants will be announced in July 2013.  Details will be available at www.usief.org.in/OSI and http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/5520971_9807232_ProposalUSIndiaIC.pdf

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