Ludhiana, December 10, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
Dr (Mrs) Parveen Chhuneja, Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, PAU, has been elected as Fellow of the oldest and most prestigious Science Academy of India, the National Academy of Sciences, India, in recognition of her outstanding scientific contributions in the field of Agricultural Biotechnology at the state, national and international level.
She was inducted in NASI as Fellow at 91st Annual Session of the NASI held on December 5, 2021. Dr Chhuneja is the sixth scientist from the PAU since inception to be honoured with this award.
She has been bestowed with this national recognition for her work on the utilization of wild relatives of wheat for last more than 20 years for wheat improvement. She has transferred a large number of new genes from wild wheats which are being used for developing new wheat varieties. Five of these genes have been designated at the international level.
She has also tagged these genes with molecular markers for transfer and pyramiding in the best wheat backgrounds leading to the precision breeding. She has made significant contributions to the development of seven wheat varieties developed through marker assisted selection and has published 125 research papers in international and national journals, including three in Science and one in Nature.
Dr Chhuneja has handled seven international and ten national research projects as Principal Investigator. She has been the recipient of many awards like ‘Outstanding Woman Scientist Award’ at the national level by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, as well as by Society for Wheat and Barley Research; Dr Gurdev Singh Khush Distinguished Professor Award by the PAU; Merit and Plaque as Best Researcher by the PAU; and International Gene Stewardship Team Award by Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), in recognition of her outstanding contributions in wheat research and development.
Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University Sh. D.K. Tiwari, IAS, Financial Commissioner (Development), Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of Punjab, congratulated Dr Chhuneja for the national recognition, and wished her the best for her future endeavors. Dr A.S. Dhatt, Director of Research PAU, Dr M.I.S. Gill, Dean, College of Agriculture, Dr J.S. Mahal, Dean Post-graduate Studies and Dr Tejinder Singh Riar, Additional Director Communication, PAU, also congratulated Dr Chhuneja for the prestigious recognition.
