Lucent announces winners for Scholars program

Lucent Technologies has announced two outstanding first-year undergraduate students as winners of the Global Science Scholars program for the year 2001. Mayank Agarwal of Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and Shilpa HG of Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Suratkal are the winners of this program.

They are the amongst the 108 students who will have the opportunity to learn about new technologies and meet Bell labs researchers during a 'Global Science Summit' from July 23-27, 2001, at Lucent's Bell Labs' world headquarters in Murray Hills, New Jersey in US. 

In addition, the winners will be entitled to internships at Lucent's R&D facility in India in 2002 as well as receiving a one-time financial award of $ 5,000 each.

Both Mayank and Shilpa are first year computer science students in their respective colleges. Both the students were selected on the basis of their personal interviews conducted by an independent panel of judges comprising luminaries from the fields of communication, technology, research and consulting. Other selection criteria included academic performance and participation in extra-curricular activities such as sports, dramatics and music.

Speaking on the occasion, Mike Butcher, President, International Operations, Lucent Technologies, said, "It is extremely heartening to see the high caliber of talent in India. These young people are destined for extraordinary achievements and give us enormous confidence in the future."

The competition in India was opened to four academic institutions that included IIT, Delhi, Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, Karnataka Regional Engineering College and RV College of Engineering in Karnataka. The competition was open to first year students enrolled in courses in the fields of electronics, electrical and telecommunication and computer sciences.

Lucent's scholar program is the annual talent competition designed to support science students who are pursuing career in information and communication technologies. This is the second year that two undergraduate students from India are being selected for this program. The Institute of International Education, a US based organization manages the program in India.