A US-based immunologist, with family in Salt Lake, has just been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious institution established under a charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
“Only the top scientists get elected here. Nobel winners in the US are all members of this academy. It is a great honour,” Sankar Ghosh tells
The Telegraph Salt Lake from New York. “The academy inducts individuals from all fields of science so very few are elected from every department.”
Sankar, whose parental home is in EC Block, is a professor and head of the microbiology and immunology department of Columbia University. His research is on the immune system and has been critical in the understanding of and treatment of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, colitis and dermatitis.
Calcutta University has decided to keep only departments providing emergency services, like audit and accounts and controller of examinations, open with 50 per cent attendance till further orders because of the rise in Covid-19 cases. The departments will function following Covid protocols.
In a notice signed by the university’s registrar, the faculty have been requested to “carry on the academic activities via online mode only”.
Members of staff and officers have been advised to take care of their own health and look out for symptoms like fever, respiratory problems etc. “If feeling unwell, they are advised not to come to the university,” the notice said.
Calcutta University will not reopen its campuses for in-person practical classes at the postgraduate level this semester, making a U-turn from its decision in the previous semester that ended in March, following a sharp rise in Covid cases.
Online theory classes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for the ongoing semester started on Monday.
In the previous semester (odd semester), CU was the only university in Bengal that reopened its campuses for practical classes.
Asked about the prospect of reopening labs in the even semester, vice-chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee said: We are not going to allow this now. (Covid) Cases are rising all over. It would not be advisable to recall students to the campus now. We cannot compromise with the health of students. As pro-vice-chancellor (academic) Asish Chatterjee had told the heads of all departments last week, only theory classes in the online mode will be held till the situation improves.”