AP Students Get US Fellowship

Visakhapatnam: Dr Lankapalli Bullayya College here has received yet another feather on its cap with the selection of four of its students for a prestigious US fellowship.

The students from B.Sc (Life Sciences) T Harshitha, A Tejaambik, J Karthikeya, M Ashwini, studying final year biotechnology and microbiology along with their guides from teaching staff Dr. B Madhavi, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies; Dr B Sailaja, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology were felicitated for their research on pioneering blue carbon ecosystems restoring seagrass meadows in Visakhapatnam Coast.

They were selected in the Climate Tank Accelerator Competition, a collaborative initiative between the Student Society for Climate Change Awareness (SSCCA) and Seeds of Peace USA. The students will be deputed to the US on a 10-day fellowship programme in February 2025 for further studies on the project. The initial step taken by the team was selecting and picking two seagrass species, Halophila ovalis and Halodule pinifolia, from Chilika Lake in Odisha, cultivated them in the lab by providing necessary climatic conditions and replanted them in the coastal area of the city.

The main motto of the project was to absorb carbon dioxide from atmosphere which would help mitigate global warming. "We are proud of our students' accomplishments and encourage them to take up more research," Dr GSK Chakravarty, faculty member of Dr Lankapalli Bullayya College, said.