Sobti Family Fellowship Allows New Penn Grad to Do Research in India

Penn's Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) has awarded its inaugural 2014-15 Sobti Family Fellowship to Vignesh Selvakumaran, E'14.

Established through a gift from alumnus Rajiv Sobti, Gr’84, and Slomi Sobti, Penn parents, the fellowship is the first program at Penn to provide funding for a recent Penn graduate to conduct independent research in India.

Selvakumaran, from Malvern, Pa., graduated from the School of Engineering and Applied Science with a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering. As a Sobti Family Fellow, he will work with Aurolabs at Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in the fall.

His project aims to create a new low-cost medical device for cataract surgery. 

As part of a senior design requirement, Selvakumaran’s team designed a device to enable physicians to use pulse wave velocity to access patients’ cardiovascular health during regular check-ups. The group was awarded the Honorable Berger Award and took third place in the Engineering School’s Senior Design Competition.

Through the Sobti Family Fellowship, a recent graduate can take his or her independent interests and research beyond the classroom towards real world applications. CASI can now support a graduating senior to further develop ideas in the field and provide a bridge between undergraduate studies and future scholarly aspirations. 

Selvakumaran is currently applying to medical school for the fall of 2015.

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