Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (MSP)

Udupi, May 30: Uttam Bhat, a student of the 'IIT-JEE' training batch of Manipal Institute of Computer Education (MICE) Udupi, has been selected to represent the country in the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics 2008, scheduled to be held at Bandung, Indonesia from August 19 to 28, 2008. He will be a member of the Indian contigent comprising of five students studying in classes below 12th standard.

About 35 countries are expected to participate in this olympiad. The programme has the financial backing of the department of science and technology of the central government.

In the national level astronomy olympiad held in January, Uttam was one of the 50 students selected. Uttam later took part in the three week orientation-cum-selection camp conducted at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai from May 3 to May 20 for the selected students. A set of distinguished professors from IIT-B, HBCSE, TIFR etc imparted training to these students in astronomy and astrophysics at the selection camp and conducted a series of tests. Based on their performance in these tests, five students were selected to represent India.

Before the event goes off, a further 10 days' training will be given to this team at HBCSE/TIFR.

The Indian Astronomy Olympiad Programme is designed to encourage students with good foundation in physics and mathematics and an interest in astronomy, to pursue further studies in this field. For this purpose, the IAOP holds nationwide olympiad tests and selects about 50 students to undergo further training.
 
Last year, Uttam had represented India in the International Astronomy Olympiad at Ukraine and had won silver medal for the country. He is also the recipient of the following scholarships:

National Talent Scholar 2006 (NTSE) – Rs 500 per month until PhD
Kishore Vygyanik Prothsahana Yojana 2006 (KVPY) - Rs 28,000 per year until PhD
 
Uttam is the son of Dr Gopalakrishna Bhat (department of bio-chemistry, KMC) and Vanitha Bhat from Manipal. He is a student of Poorna Prajna Pre-University, Udupi.