A total of 546 PhD's and six M Phil degrees will be awarded for the years 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years at the 85th and 86th convocation of Andhra University scheduled to be held on December 9 at the CR Reddy convocation hall in Visakhapatnam. The number is 294 short of the 840 PhDs awarded at the 83rd and 84th convocation in 2017.
On Tuesday, AU vice-chancellor G Nageswara Rao and HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao visited the convocation hall to inspect the arrangements made for the event. Along with doctorates, 573 medals and prizes will be awarded during the convocation. G Nageswara Rao said that the highest number of 43 PhDs are from the Chemistry Department. Governor ESL Narasimhan will attend the convocation as the Chancellor.
IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao will be receiving an honorary doctorate from the varsity as well. Rao before joining IIT Delhi served as a PK Kelkar Chair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and as the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay. Rao has over 450 research publications in the area of nano-scale devices and Nanoelectronics and is an inventor on 40 patents and patent applications, which include 15 issued US patents. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences in 2005.