Nobel laureate and US-based Binghamton University Director M Stanley Whittingham will be the chief guest in the virtual convocation of VIT-AP University to be held on Thursday, said University Vice-Chancellor, SV Kota Reddy. Stanley Whittingham won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2019) for the development of lithium-ion batteries.

Addressing a press conference at the campus in Amaravati, Kota Reddy said Stanley Whittingham would virtually inaugurate the four new buildings — Mahatma Gandhi Academic Block, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Block for boys’ hostel, Savitribai Phule Block for girls’ hostel and Rock Plaza — which was constructed to provide extracurricular activities for the students. Microsoft India Director Mayurika Singh will be the guest of honour. The convocation is being held virtually due to the pandemic situation prevailing in the country.

Referring to the placement drive conducted by the University, the vice-chancellor said that out of the 460 students graduating from the University this year, around 90 per cent secured placements. The rest of the students did not opt for campus recruitment since some are going for higher education or are going to take over the family business or want to launch their own ventures and other reasons.

In view of the COVID conditions, the University introduced COVID scholarships for the senior students who lost their sole earning family members by waiving the tuition fee and hostel fee. “As many as 30 senior students benefited under this scheme. The University also introduced merit scholarships for the students who secured more than 80 per cent marks for Non-Engineering programmes viz., BBA, B.Com Finance, BA LLB (Hons), BBA LLB (Hons), BA-MA (Public Service), B.Sc-M.Sc (Data Science), M.Sc (Physics), M.Sc (Chemistry),’’ Reddy said.