The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) has elected Prof. Appa Rao Podile, Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad (UoH), for the most prestigious fellowship of the Academy in the Annual General Meeting held on October 14, 2017. This was communicated by Prof. Ajay Sood, President of INSA with a congratulatory note to Prof. Appa Rao.
The INSA, has appreciated the outstanding contributions of Prof. Appa Rao in Plant Sciences in general and plant-microbe interactions in particular. His recent work on transglycosylation by bacterial chitinases published in journals of high impact and his earlier contributions on the use of chitinolytic bacteria for the control of fungal diseases of plants were recognized by INSA. The citation reads that “his work on chitinases enabled the development of alternatives to the toxic antifungal compounds for plant protection”.
In 2017 Prof. Appa Rao was honoured with “Millennium Plaques Honour” by the Indian Science Congress Association, and an Honorary Doctor of Science by Ram Manohar Lohiya Avadh University, Faizabad. He has received several other awards and honours including the fellowships of four National Science Academies like Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, and Association of Microbiologists of India. In addition he is founding fellow of the Telangana Academy of Sciences and also the fellow of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Appa Rao has guided 20 students for Ph.D. and handled several national and international research projects. He has about 95 peer reviewed high impact publications and also filed 2 patents. His work has been cited more than 2200 times with an h-index of 25.