NRI Professor,
Guru in food technology gifted $100,000 to PAU
for food technology research
Ludhiana, Nov. 19, 2007
Lachman Singh
NRI, Dr. Manjit Singh Chinnan, who is a Professor of Food Science
and Technology at the University of Georgia, Graffin, USA present
a a cheque of $10,000 to the VC, Prof M S Kang, a part payment
of $100,000 spread over in ten years.
Dr Manjit Chinnan got his BSc in Agricultural Engineering in
1965. Professor Manjeet is the 2007 recipient of the Bor S. Luh
International Award. The award recognizes outstanding efforts
to promote the international exchange of ideas in the field of
food technology. He wants this money, “to be spent on food
technology.”
Dr Lata Mahajan Chinnan, his wife did her MSc in Biochemistry
from PAU in 1969. She was a hockey player herself. She has been
a member of India’s National Hockey Team and represented
India at the 1974 Women’s World Cup in France. PAU had established
the Lata Mahajan Medal for Best Women Athlete in 1991. She wants
something to be done in the field of sports with some part of
the money.
Dr Chinnan said, “PAU played a great role in shaping our
status and careers. It is only due to the education we got at
PAU that made us be what we are today. Now it is our duty to do
something in return for the institute that gave us so much.”
His wife Lata Chinnan said, “The time we spent at PAU is
the best time of our lives. The kind of education that we received
here has helped us settle easily on the foreign shores. Back in
US, the alumni contribute a great deal to their universities in
terms of financial and other support.”
Vice-Chancellor Dr Kang thanked Dr Chinnan for their philanthropic
effort in rendering support to PAU for excellence in the field
of academics and sports. The funding support by NRIs could be
a great help to PAU that has earmarked priority agenda for agricultural
development in the state.
Dr. Chinnan has been involved in USAID Collaborative Research
Support Program (CRSP) projects since 1982. He lead a 1987 Peanut
CRSP project which led to improved dehydration systems in Belize
and Jamaica and reduced the risk of aflatoxin contamination in
peanuts and corn.
From 1992 to 1996 he served as Co-Principal Investigator of a
Southeast Asia USAID project that focused on the interface in
research and development efforts between production agriculture
and peanut utilization. In West Africa, Chinnan’s work significantly
improved the processing of black-eyed peas (cowpeas) in Ghana
and Nigeria.
One particular project introduced a village-scale technology
for producing cowpea flour that minimizes the amount of time it
takes to prepare cowpea paste, the principal ingredient in popular
foods like akara and moin-moin.
Chinnan is Principal Investigator of a six-year project in Bulgaria
supported by an over $700,000 USAID grant. Chinnan’s leadership
of this project resulted in the signing of two agreements. The
first is between the University of Georgia and the Bulgarian Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry and established a public-private enterprise
for processing of value-added peanut products for consumers in
the Balkan region. The second established the Food Research and
Development Center for Southern and Eastern Europe.
These two entities will have an enormous impact in the area of
research and development and marketing of new food products not
only in Bulgaria, but also in the Balkan region and beyond. In
addition to his international research efforts, Chinnan has served
as the major professor for 20 graduate students from China, Ghana,
Greece, India, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Taiwan and
Thailand.
