AMU professor honored with Vigyan Ratna Award of the Government of Uttar Pradesh

Prof. Wasim Ahmad of the Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University has been awarded the prestigious Vigyan Ratan award of the Council of Science & Technology, Government of Uttar Pradesh. He received the award from Honorable Minister of Science & Technology Mr. Abdul Mannan and Honorable Mr. Thakur Yash Pal Singh, minister of State at a glaring function organized by the Council of Science & Technology at Sir C.V. Raman Auditorium, Lucknow on 29^th November 2011. Ministry of Science & Technology, Government Uttar Pradesh, gives this award every year to scientists for their outstanding contribution to science, special scientific achievements or innovation. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs.50,000/- a memento and a citation.

Prof. Ahmad received this award for his outstanding contribution in the field of Biodiversity, taxonomy, ecology and phylogenomics of soil inhabiting nematodes. Dr. Ahmad is an internationally acclaimed Nematode taxonomist and has published several books and large number of research papers in international journals of repute. He has also distinction of working on soil nematode fauna of over twenty different countries of the world.

Dr. Ahmad has earlier received several national and International awards and fellowships in addition to the prestigious E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award on Animal Taxonomy from the Government of India which he received this year.

Prof. Wasim Ahmad delivering lecture at the National Institute of Agric. Science & Tech., Suwon, Korea August 2007

Prof. Wasim Ahmad with his collaborators

Prof. Wasim Ahmad receiving award from Dr. M. S. Swaminathanm

Dorylaimida: free-living, predaceous and plant-parasitic Nematodes by Jairajpuri & Ahmad

Dorylaimida:

free-living, predaceous and plant-parasitic Nematodes

Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri, Wasim Ahmad

1 Reviewhttp://books.google.com/books/about/Dorylaimida.html?id=LyfrLYdO3jsC

BRILL, 1992 - Science - 458 pages

The Dorylaimida represent a large and very important group of soil and freshwater inhabiting nematodes of great agricultural importance. Both in appearance and mode of life they represent a wide diversity and as a consequence the number of species and higher taxa that have been described hitherto is the highest within Nematoda. The identification of species, genera, families, etc. of Dorylaimida is very difficult and at times causes problems for the specialist too. The large number of species on the one hand and often the meagre descriptions on the other make even well-known taxonomists to look at Dorylaimida with great hesitation and desperation. M. Shamim Jairajpuri and Wasim Ahmad have undertaken a great task in summarizing, evaluating and systematizing all the knowledge that has been published so far.

Mononchida : The Predatory soil Nematodes by Wasim Ahmad & M. S. Jairajpuri

Mononchida

The Predatory Soil Nematodes

W. Ahmad and M.S. Jairajpuri

A unique treatise on the morphology and taxonomy of the order Mononchida. The mononchs represent a group of predatory nematodes that are natural enemies of other soil micro-organisms including plant-parasitic nematodes. The book includes detailed morphology of mononchs with emphasis on characters of taxonomic importance. Detailed diagnoses of the ordinal and familial groups and all the genera known to date are provided. A brief description of type species of each genus is followed by a complete list of all the valid species and their synonymies and an up-to-date key to species. The book is … read moreheavily illustrated with line drawings, microphotographs and SEM photographs of type or representative species. A complete bibliography until 2007 and an index are included. [^]

Biographical note

Ahmad, Wasim, Ph.D. (1981), D.Sc. (1993) in Nematology (Zoology), Aligarh Muslim University, is Professor of Nematology (Zoology) at Aligarh Muslim University, India. He has wide experience of working in leading Nematology laboratories of the world, has published extensively on the taxonomy of soil inhabiting nematodes belonging to the orders Dorylaimida and Mononchida and is considered an authority on these groups.

Jairajpuri, Mohammad Shamim, Ph.D. (1964), D.Sc. (1970) in Nematology (Zoology), Aligarh Muslim University, formerly Principal Nematologist CABI, UK; Director, Zoological survey of India is Emeritus Professor and INSA Senior Scientist at Aligarh Muslim University. He has wide experience of working in leading Nematology labs of Europe and is a world authority on the taxonomy of Mononchida and Dorylaimida.

Readership

Nematologists in general, Nematode taxonomists, Plant protection workers, Soil ecologists, Molecular biologists, Undergraduate and post graduate students in Biology and Agriculture

Prof. Wasim Ahmad of AMU received the highest award for Animal Taxonomy, E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award

ALIGARH, June 23: Prof. Wasim Ahmad, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University has received E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award, the highest award for Animal Taxonomy instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. He received this prestigious award from Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Hon’ble Minister of Environment and Forest, Government of India and Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Undersecretary General and Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at a World Environment Day programme in New Delhi. The award carries a medallion, a scroll, a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-. Dr. D. B. Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India received the Award for Plant Taxonomy. Dr. Ahmad is the youngest to have been honored with this award since its inception in 1999 by the Government of India.

Dr. Ahmad is an Internationally acclaimed nematode taxonomist with over three decades of research experience in soil nematode fauna of different geographical regions of India. He has described several hundred new taxa of nematodes. He has also the distinction of describing large number of new nematode taxa from over twenty different countries of the world.

Dr. Ahmad has several books and monographs to his credit published by the world renowned publisher, E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands. He has visited many countries as an expert of nematode taxonomy and is recipient of prestigious visiting fellowships from Royal Society, London (UK), Dutches Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (Japan), Erasmus Mundus Scholar (European Union), Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), Third World Academy of Science (Italy), Korean Science Foundation (Korea), Raffles Museum Visiting Fellowship (Singapore), Institute Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica) etc.,

Dr. Wasim’s international recognition can be ascertained from the fact that in 1996, scientists from the British Museum Natural History, London named a new genus of nematode Wasimellus enigmatus Bloemers & Wanless in recognition of his contribution to Nematode taxonomy. This is a very rare recognition for an Indian Scientists to achieve at international level. His admirers have dedicated several other new species in his name, Laimydorus wasimi, Bohra & Baqri, Mylonchulus wasimi Tiasi, Chatterjee & Manna; Helicotylenchus wasimi Gantait, Bhattacharya & Chatterjee; Aporcelaimellus ahmadi Sergio and Pena-Santiago etc.