Chellu Chetty. (Photo: Courtesy, Jack Hartzman)

Chellu Chetty was among nine individuals and eight institutions honored with the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) by President George Bush at a ceremony on May 6. Each award included a $10,000 grant for continued mentoring work.

Each year the president recognizes the people and institutions that have provided broad opportunities for participation by women, minorities and people with disabilities in science, mathematics and engineering in elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate education, a press release said.

Recipients of this year’s individual awards include a range of professionals from biology and chemical engineering to computer science and medicine. Their innovative approaches include comprehensive programs and enrichment activities for K-12 students to initiatives aimed at reaching a continuum of students from early childhood through undergraduates, using such community resources as schools and churches.

Chellu Chetty, a professor of biology the Savannah State University, has a strong record of working with students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, particularly with African-American students and with underrepresented communities. He has developed strategies that involve and challenge students in their academic and career pursuits. Chetty’s presidential award will help support the establishment of a mentoring and advising office for the College of Sciences and Technology at Savannah State.

The institutional honors went to: American Physiological Society; Center for the Advancement of Hispanics in Science & Engineering Education; Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research, Computing Research Association (CRA-W); CONNECT, University of California at Riverside; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s “Increasing Ph.D.s for Underrepresented Minorities;” National Society of Black Engineers; Science and Technology Programs, New York State Department of Education, and; Women in Engineering Program (WEP), Pennsylvania State University.