Una girl gets full scholarship for PhD by University of Mississippi in USA

Una, August 9

Komal, a resident of Beetan village in Haroli subdivision of Una, has been awarded a full scholarship for PhD in Microbiology and Immunology by the University of Mississippi in the USA.

Komal (25) belongs to the ‘Gujjar’ community and is settled in Haroli called the ‘Beet’ area, where life is difficult and educational facilities are scarce. “When she was 11 years old, she lost her mother. The four siblings were brought up in a joint family of two brothers,” says Komal’s father Babu Ram, who works for the Indian Oil Corporation.

Komal completed her primary education from a private school in her native Beetan village and passed Class XII from a school in Nangal. Thereafter, she was granted admission in the Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science dual degree course at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, where she opted for biology subject.

Komal said she would be undertaking a PhD programme at the Medical Center of the University of Mississippi and working in a virology lab, adding that her research was going to be on SARS-CoV-2 virus. — OC