Students of Lovely Professional University have excelled on world stages for ages, and it’s nothing new for us to hear such news on a regular basis. Earlier too, LPU has witnessed a lot of students excelling the national and international stages whether in sports, cultural activities, or academics and made our university and the country proud.
Recently, two LPU students, members of Student Chapter Astrionics, shined on the world stage, and we couldn’t be less proud about it. B.Tech. Aerospace. Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (2020-2024) students, Riddhi Malhotra and Rishika Awasthi have won two Gold Honours individually at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition 2022 (IAAC) amongst students from every corner of the world.
IAAC is an online science competition that allows students from all over the world to participate and prove their skills and creativity in astronomy and astrophysics. It has around 14,500 participants from across the globe.
The winners and participants of the competition are awarded certificates and cash prizes and given a chance to become an IAAC ambassador of their country honored with a national award. The competition consists of three rounds, including the participation round where some problems will be provided and you’ll be asked to give a solution, the pre-final round where after qualification six different problems of varying difficulty levels will be provided, and the final round consisting of an online exam with 20 MCQs. The highest grade achievers are then awarded special prizes and awards.
Riddhi Malhotra, who bagged gold medal in this competition, is an NCC Air Wing cadet, Co-CEO of Aero.in, and Junior Research Intern at LIPS Research. She has prior achievements in the astronomy field including International Rank 1 in the Annual International Astronomy and Physics Competition (AIAPC 2021) and has participated in International Rover Design Challenge by Mars Society South Asia (2021) and World Skills Aircraft Maintenance Competition 2021.
Rishika Awasthi, too, is an NCC cadet, a junior research intern at LIPS research DL-CARD, and a research intern at STAR Orbitals. She is a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aero.in and has served as a Space Ambassador at the Indian Space Society and a student intern at Brahmastra Aerospace Systems.
Both these girls have made us proud and we wish them great success ahead!
