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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline AUGUST 30, 2024 | The Indian Eye 30

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

KUNTAL BHATTACHARYYA RAJU RANGAPPA

ODU’s New School of Supply Heat MAGIC to develop

Chain names its First Director climate-tolerant rice

ecently, Old Dominion University appointed Kuntal Bhattacharyya,
Ph.D., as the first Director of the new School of Supply Chain, Logistics
Rand Maritime Operations (SSCLMO).
Dr. Bhattacharyya joins SSCLMO from Indiana State University where
he served as the project director of the Logistics 4.0 Innovation Hub@Plain- orld-over rice cultivation is facing a crisis due to climate change and
field. Previously he was the Scott College of Business School’s executive di- extreme weather events. Recently, Raju Bheemanahalli Rangappa,
rector of graduate programs and chair of the department of marketing and Wa Mississippi State University (MSU) assistant research professor in
operations. Bhattacharyya, is a certified risk manager, holding a doctorate in plant and soil sciences, has been empowered to find sustainable solutions to
operations management from Kent State University and a master’s in man- the rice crisis with a $720,500 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food
agement from the University of Akron. and Agriculture.
He has extensive experience of 17 years in academia including design- The university’s Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station,
ing a new curriculum that aligned with the needs of Midwest manufacturing or MAFES, team is using heat multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross
corridors; the development of an advisory board and a new center for supply (Heat MAGIC) populations of rice to test tolerance to various temperature
management research; creation of an online MBA program that experienced combinations, increasing the chances of finding viable solutions.
150% growth year-to-year; corporate fundraising; and forging partnerships Rangappa said, “Our team is focusing on phenotyping and identifying
with international companies such as GEODIS, Toyota Material Handling, climate-resilient rice varieties with improved tolerance to temperature stress.”
Eli Lilly and North American Lighting. “A MAGIC population is a breeding population used in plant research. It
He began his career with The Timken Company, a multi-national produc- involves crossing multiple parents over several generations and then self-pol-
er of bearings and steel. He was a global sourcing analyst, managed $2 billion linating the resulting offspring for additional generations. By analyzing the
capital budgets and charted global sourcing strategies. genetic makeup of this population, researchers can identify the genes likely to
“I always wanted to be in the industry first before I could take my two cents control trait expressions,” Rangappa said. “Imagine you’re a painter. It’s like
of knowledge into the classroom,” he said, noting that when he was an MBA creating new shades.”
student, his professor and mentor planted the seed of a career in academia. The MSU team, including research professor and director of the uni-
“Leveraging our strategic location, the SSCLMO will work closely with versity’s Soil Plant Atmosphere Research Unit, Raja Reddy, is collaborating
maritime, supply chain and logistics companies to support the shipbuilding with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the US-
and ship repair, transportation and defense industries as well as others to best DA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Arkansas. This
prepare our students for exciting careers that are so vital to our country’s blue partnership combines scientific expertise in stress physiology, breeding and
economy,” said Elspeth McMahon, Old Dominion’s associate vice president genomics to address the rice crisis under heat stress.
for maritime initiatives. The Heat MAGIC rice was developed by scientists at IRRI to improve
“Dr. Bhattacharyya brings experience in strategic sourcing, supply chain varieties with desirable traits. The project is divided into four phases over the
management, financial economics, humanitarian logistics, and Industry 4.0 next four years. The first two years will be heat stress tolerance field testing in
applications in manufacturing to lead the new school, which will prepare stu- the Philippines. The same population will then be tested in Arkansas and Mis-
dents for impactful careers in the supply chain and maritime industry,” said sissippi to complete additional field and controlled environment experiments.
ODU Provost Brian K. Payne. Continued on next page... >>

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