Three women were awarded the Woman Engineer of the Year 2020 prize under the category academia, research and development (R&D) and industry by the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) on Monday.

The three winners are Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata (academia category); Lalithambika V.R., Director, Directorate of Human Space Programme, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) (R&D); and Dheepa Srinivasan, Chief Engineer, Pratt and Whitney, R&D Centre United Technologies Corporation India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru (Industry).

"The award function was held on Monday in a virtual mode. I am proud and happy as it is a very prestigious award," Lalithambika told IANS.

According to her, this is the first time she is getting the award from INAE.

On the other hand, for Srinivasan, this is the second time she is getting an INAE award. Twenty years back she was awarded the INAE Students Innovative Projects award.

(IANS)