Indian-American professor among 3 killed in US univ shooting

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Feb 13 (PTI) An Indian-American professor
hailing from the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh was
among three people killed when a woman lecturer allegedly
opened fire during a faculty meeting at a university in
Alabama after learning that she had been denied tenure.
The incident, which also left three people injured,
occurred at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH)
Friday evening.
Huntsville police chief Henry Reyes identified the
Indian-American professor as Gopi Podilla, who was the
Chairman of the biological sciences department. The other two
killed, Maria Davis and Adriel Johnson, were associate
professors of biology.
Podila is an alumni of the Acharya Nagarjuna
University near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Podila's research
interests included functional genomics of plant-microbe
interactions and plant molecular biology and biotechnology.
The varisty's registrar M V Narasimha Sharma said
Podila did his post-graduation from the university between
1977 and 79 and that he was a gold medalist.
"He was a proud student of this university. We felt
very sad on hearing the news and we express shock and hrief
over the death of Podila. We have lost a very good alumni," he
said in Guntur. (MORE) PTI