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be termed ‘pioneer’ immigrants because when they arrived at Adelaide in 1966, there were only three Indian families here, including them. Even as Jagan was establishing himself as a valuable staff member of Adelaide University’s Mathematics Department, he and Maya managed to find time to help other Indian migrants who started arriving in small numbers, with the change in Australia’s migration policy. Many new arrivals in the ‘70s and ‘80s gained from the couple’s support in a variety of ways.

interest and his latter-day love of Biomedical Engineering. He was the prime mover in establishing the Biomedical Engineering laboratory. His interest in this area led him to undertake research on non-invasive studies of heart valves tissue pathology. He was also involved in research on tissue engineering on articular cartilage impacting on osteoarthiritis that affects some 10 percent of Australians.

BY LP AYER

To the array of accolades already accumulated over the years, Adelaide’s Dr Jagan Mazumdar added another one on Australia Day. As part of this year’s Australia Day Honours, he became Member (AM) in the general division of the

Order of Australia (AM).

“This January 26 is a memorable day for me,” Dr. Mazumdar said.

“To have my services recognised in such a way by my adopted country on a day when my country of origin, India, celebrates its Republic Day honouring a number of distinguished persons is a double dose of delight”.

Anyone who knows Jagan will readily accept that this award is an acknowledgment of his contribution to academia and service to the Indian community.

Jagan and his wife Maya could

After obtaining his Masters in Science from Patna University, Jagan received a scholarship to do his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the Moscow State University. Among the attendees at a conference where he presented a paper was the head of the Mathematics Department in Adelaide University, who asked Jagan to join the University. He accepted and starting as a lecturer, he progressed to Associate Professor and finally, Adjunct Professor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the School of Applied Mathematics and also Emeritus Director, Centre for Biomedical Engineering.

During his forty plus years at Adelaide Uni, Jagan was involved in two main areas of research – Solid Mechanics, his area of primary

Dr Mazumdar has published over 200 research papers and written two seminal books. In view of his scholarship in biomedical engineering, he was one of the few non-engineers elected to a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers.

Jagan is the recipient of a number of awards in his academic fields. He has been a visiting professor at overseas universities in the US, Canada and India during his sabbaticals.

During his years at the uni Dr Mazumdar had supervised the project of a number of research students and is proud to say that a handful of his Indian students are now highly placed in defence and IT occupations.

But even amidst all his academic activities, Jagan found time to be of great service to the Indian community. With only four Indian families in Adelaide in 1968, he formed the India Club. He served as President of the Indian