1959, SSLC with First Class, from SRI RAMAKRISHNA VIDYA SHALA, Yadavagiri, ( a Residential School ) at Mysore.
1961, PUC, from St. JOSHEPH'S COLLEGE, Bangalore
1964, B.Sc.,( Botany, Zoology, Chemistry,) with FIRST CLASS, from St. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE, Bangalore ( MYSORE UNIVERSITY )
1966, M.Sc. ( ZOOLOGY, with Embryology ) with 59.9 % from CENTRAL COLLEGE, Bangalore, ( BANGALORE UNIVERSITY )
1968, Training in REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY, at ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, ( AIIMS ), New Delhi.
1970, Training in ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, at CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Bombay.
1972, Ph.D., ( in Applied Biology, Long Term Studies with ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES on MICE, Histochemical and Histopathological Studies), from INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN REPRODUCTION, ( IRR ), ( UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY )
1976, TRAINING IN QUESTION BANK, under Prof. Natarajan, University Grants Commission.
1979, Course on ENERGY ALTERNATIVES, at ASTRA of INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, ( IISc.,) Bangalore.
1993, Diploma in COMPUTER APPLICATION, MGM College, Udupi.
SCHOLARSHIPS & HONOURS :
1961 to 1966 Govt. of INDIA, Merit Scholarship for Orthopedically Handicapped, ( I am an Ectrodactyle, but exceptionally functional in all aspects )
1967 to 1972, INDIAN COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, Junior and Senior Fellowships
1971,Research Grant from WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Geneva, for Ultrastructural Study on effects of Ural Contraceptives on Mice )
1976 -77,Research Grant from UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION, for ECOLOGY of St. MARY's Island.
1976, prize, for IMPROVED DESIGN OF BULLOCK CART, in a National Level Competition conducted by SYNDICATE BANK, Manipal.
1980, JAYCEE National PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL RECOGNITION AS OUTSTANDING PROJECT MANAGER.
HONARY POSITIONS HELD :
1971 to 1972, Incharge of Photographic Department, At Inst. for Research in Reproduction, Bombay.
1972 to 1980, Staff Adviser of Photograhic Club, College Wall Magazine,M G M College,
1975 - 80 Technical Advisor of M/s Adithya Enterprises, (manufacturing Solar Cookers and Water Heaters,)
1980 - 81 Village Consultant on ENERGY Alternatives, Syndicate Bank, Manipal.
1981-82, DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, New Delhi, for studies on LOW COST SOLAR WATER HEATERS OF PLASTIC.
1986 - 99, Co Convener, INTACH, Udupi-Manipal Chapter,( Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, A Regd. NGO with HO. at New Delhi with over 150 branches all over India )
1995- current. President of Udupi Taluk Parisarasaktara Okkuta, ( A local NGO concentrating on Environmental Protection )
I am also an active Volunteer for various organizations especially VITA, OKKUTA, INTACH.
MEMBERSHIPS :
1979-82, Member, International Solar Energy Society, USA.
1979 to C, Member, Solar Energy Society of India,
1974 to C, Indo German Cultural Society,
1980- C, Consumers Forum, Udupi.
I was married in the year 1972. My wife Smt. PRAMEELA KUNDAPUR, is an exceptional house wife, Cook and above all a SINGER of repute. She sings Bhajans, Gazals, Film songs, in 5 languages, Sanskrith, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Konkani our mother tongue. She has one solo commercial cassette to her credit, and has sung in FOUR other cassettes along with singers of repute.
The Family photograph below was taken on the occasion of my first daughter on 31st Jan, 1998.It has been included here for the benifit of my other family members who are outside the country.
Yet another photo enclosed was taken on 16th May 1999 on the occasion of Engagement of my second daughter with Sri. Vinay Konge, A Chemical Engineer working at Goa.
Personal Interests :
I love music. Consider myself fortunate as I like all types of music, but the preference is for Hindustani Classical. Can also play, but not so well, musical instruments like Hormonium/ Electronic Organ, Mouth Organ.
I prefer to read detective novels, though I have'nt read any books for the past couple of years.
I like and play Foot ball, Cricket, and the Indian National game Kabbadi, not an expert but enjoy playing.
I believe in a lot of Indian traditional wisdom, the four 'purusharthas' Dharma, Artha,Kama & Moksha, Yoga, and a whole lot of wisdom prescribed in Bhagavathgeetha.
Though an Optimist, I can not refrain from thinking that we have woken up to our misdeeds rather too late, and hence have reached the point of no return and hence there is no future for mankind and a lot of other Animals on this planet. However I am contributing my might towards preservation and this has led me to organization like VITA, Solar Cooker International, INTACH and OKKUTA.
Since 1972 I have been teaching Ecology and has been very much worried with the ever spiralling Human population and assault on the Environment. But it is only in the year 1992 I joined some of the earstwhile Environmental Movements and have been taking active part. At present I am Vice Presedent and Incharge of Technical Information Cell of DAKSHINA KANNADA ZILLA PARISARASAKTARA OKKUTA, and President of UDUPI TALUK OKKUTA,
Co Convener of INTACH which is a NGO at national level, and is actively involved in preservation of NATURAL & MAN MADE HERITAGE.
Since 1972 I am in active research but on account of nature of studies, long term studies involving mice, number of papers published are rather small.
Failure in extention of Grants prevented me from publishing papers on Ecology of St.Mary's Island, a set of 4 Continental Islands off the coast of Malpe.
Another interesting research project I had taken up with the help of Dept. of Science & Technology, was on low cost Solar Water Heaters of Plastic. Of the plastics available in our country LDPE and HDPE pipes appeared to be very ideal. The former lasted for over two years and the latter lasted for over three years under the Indian Sun. However results could not be published for want of suitable standard equipment for measuring Insolation.
First Paper in 1971, " Effects of long term adminstration of Ovulen on reproductive organs of inbred strains of Mice " Ashok Kundapur, Safia Munshi, Shanta S Rao, in Indian Jor.of Expt Biology, 9, 121-131, 1971.
Second paper in 1973, " Long term effects of Chlormadinaone Acetate - Ultrastructural Studies on the Uterine Epithelia of Mouse " Ashok Kundapur, Shanta S Rao, Akhila B Vaidya, S.M.Sirsat, Indian Jor.of Expt. Biology. 11, 292-294, 1973, ( Mouse which were treated for over one year showed myelenoid degeneration in the Mitochondria of Uterine Epithelium )
Third Paper in 1980, " Plastics in Solar Industry " Documentation Notes, TERI, 16- 21, Feb. 1980, ( it was a small article on various plastice that were being used in Solar devices during '80, the only synthetic material which showd some promis then was EPDM, but I have'nt been able to keep track of its present status )
Fourth Paper in 1995, " SOLAR COOKERS - A Review " in Proc. of Alternative Energy Sources - All India Seminar, 134 - 157, MIT, Manipal 1995.
Fifth Paper in 1998, " Review of Solar Cooker Designs " TIDE, TERI information Digest on Energy, 1-37, Vol 8 ( 1 ), 1998. ( Click here to see this paper available in this site. I have reviewed 50 major designs of Solar Cookers and 59 variations. The article has 60 drawings and 100 references. )
I started with Gosh type Solar Cooker, worked on it to improve its 'looks' and reduce its weight. As regards its weight I had managed to bring it down to just about 15 kg. without any loss of its efficiency.
I had collected lot of information on plastics and other materials that go into Solar Water Heater and had built several large Solar Water Heaters working on thermosiphon principle. In an attempt to build low cost Solar Water Heaters such that it would be within the reach of low income group persons all over the world, I had experimented with Water Heaters of Plastic. The ones I had built on thermosiphon principle using Plastic pipes worked well, cost was very low, it could heat 100 lit of water to about 600 C in a day. But the plastic setup did not last for long not over 2 years. But the replacement cost is cheep too, but there are other problems and the water cannot be used directly for bathing or cooking.
Hence I prefer BOX-in- Box type Solar Cookers whic are excellent compared to other types especially with reference to Cost.
Though I have been blessed with a creative mind, (or at least that is what I think ) lack of Engineering tranining has prevented me from 'cashingon' this faculty but I have'nt given up as yet, wish to create a new type of ladder, a Elecricity generator wich would work on muscle power, and a Electric Scooter which would work exclusively on Solar Energy.
Office address
Professor & Head, Department of Zoology, MGM College, Udupi-
576 102, INDIA
Electronic mail address
ashok_kundapur@yahoo.com
Web address
http://members.tripod.com/ashokk_3/index.htm
Office phone
91- 8252-20359
Home phone
91-8252-21965
Please send me mail telling me what you think about this page and how I might improve it. You may please also send your design of Solar Cooker, or your suggestions on Solar Cooking, as this is an active site I shall incorporate it in the Review Paper.
For details please see my paper on Review on Solar Cooker Designs ( Click here )
I prefer a Box-in-Box type Solar Water Heater, this is a low cost vertion and could easily become popular.
At present I have collected lot of information on Electric Vehicles through regular route as well as through Internet. I have evolved a design and am on the threshold of building a working model. Only thing that is preventing me is to some extent funds and help from some technical persons.
