Postgraduate student at the PELM Centre Ratikanta Sahoo (Rati) graduated with a Masters degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in 2000 with first class honours and came to Australia in January 2001 to complete his PhD at Central Queensland University.

He was selected from a large number of applicants for the Gladstone Port Authority's PhD Scholarship, which is entitled "Measurement and Prevention of Coal Degradation during Handling in Gladstone Port Circuit". His scholarship was highly competitive making Rati's success all the more commendable.

In May 2001 he received a trophy from the Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie as the Queensland Scholar for 2001.

Rati is currently completing his PhD and it is anticipated that he will submit his thesis by the end of this year. He is a very capable research engineer and has shown initiative in his work and an excellent grasp of bulk materials handling problems, particularly with respect to coal.

Rati is a prolific publisher with a possible 13 articles arising from his research, more than half to be published in refereed journals. He recently presented a paper at the '4th International Conference on Material Handling and Logistics Systems' in China. His paper was praised for its functionality. His research has been utilized in further work carried out by researchers in India, China and Australia.

Rati has also been asked to present a paper at the '4th International Conference for Conveying and Handling of Particular Solids' in Budapest, Hungary in 2003. His research has contributed greatly to the work of the Gladstone Centre for Clean Coal and he has proven to be an asset to the University.