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By TODD GOTTULA
UNK Communications
KEARNEY – Mahabir Pun, an award-winning social entrepreneur and University of Nebraska at Kearney alumnus, has been appointed Nepal’s minister of Education, Science and Technology.
Prime Minister Sushila Karki introduced the appointment Monday as she expanded her Cabinet. Pun was certainly one of 4 new ministers sworn in on the President’s Office within the presence of President Ramchandra Paudel.
Founder of the nonprofit Rashtriya Aviskar Kendra (National Innovation Centre), Pun has spent greater than a decade advancing analysis, technology and innovation to drive Nepal’s financial improvement.
Soon after taking workplace, his ministry fashioned 4 advisory committees centered on area technology, nuclear technology, biotechnology and knowledge technology/synthetic intelligence.
“I will consult experts and work based on their suggestions,” Pun advised reporters. “Our focus will be on expanding new research, innovation, technology and promoting entrepreneurship.”
Pun earned the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award – usually known as Asia’s Nobel Prize – and was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014 for bringing wi-fi web to distant Himalayan villages via the Nepal Wireless Networking Project. Those communities now use the community for e-learning, telehealth, native e-commerce, neighborhood boards, cash transfers and climate monitoring.
A trainer, activist and innovator, Pun holds a bachelor’s diploma in bodily science schooling (1992) and a grasp’s in schooling (2001) from UNK, together with a 2007 honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nebraska. UNK acknowledged him once more with its International Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2022.