By Arun Kumar

New York, Nov 7 (IANS) The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Centre here will honour five Indian American Malayalees for their outstanding achievements in their field of specialisation or for their service to the society.

The awardees to be honoured at Kerala Centre's annual banquet Nov13 are: Madhu Bhaskaran, MD - Medicine. A graduate of Calicut Medical College, Kerala, he is the Medical Director of the Kidney Transplant Programme at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York.

Captain Stanley George - Service to Government. A Captain with New York City Police Department (NYPD), Kerala born George is the highest ranking Indian in the NYPD.

Dr. Vinod. M. Menon - Applied Sciences. Menon, who received his MSc in Physics from the University of Hyderabad, India in 1995, is an Associate Professor of Physics at Queens College and Graduate Centre of the City University of New York (CUNY).

Dr. Molly Easo Smith - Education. Born and raised in India, Smith is President of Manhattanville College, a liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. She attended the University of Madras, where she received her BA and MA degrees in English.

Ragy Thomas - Entrepreneurship. Ragy Thomas who did his B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Pondicherry University, India, is the founder and CEO of Sprinklr , a social media management system and related services for large enterprises.

"Since 1993, The Kerala Centre has been providing services to the Kerala and Indian community in the New York metropolitan area including celebration of Indian Kerala festivals and important national holidays, language, and dance classes for children," said Jose Chummar, president of the Centre.

"The Kerala Centre honours outstanding achievers among the American Keralites every year who are role models to our generations growing up in America," said Dr. Thomas Abraham, Chairman of the Awards committee.