Ashutosh Samal and Amartya Prusty from the State have secured 19th and 20th ranks, respectively, in the National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) conducted for admission into the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER).
C Rahul of Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the all-India topper in the test. More than 54,000 students had appeared for the test, conducted at 102 centres across the country including 14 in Odisha on May 29. The total number of seats in the NISER is 132.
Sources said nearly 900 aspirants, who have cleared the test, would appear for the first phase counselling scheduled to be held on July 12. Successful students will be enrolled in the five-year integrated MSc programme of the institute in four disciplines, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics.
NISER, an autonomous institution under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), trains and nurtures human resources in the sciences for the knowledge economies of the future.