By Kenneth Mullinax

The former president of India made Alabama State University's Life Science Building his first official stop during a whirlwind tour Tuesday of Alabama’s top scientific research and technology sites.

A.P.J. Kalam, who served as the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007, arrived on campus in an official motorcade of black SUVs and police motorcycles, which was in keeping with his status as the former head-of-state of the largest democracy in the world and the second most populous nation.

Before his term as India’s president, Kalam was known as one of India’s most distinguished scientists and is popularly known as the “Missile Man of India” for his work on the development of India’s ballistic missile system and space rocket technology.

Kalam was at ASU to visit university president Dr. William H. Harris and ASU’s nationally renowned research scientists, including Dr. Shree Singh, and to tour ASU's new $30 million, five-story Life Science Building. The facility houses the university’s cutting-edge molecular biology teaching laboratories, its Center for Nanobiotechnology Research and other acclaimed science programs.

He was greeted in the foyer of the building by President Harris, Executive Vice President John F. Knight Jr., University Provost Dr. Karyn Scissum Gunn, Vice President Danielle Kennedy-Lamar and a large contingent of dignitaries, which included Lt. Governor Jim Folsom Jr., Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange and Jefferson County Commission President Pro-Tem William Bell, among others.

After an hour-long tour of the facility, Harris and Kalam exchanged public pleasantries before a packed room of ASU, Indian government and other officials. At their farewell meeting, Harris presented the former Indian president with a large Waterford Crystal vase etched with ASU’s official seal.

As he presented the official gift to Kalam, Harris offered some poignant remarks to his guest.

“I hope this ASU Waterford vase always reminds you of your first visit to the Alabama State University campus and as the inscription on the vase reads, ‘May Knowledge Unite Us.’”