Ashok Jhunjhunwala is an Indian academic and innovator. He received his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and PhD from the University of Maine. He has been a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras since 1981. He is the President of IIT Madras Research Park and Chairman of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. During his career, he has contributed extensively to technology innovation and adoption in the Indian context.
Prem Chand Pandey is an Indian space scientist, planetary scientist, and academic in the fields of satellite oceanography, remote sensing, atmospheric science, the Antarctic and climate change, and also he is the founding director of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR).
G. K. Surya Prakash is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and holder of the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southern California. He serves as the Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, where he maintains his prominent research lab. He also served as the Chairman of the Chemistry Department for four years between 2017 and 2021. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) from Bangalore University in 1972, a M.Sc. from IIT Madras in 1974 and a Ph.D. from University of Southern California in 1978 under the direction of George Olah, where he worked on characterizing stable carbocations in superacids. He also sits on several editorial boards of major scientific journals.
Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) is an advanced research institute in the field of mineralogy to materials engineering, established in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It was established in 1964 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. The main focus area of research of IMMT is mining and mineral/bio-mineral processing, metal extraction and materials characterization, process engineering, industrial waste management, pollution monitoring and control, marine and forest products development, utilization of medicinal and aromatic plants, colloids and Materials Chemistry and environmental sustainability. Dr. Ramanuj Narayan is the Director of this Institute at present where 140 scientists are working towards nation building programme.
V Ramgopal Rao is an Indian academic currently serving as the Group Vice Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani for campuses located in Pilani, Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad and Mumbai. He was previously the Director of IIT, Delhi for six years during 2016-2021.
Ashutosh Sharma is an Institute Chair Professor and C V Seshadri Chair Professor at the Department of chemical engineering of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He is the founding Coordinator of DST Thematic Unit of Excellence on Soft Nanofabrication and Chairman of Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur. He is best known for his pioneering research work in the areas of colloids, thin film, interfaces, adhesion, patterning and in the fabrication and application of self-assembled nano-structures.
Bikramjit Basu is currently a full professor at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, specializing in Engineering Ceramics and Biomaterials Science. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology, the highest science award in India, for the year 2013 in engineering science category. The prize was awarded for his "outstanding contributions encompassing theory and experiments to significantly expand our understanding of the in vitro cell functionality modulation on engineered bio-materials using electric field simulation approach". With a team of clinicians and entrepreneurs, he is actively involved in translating his research into implantable biomedical devices for orthopedic and dental restorative applications and currently leading a center of Excellence at IISc, Bangalore. In 2015, he received the National Bioscience award. Besides, Prof. Basu is also involved in development of Zirconum diboride based UHTCs.
Kasturi Lal Chopra was an Indian materials physicist and a former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He was the founder of the Thin Film Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Microscience Laboratory at IIT, Kharagpur and held several US and Indian patents for his research findings. Author of a number of books on thin film technology, he was a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to science and engineering.
Balasubramanian Viswanathan also known as BV, is a highly accomplished Indian material scientist, an emeritus professor at IIT Madras and husband of late Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, the first woman financial commissioner of Indian Railways. He is well known in the field of catalysis and material science and has been instrumental in setting up and running the first National Centre for Catalysis Research at IIT Madras. He has authored more than 30 books with top publishers including Springer Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier, covering various aspects of material science, catalysis, nanotechnology, Energy, Fuel cells, CO2 reduction and has published more than 600 scientific journals. He is considered to be an authority on catalysis and material science in the scientific world and has an H-index of 61 resulting from more than 14,000 citations.
Devang Vipin Khakhar is an Indian chemical engineer and the former director of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He is known for his pioneering researches on polymerization and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India as well as Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1997.
Yogesh Moreshwar Joshi is an Indian chemical engineer, rheologist and the Pandit Girish & Sushma Rani Pathak Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is known for his studies on metastable soft matter and is an elected fellow of the Society of Rheology, Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and Indian National Academy of Engineering. In 2015, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded Joshi the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to Engineering Sciences. In 2023, he received prestigious J C Bose fellowship constituted by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India.
Avinash Kumar Agarwal is director of Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur. He is an Indian mechanical engineer, tribologist and a professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is known for his studies on internal combustion engines, Emissions, alternate fuels and CNG engines and is an elected fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (2013), Society of Automotive Engineers, US (2012), National Academy of Science, Allahabad (2018), Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2018), International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (2016), and Indian National Academy of Engineering (2015). The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 2016. Agarwal has been bestowed upon Prestigious J C Bose Fellowship of Science and Engineering Research Board. Government of India. Agarwal is among the top ten highly cited researchers (HCR) of 2018 from India, as per Clarivate Analytics, an arm of Web of Science.
The Castner Gold Medal on Industrial Electrochemistry is an biennial award given by the Electrochemical Technology Group of Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) to an authority on applied electrochemistry or electrochemical engineering connected to industrial research. The award is named in honor of Hamilton Castner, a pioneer in the field of industrial electrochemistry, who patented in 1892 the mercury cell for the chloralkali process. Castner was an early member of SCI.
Chokkanathapuram Venkataraman Sundaram was an Indian chemical metallurgist, best known for the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam. He was the director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). He was a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi Award for Science and Technology as well as the National Metallurgists Day Award and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 1986.
Viola Ingrid Birss is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Calgary. She works on electrochemistry and the development of nanomaterials for sustainable energy and sensing applications. She has demonstrated a metal oxide perovskite that can be used as the air and fuel electrode in solid oxide fuel cells, as well as creating nanoporous carbon scaffolds to be used in batteries and capacitors.
Lynden A. Archer is a chemical engineer, Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering, David Croll Director of the Energy Systems Institute, and professor of chemical engineering at Cornell University. He became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007 and was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. Archer's research covers polymer and hybrid materials and finds applications in energy storage technologies. His h-index is 92 by Google Scholar.
Binoy Kumar Saikia is a Principal Scientist at North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat (NEIST), Assam, India. He is also the Group Leader of the Coal and Energy Research Group in the Materials Science and Technology Division of NEIST. His research interests span energy and environment in general and in particular chemistry and technology of coal, carbon and nano-materials, atmospheric aerosols, and air pollution. He has developed and patented, both in India and the US, a technology for the production of blue-fluorescent carbon quantum dots from Indian coal.
Prof. Rajat K Baisya is an Indian management professor, author, and researcher. He was formerly Professor & Dean of Dept of Management Education, IIT Delhi. He was awarded Canada Gairdner International Award for the year 1974. He was also awarded Dr J.S.Pruthi Award for the year 2001 for significant contribution to the food industry.
Prof. Suresh Bhargava is an Indian-Australian academic and multidisciplinary scientist specializing in chemical engineering. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), the founding director of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC), and the current Dean of Research & Innovation (India) in the STEM College at RMIT University, Melbourne. Prof. Bhargava is a fellow of seven prestigious academies worldwide, including the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE), the Indian National Academy of Engineering (FNAE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI), the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASI), and The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS-UNESCO). In 2021, he joined The World Academy of Sciences-UNESCO, and in 2022, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.
