Tenth Academic Advisory Council

Prof Pratim Biswas Dean, College of Engineering, Professor, Dept of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering University of Miami, USA

Prof Biswas is the Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Miami. He is a faculty member in the Dept of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, with an affiliated appointment in the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Prof Biswas is a pioneer in his field recognized for applying aerosol science and engineering to multiple areas, such as energy and environmental nanotechnology, solar energy, air pollution control, and medicine. Prior to joining the University of Miami, he was the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Professor and Chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. He has won several teaching and research Awards including the 2018 Fuchs Award, the premier international aerosol award given to a scientist for outstanding contributions in aerosol science and technology; the 2016 Harry White Award by the International Society for Electrostatic Precipitation; the 2015 Cecil Award given for exemplary accomplishments in Environmental Engineering by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the 2013 David Sinclair Award given for outstanding contributions by an established scientist by the American Association for Aerosol Research; the Distinguished Faculty Award by Washington University in 2012; the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2011. Prof Biswas received his BTech degree from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and MS from the University of California, Los Angeles and PhD from the California Institute of Technology.

Prof Rajendra Kumar Bordia George J. Bishop, III Chair Professor of Ceramics and Materials Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering Clemson University, USA

Prof Bordia is the George J. Bishop, III Endowed Chair Professor of Ceramics and Materials Engineering. He is also a Guest Professor, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, IIT, Gandhinagar. He has served as the Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Clemson University (2013-2019). Before joining Clemson in 2013, he was a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Washington (UW). From 1998 to 2005, he was the Chairman of his Department at UW. Prof Bordia’s research is at the intersection of materials and mechanics and is focused on fundamental and applied studies in the processing and properties of complex material systems for energy, environmental, and medical applications. He is a Fellow of the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (2020); Academician in the World Academy of Ceramics (2012); Fellow of the Indian Institute of Metals (2010); and Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (2002).
Prof Bordia has won several awards including Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2007), Outstanding Educator of the Year Award of the American Ceramic Society (2012), Distinguished Service Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India (2020), and the 2022 Champion H.Mathewson Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineers. Prof Bordia received his undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in Mechanical Engineering and his M.S and PhD from Cornell University in Materials Science and Engineering.

Prof Nitesh V Chawla Frank Freimann Collegiate Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame, USA

Prof Chawla is the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is the Founding Director of the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society. He is a Fellow of ACM, IEEE, and AAIA. Chawla is an expert in artificial intelligence, data science, and network science, and is motivated by the question of how technology can advance the common good through interdisciplinary research. As such, his research is not only at the frontier of fundamental methods and algorithms but is also making interdisciplinary advances through collaborations with faculty at Notre Dame and community, national, and international partners. Chawla is the recipient of multiple awards for research and teaching innovation including outstanding teacher awards (2007 and 2010), ACM, IEEE and AAIA Fellow honors, National Academy of Engineers New Faculty Fellowship, and several best paper awards and nominations. He also is the recipient of the 2015 IEEE CIS Outstanding Early Career Award; the IBM Watson Faculty Award; the IBM Big Data and Analytics Faculty Award; the National Academy of Engineering New Faculty Fellowship; and the 1st Source Bank Technology Commercialization Award. In recognition of the societal and community driven impact of his research, Chawla was recognized with the Rodney F. Ganey Award and Michiana 40 under 40 honor. Chawla is a founder of Aunalytics, a data science software company.

Prof Neelkanth Chhaya Member B&WC, IITGN and Former Dean, Faculty of Architecture CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Prof Chhaya is an architect and academic. He has practiced at Ahmedabad since 1987, and taught at Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University from 1987 to 2012, when he retired as Dean of the Faculty. He also taught earlier at the University of Nairobi and at Institute of Environmental Design, Vallabh Vidyanagar, and has been an Adjunct Faculty at Srishti School of Design, Bengaluru. He edited Harnessing the Intangible: Collected Essays on the Work of Balkrishna Doshi (National Institute of Advanced Studies in Architecture, 2014). Prof Chhaya has been interested in the value of Indic thought on architecture, urbanism and place-making to contemporary practices.

Prof Frederick L Coolidge CU Presidential Teaching Scholar, Psychology Department University of Colorado, USA

Prof Coolidge is Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). Prof Coolidge received his BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Florida (UF) and completed a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at UF. He is currently Co-Director of Undergraduate Education in Psychology, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Archaeology. He has received three teaching awards including the lifetime designation, University of Colorado Presidential Teaching Scholar. He also received the UCCS LAS Annual Outstanding Research and Creative Works Award (2004), and the UCCS Annual Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (2006). Prof Coolidge is a three-time Fulbright Fellowship Award recipient (1987 NIMHANS, 1992 Manipal, 2005 India-wide). For the month of March 2015, he was appointed Senior Visiting Scholar at Oxford University (Keble College). For the past 8 years, he has been a Visiting Professor/Guest Professor at IITGN, teaching courses on research methods, brain evolution, and sleep and dreams. Prof Coolidge is a member of the Association of Psychological Science, the European Society for Human Evolution, the Society for American Archaeology, and International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. He teaches introductory and advanced undergraduate statistics, cognitive evolution, evolutionary neuropsychology, abnormal psychology, and sleep and dreams.

Prof Ashish Garg Professor, Department of Sustainable Energy Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Prof Garg is a Professor and the founding Head of the Department of Sustainable Energy Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Prior to the formation of this department in 2020, he was a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Ashish Garg obtained his PhD degree in Materials Science from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2002 and was a Fellow of Downing College, of Cambridge University during 2001-2003 before joining IIT Kanpur in 2003. While on deputation from IIT Kanpur, he was also the Dean of Faculty Affairs at IIT Jodhpur in 2017, where he also laid the foundation of the Materials department. He has also had brief stints at RMIT University and CSIRO, both in Melbourne (Australia) and in Tata Steel, Mumbai and Infineon Technologies, Germany. His research interests are in materials and device development for energy harvesting and storage e.g. photovoltaic, ferroic and multiferroic, triboelectric and battery materials, their device integration and scale-up, as well as in carbon neutrality and NetZero. His research contributions have been recognized in the form of several national and international awards. He is a supporter of sustainable living and as the Head of the Chandrakanta Kesavan Centre for Energy Policy and Climate Solutions at IIT Kanpur, he is currently leading the IIT Kanpur Carbon Neutrality initiative. He has a keen interest in teaching and educational matters and has led initiatives to reform the curriculum of Materials Science and Metallurgy education in IITs and NITs and has contributed to curriculum reforms in IITs and NITs. He has also contributed to a few courses on NPTEL/MOOC platform.

Dr Yogesh Goyal Assistant Professor Northwestern University, USA

Dr Goyal is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. His lab is housed within the Center for Synthetic Biology. With a unique background in engineering, developmental biology, biophysical modeling, and single-cell biology, Goyal lab develops quantitative approaches to problems in developmental biology and cancer drug resistance. As a postdoc, Dr Goyal developed theoretical and experimental lineage tracing approaches to study how non-genetic fluctuations may arise within genetically identical cancer cells and how these fluctuations affect the outcomes upon exposure to targeted therapy drugs. Dr Goyal received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Princeton University.

Prof Nuno Guimarães Full Professor, Department of Information Science and Technology (ISTA) University Institute of Lisbon, (ISCTE-IUL), Portugal

Prof Guimarães, Full Professor at ISCTE-IUL, graduated in Electrotechnical Engineering at the Technical University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal (1983) where he also completed his MsC and PhD (1992). He received his Habilitation in Informatics in 1999, from the University of Lisbon. He is Professor at ISCTE-IUL since 2012. He was also a Professor at IST/UTL (1992/1997) and Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (1997/2012) where he was Dean (2003-2009). He was Pro- and Vice Rector of ISCTE-IUL (2012-2018) and member of the board/founder of several startup IT companies (1999 to 2006). He was a research consultant for AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ, USA (1989-1991), invited Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin Institute of Technology), Germany (2010) (Institut für Psychologie und Arbeitswissenchaft) and is a visiting scholar at the IIT Gandhinagar, India (2014, 2019-2022). He is Senior Member of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), chair of the board of the Portuguese Chapter of the Internet Society and member of the board of the Center for Cyberspace Law Research of the University of Lisbon. Prof Guimarães current Research interests are Human Computer Interaction and User Experience, Digital Society Challenges, Law and Technology.

Dr Dileep Mavalankar Director Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Dr Mavalankar has been heading the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar as its Director since 2012. His work experience includes faculty and research positions in NHL Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad, National Institute of Health in Bethesda, USA, Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India and Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, NY, USA. Dr Mavalankar has received several honours & awards, including Paul Harper Award 1990, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, USA; Hewlett Foundation Fellowship for pursuing Doctor of Public Health at Department of Population Dynamics, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1984 and nominated to the membership of Alpha Chapter of Delta Omega, The Honorary Public Health Society, USA, 1983. Dr Mavalankar was appointed by the Prime Minister to the high level Missions Steering Group of the National Rural Health Mission constituted by the Government of India in 2005. He was the Chair of the Technical Working Group on Maternal Health by the Government of India. He was also a member of the Steering Group on Health for the 12th Five-year Plan of the Planning Commission of India. Dr Mavalankar received an MBBS and MD in Preventive and Social Medicine from Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, and MPH and Dr P.H from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, USA. He was Member Secretary of the Covid Task Force for Gujarat state appointed by CM of Gujarat.

Prof Richard K Miller Professor Emeritus and President Emeritus Franklin W. Olin College Of Engineering, USA

Prof Miller was appointed President and first employee of Olin College of Engineering in 1999; in June 2020 he became President Emeritus. He then served as the Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems at MIT (2020-2021). Prof Miller is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He is co-recipient of the NAE Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education twice—in 2013 and again in 2022. He also received the 2017 Brock International Prize in Education, and the 2011 Marlowe Award from the American Society for Engineering Education. In 2014, he received the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award and in 2002 he received the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award from the University of California at Davis. Prof Miller has served as Chair of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and as Chair of the Engineering Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation. Prof Miller earned his B.S at the University of California, Davis, his S.M. from MIT, and Ph.D from the California Institute of Technology, USA.

Prof Mythily Ramaswamy Former Professor TIFR Centre for Applicable Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore

Prof Ramaswamy retired as Professor in the School of Mathematics at T.I.F.R, Bangalore in 2019 and had earlier completed her term as the Dean of the center (2011-2014). She is currently NASI Senior Scientist attached to ICTS-TIFR, Bangalore and Adjunct Professor in Chennai Mathematical Institute. She was awarded the PhD from University of Paris 6 and has been visiting faculty at the University of Rome, University of Paris and Toulouse, University of Rutgers, State University of Mississippi and Virginia Tech. She was the Sofia Kowalewsky visiting Professor at University of Kaiserslautern, Germany and received the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship, 2016-17. Prof Ramaswamy’s research interest lies in Analysis of differential equations and applications to control problems. She also likes to read and write about the lives of great mathematicians and has contributed articles in the journal “Resonance” on the lives of two pioneering women mathematicians. Recipient of the Karnataka State Kalpana Chawla award for women scientists, 2004, a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, Recipient of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Medal, she serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Ramanujan Mathematical Society, and earlier served in Proceedings of Indian Academy of Sciences-Mathematical Sciences and Boundary Value Problems.

Prof Dheeraj Sanghi Vice Chancellor J K Lakshmipat University, Jaipur

Prof Sanghi is currently Vice Chancellor of J K Lakshmipat University, Jaipur. Prof Sanghi has been a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur. During his association of more than 27 years with IITK he has held various leadership positions such as Dean of Academic Affairs; Chairman Senate Under Graduation Committee; Coordinator Industry Affiliate Programs; Head of Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer & Internet Security to name a few. He has also maintained various leadership positions such as Director, LNMIIT, Jaipur; Dean of Academic Affairs & Dean of External Relations at IIIT Delhi and Director of Punjab Engineering College, one of India’s oldest engineering institutions. He has worked closely with various Indian & International industries in full-time and consultant positions. He is acknowledged as a thought leader in academia and known for his student-centric approach to implementing best practices in academic systems. He publishes a popular blog on higher education which has had more than 2 million hits so far. He has visited more than 100 academic institutions in India where he has talked about curriculum design, examinations, teaching/learning processes, career planning, and so on. Prof Sanghi has a BTech degree from IIT Kanpur, and M.S and PhD from University of Maryland.

Prof Supreet Saini Professor Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Prof Saini is a Professor & a DBT/Wellcome Trust (India Alliance) Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Prior to joining IIT Bombay, he was an Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar (2010 - 2012), where he also headed the Faculty Recruitment Committee among other responsibilities. He is the recipient of the Young Engineer Award 2017 (Indian National Academy of Engineering) and the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award 2011 (Department of Biotechnology). His research interests are in the area of evolutionary microbiology. Prof Saini obtained his BTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi (2005) and PhD in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2010).

Prof Nitish V Thakor Professor of Biomedical Eng, Electrical Eng, Neurology Johns Hopkins University, USA

Prof Thakor is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also has an appointment in the Johns Hopkins Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prof Thakor directs the Laboratory for Neuroengineering and is also the director of the NIH Training Grant on Neuroengineering. He also served as the founding Director of Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) from 2008-2022. Prof Thakor teaches Medical Instrumentation and Rehabilitation Engineering, and his research focuses on neuroengineering (technologies for brain monitoring, brain machine interface, neurally controlled upper limb prosthesis). He is actively engaged in international scientific programs, collaborative exchanges with various Universities. Prof Thakor is a recipient of a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health and a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, IEEE, Founding Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Fellow of International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering and is an elected member of the National Academy of Inventors. He received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and earned both a M.S. in and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.