Chennai, Aug 7: Six faculty members fromIndian Institute of Technology Madras have been offered the Anusandhan National Research Foundation J. C. Bose Grant, one of India’s prestigious research recognitions for senior scientists and engineers.
The IIT Madras faculty members selected for the grant are Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan, Prof. Thalappil Pradeep Deepa Venkitesh, Prof. Jitendra S. Sangwai, Prof. Ramakrishnan Swaminathan, and Prof. Sundargopal Ghosh.
Congratulating the awardees, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said,
“I congratulate all my distinguished colleagues. This demonstrates the high quality of research and development in critical and emerging technologies happening at IIT Madras.”
The ANRF J. C. Bose Grant recognises active senior scientists and engineers in India for their outstanding research performance and contributions. The highly competitive, individual-specific grant aims to encourage leading researchers to pursue cutting-edge scientific and engineering research through enhanced extra-mural funding.
The grant provides ₹25 lakh annually for five years to support frontier research, including human resource, consumables, travel, contingency, equipment and other research-related expenses, along with institutional overhead support.
BRIEF ABOUT THE AWARDEES
Among the recipients, Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the TTK Centre for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development and the National Center for Assistive Health Technologies at IIT Madras, has made significant contributions to prosthetics, assistive and rehabilitation technologies. Her team has developed affordable assistive devices suited to Indian lifestyles, including the commercially deployed NeoFly-NeoBolt system, Standing Wheelchair, Kadam prosthetic knee and lightweight YD One wheelchair. She also holds several Indian, US and international patents relating to prosthetics and assistive technologies for movement disability.
Prof. Thalappil Pradeep, Institute Professor and Deepak Parekh Institute Chair Professor, is internationally recognised for pioneering research in clean water technologies, nanomaterials, microdroplets and ice chemistry. Recipient of the Padma Shri, Vigyan Shri, Eni Award and VinFuture Prize and a fellow of ten global academies, his affordable water purification technologies have enabled access to safe drinking water for millions across India. He has also founded the International Centre for Clean Water at IIT Madras Research Park to accelerate the translation of laboratory research into societal technologies. This is the third 5-year term for his JC Bose award.
Prof. Deepa Venkitesh, Marti Annapurna Gurunath Chair Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, works in the Department of Electrical Engineering. She is the Project Lead for the Advanced Optical Communication Testbed, a major academia-industry consortium initiative funded by the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. The consortium has set up the country’s first field testbed with multicore fibers at IITMadras, and is actively working on standardisation of these fibers in addition to developing several indigenous solutions in the domain of optical fiber communication. She has made notable contributions in high-capacity optical communications, microwave photonics and optical signal processing. She is also a recipient of the Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship, author of several papers and patents and serves as the Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology.
Prof. Jitendra S. Sangwai is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Madras. His research focuses on carbon capture, utilization and sequestration , gas hydrates, and upstream oil and gas engineering. He has published over 200 journal papers, holds an h-index of 60 with nearly 11,000 citations, and has filed 43 patents. He is a recipient of the National Geoscience Award and several other national honors, and has been recognized among the top 3% of Highly Cited ACS Authors from India. He serves as an Associate Editor of Energy & Fuels. He is also a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, India.
Prof. Ramakrishnan Swaminathan has undertaken impactful research in the areas of medical device design and biomedical instrumentation to analyze brain and muscle functions. Throughout his career, he has worked to enhance the diagnostic relevance of medical equipment through measurements, models, and informatics. He is one of the most sought-after International collaborators and has authored over 550 research articles while guiding more than 50 research scholars. He is a strong advocate of global harmonization of medical device regulations and standards and has represented the country in related forums.
Prof. Sundargopal Ghosh, from the Department of Chemistry, conducts pioneering research in transition metal boron chemistry. His extensive work investigates the synthesis, structural frameworks, electronic bonding, and chemical reactivity of various boron-containing molecular systems. These investigations have substantially progressed the field of boron-rich chemistry, particularly concerning catalysis and the activation of small molecules. A prolific researcher, he has authored more than 325 papers in high-impact, peer-reviewed international journals. His academic excellence has been honored with the IIT Madras Institute Research and Development Award. He is also a distinguished Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India.
The ANRF J. C. Bose Grant is open to scientists and engineers aged between 45 and 65 years working in recognised academic and research institutions across India. Awardees are selected based on outstanding research achievements, including publications, patents, technology transfer, research outcomes, grants and other indicators of scientific excellence. The grant is designed to enable accomplished researchers to pursue ambitious, high-impact research in frontier areas of science and engineering.