People Page

Dr. Shaik Vazeed Pasha is a Research Scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and Co-Project Lead for the initiative “Develop Natural Resource Utilization Plan for Biodiversity Hotspots.” He also an external Associate professor at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bengaluru. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from NRSC–ISRO, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Andhra University. With over 11 years of experience, he has contributed to 12+ national-level projects across institutions like ISRO, NIAS, and IIT Kharagpur. As Co-Principal Investigator, he successfully led the IWST-ICFRE Government of India-sponsored project “Study of Climate-Driven Effects on Indian Forests Through Long-Term Monitoring.” His research focuses on spatial biodiversity, natural resource management, biomass and carbon stock estimation, and forest disturbance regimes, supported by 40+ international publications and 954+ citations.

Dr. Pasha has conducted extensive fieldwork across diverse Indian ecosystems, including the Western and Eastern Ghats, Eastern Himalayas, mangroves, and arid zones. He actively mentor’s young researchers, reviews for reputed journals, and has guided over 35 interns in geospatial analytics. He represented India at the 8th BRICS Young Scientist Conclave (2023) and is affiliated with Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI) and Science-I, Life member in Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG), and he was an advisory board member in Kerala Agricultural University-2024. His contributions have earned him multiple awards and commendations from ISRO, NIAS, IIT Kharagpur, Karnataka Forest Department, and Digital University of Kerala.

Dr. Kripa M K worked as a Post-Doctoral Associate under the School of Natural Sciences and Engineering at NIAS

Dr.Prakash is a Marine Scientist. He retired from National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Ministry of Earth Sciences (GoI), Trivandrum in July 2019 and continued to work as Senior Consultant till September 2021. He also held highest position as Director during 2016-17. The main focuses of his research are on beach and coastal processes including the coastal zone management aspects in the islands and also in the mainland of the country. Over the years, he has completed many research projects sponsored by different central department/organizations like DST, DOD, MoES, UTL, IREL, Atomic Minerals Directorate, etc. Apart from building a strong coastal research group at NCESS, many new results for understanding the placer mineral enrichment on to the beach have been demonstrated and a step-ladder process has been suggested from these projects. More specific accomplishments include sediment budgeting studies for placer mineral for sustainable exploitation with least impact on coastline. As a continuation to this programme a revisit to the placer mining sites was also carried out during 2019 and suggested ways to continue beach mining operation in a sustainable manner. Coastal Zone Management is another important activity carried out by him for the preparation of Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) work in the islands and mainland in the country. Rain water harvesting through innovative techniques/methods is also dear to him as a societal programme. He has published more than 50 research papers in national and international journals including a book and two field guide books.

Prof B N Goswami is a Climate Scientist specializing in Variability and Predictability of Climate in general and Indian summer monsoon in particular and the role of Ocean-Atmosphere interactions in climate variability and predictability. Coming from rural Assam, he had his early education in Assam and went on to do a Ph.D in Plasma Physics in Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. After working at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for more than 20 years, he headed the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune from 2006 to 2014. He is well known for his discovery of the Indian Ocean Dipole mode and quantifying the increasing trend ‘extreme rainfall events’ over the Indian region. Leading the Indian Monsoon Mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) from IITM, Pune, he elevated the Indian Weather and Climate prediction capability to a level comparable to the best in the world. He has more than 198 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals including Science and Nature. Prof Goswami received many Awards and Honors including the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in 1995. He is Fellow of All Three leading National Science Academies of India. He is also Fellow of the World Academy of Science (TWAS).

Mr Yadav has served as Distinguished Scientist and Group Director in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He has experience of more than four decades. He is an expert in the field of Nuclear Engineering, Design Development and commissioning of Nuclear Systems and Project Management. He has developed many critical technologies to make India self-reliant. Shri Yadav has played a leadership role towards project of National importance.

Mr Yadav is BE(Mechanical) 1975 from the University of Roorkee (since IIT Roorkee), ME (Mechanical) 1982 from IISc. He has undergone one-year training in Nuclear Science and technology in the 19th Batch of BARC Training School. 

He is a recipient of several awards, including the Distinguished Alumni award 2020 from IIT Roorkee.

He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Engineering.
 

Divya Hoskere is a PhD scholar at the School of Humanities at NIAS. Her broad area of research includes the study of the Natyashastra, Indian aesthetics and theatrical design. Divya is an accomplished Bharatanatyam artiste and is trained in the traditional puppetry of Karnataka with over 15 years of experience as a national and international performer in both fields. 

Divya holds a Master's degree in performing arts - Dance from Jain University and a Bachelor's degree in Communication Design from PES University. She was named as one of the "Cultural Stars to look forward to" in 2022 by The New Indian Express - national edition. She is a recipient of the Scholarship to Young Artists awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and is also a Graded Artiste of Doordarshan. Divya received the Junior Research Fellowship (UGC NET JRF) in the field of Performing Arts in 2022. For more see: www.divyahoskere.com

Prof MK Surappa   former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University (2018-2021), Chennai and Founding Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar (2009-2015).  Previously he was the Dean, Faculty of Engineering (2016-17) and Honorary Secretary, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (2004-2009) and President of Bharath Gyn Vigyan Samithi (Unit of people’s science movement) during the period 2001-2009.

He is also Honorary Distinguished Professor for Life at the University of Mysore.

Prof Surappa received his BSc degree from Mysore University and went on to complete his B. E (Metallurgy), M.Sc. and PhD. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He worked as Research Associate at Drexel University (USA), Cavendish Laboratory at University of Cambridge, UK and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. He returned to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1987 as Assistant Professor and rose to become Professor in the year 1998.

Prof. Surappa has made outstanding R&D contributions to the Science and Technology of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs). For over three decades, he has pursued many innovative investigations on synthesis, processing- microstructure-property correlation and application development of MMCs based on light alloy matrices.  He has published 100 research papers in peer reviewed Journals and has secured one US and 3 Indian patents.

In his role as a Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at IISc, Prof Surappa was highly instrumental in stimulating, invigorating, and amplifying the quality and rigor in the evaluation process of research output by scholars. As a Founding Director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Prof Surappa played a very inspiring and a key role in catapulting a new young institution into the Top 10 of the country (NIRF Rankings 2015-16, MHRD, Government of India). As an Honorary Secretary of the Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology, his inspiring leadership had led to the Council being recognized as the top performer across the 31 State Councils in the country.  His penchant passion towards creating societal benefits through Science & Technology, led to a noteworthy and a stellar implementation of a Rainwater Harvesting System in over 23,000 Government Schools across the length and breadth of the State of Karnataka. As a President of the Bharath Gyan Vigyan Samithi (Unit of “Peoples Science Movement”) he catalyzed teams to create awareness on sanitation  & hygiene and enabled in  eliminating the myth behind the ostensible miracles.

 As Vice Chancellor of Anna University, Prof Surappa worked passionately to transform Anna University into high impactful institution. His efforts to restore the legacy and revive the University to its pre-eminent position through fair and transparent governance system are unparalleled.

In the recent years he has been examining and studying the factors contributing to sub-optimum performance of higher educational institutions in India and has been keenly understanding the eco system required to be put in place to make Indian Institutions to be more impactful.