Faculty

An Outstanding Scientist and former Director of the RMG, IGCAR, Kalpakkam. He was a Senior Professor at HBNI, Dean of Student Affairs, and coordinating Dean of HBNI at IGCAR. Held the "TV Raman Pai Chair Professor" position at the NIAS, where he is currently a visiting professor. During his tenure at Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences (RUAS), he held the position of Registrar, Director of the Centre for Professional Development and Training, and was also Professor at the School of Social Sciences.  

Prof Sai Baba is an accomplished researcher, scientific administrator, and institutional builder. He has significantly contributed to implementing several high-impact activities relevant to the IGCAR and the DAE. He has contributed to diverse domains: Human Resource Development, Access to Scientific Information Resources, Financial Management, Workflow automation, Technology Transfer, and IPR. One of his significant contributions has been establishing the BARC Training School at IGCAR and steering the activities until his superannuation. Held several key positions at HBNI and played an important role in streamlining the processes.  

While he was at RUAS, he played his administrator role effectively and streamlined several processes. Contributed to the implementation of NEP at the University. Played an important role in getting approvals for starting new academic programs and bringing medical, nursing and physiotherapy under the ambit of the university. Played a lead role in strategising for enhanced admissions. As Director of the Centre for Professional Development & Training, initiated the implementation of various training and professional development programs for faculty members. Taught the course "Science, Technology and Innovation Policy" for MA Public Policy students and guided students for their project. 
As part of the activities of NIAS, Prof Sai Baba is working in the domains of Science and Risk Communication, Human Reliability Program (a collaborative program with Texas A&M University) and Understanding Ancient Indian Knowledge Systems for applying them to the holistic development of youth. Carrying out a collaborative project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Capacity Building to enhance the preparedness to handle nuclear and other radioactive materials.   
 
Five students obtained their PhD under his guidance. Currently co-guiding one PhD student. Co-authored 65 Journal publications, 179 papers in symposiums/conferences and four confidential reports. Authored 11 chapters in Books/Proceedings. Edited nine Books/Periodicals. Delivered several invited talks (more than 260) on diverse topics. Chaired several sessions and panel discussions.  
   
Google Scholar has an H-index of 22, an i10 index of 40, and more than 1250 citations. On the Research Gate, his articles have more than 1.5 lakh reads and 980 citations and Research Interest Score of 1000 (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sai-Baba-Magapu). Won several awards, including the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) conferred by Dr MGR University, Education and Research Institute and the DAE Group Achievement Award. Several of his papers have won best paper awards. 

LinkedIn id: www.linkedin.com/in/msaibaba/
YouTube Channel:   https://youtube.com/@msbmusings
 

I am a social scientist, with my training throughout in economics but my interests and writing spanning well outside of the discipline, into economic-sociology, technological change, and the political economy of development. Prior to NIAS, I was with the School of Development at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, for six years. My doctoral work was at the United Nations University / MERIT (The Netherlands), before which I have studied at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS, Trivandrum), Madras School of Economics (Chennai) and St. Joseph's College (Bangalore). As principal violinist of the Bangalore School of Music Chamber Orchestra, I am also involved in the western classical music scene in Bangalore. 

My interests lie in technological studies. My focus has been around the economic-sociology of technological outcomes, with conceptual foundations in social constructivist and feminist-historical perspectives on technology. Hence, concerns on social capital and spatiality, inequality, urban transition, social mobility, gender, and caste, have undergrid all my research thus far. Methodologically, I have experimented on and employed various methods such as network analysis, archival work, oral histories, the social construction of technology, focus group discussions, interviews, surveys, and quantitative methods. As a result, the broader political-economy dynamics have always framed the analytical and conceptual setting in every one of my research studies.  

I have published in various international journals on technology and society. My latest book (co-authored with Dr Neethi P.) on neoliberal urban transition and digital experiences among street-based sex workers in Bangalore is 'Urban Undesirables: City Transition and Street-Based Sex Work in Bangalore,' and has been released under Cambridge University Press. My other books include   ‘The Social Context of Technological Experiences '  (Routledge, 2020) and 'Routledge titled Industrial Innovation, Networks, and Economic Development' (Routledge, 2015)

Dr. N. Ramani worked at the ISRO Satellite Centre in the areas of software development for spacecraft mission operations and in the establishment and management of the central computing facility. Led the activities relating to the design, development, testing and implementation of software for real time health monitoring and control of satellites. Pioneered the transition from main frame world of Fortran and assembler codes to distributed computing based on off-the-shelf systems with the best of breed Engineering Application Software packages. Worked on computer related issues that have over all impact on the organization; such as information security, software reliability, man power attrition, open source, Y2K and HPC. With Prof R Narasimha, carried out the Indian Airlines AVRO HS748 fleet performance simulation for airworthiness assessment for the National Committee headed by Prof S Dhawan. Worked on several Government committees that enabled the computerization plans of ADA, CBDT, EPFO, IMD/MES and SBI.

Awards: Distinguished Aero-Alumnus of the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Indian Institute of Science (1992) and Astronautical Society of India AWARD (1999). He has recently completed and validated a 3-D missile trajectory programme, which can provide the path of the missile from any launch location to any target.