People Page

Prof. M.Jayananda has unique blende of expertise across several disciplines of geosciences including tectonic fabric analysis, petrology, solid earth geochemistry and radiogenic isotopes. He has focused multidisciplinary research on early Earth dynamics, origin of habitable continents, shift from anoxic to oxygenation of Archean ocean, Cenozoic surface dynamics, landscape evolution and topographic build-up in Western Ghats. Recently he has initiated a new study on Trans-Himalaya addressing the magmatism, tectonics, environmental crisis across Permo-Triassic boundary. For the past four decades he has worked in Universities in India (Bangalore University, Delhi University and Hyderabad Central University) and France (Universite de Rennes I) contributing to research, teaching, mentoring PhD, post-docs, outreach, and public engagement. He has also contributed to the global science community as Editor-in-Chief of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) flagship journal ’Episodes’ 2009-2013, Editor-in-Chief of the Himalayan Geology (2017-), Associate Editor of Journal of Earth System Science (2013-2016), Regional Editor of Gondwana Research (2004-2007), Editorial board member Journal of Geological Society of India (2009-2018), Precambrian Research (2020-) and Jour Asian Earth Sciences (2008-).  He has participated in IUGS programs (IGCP projects), participating in National Committees, outreach activities by delivering lectures at different Universities and as a mentor at Government of India flagship science program of Inspire Camps for high school students. In view of these contributions to research, academics, mentoring of students, capacity building and promotion of science through editing/reviewing, he has been conferred several National Awards, elected to the Fellowship of all the three National Science Academies of India and J.C. Bose National Fellowship.

Sub Maj & Hony Lt., C. Arul Anand (Retd) joined NIAS, Bangalore on 01 April 2024. Prior to joining NIAS, he has served in the Indian Army (Corps of Engineers) for 32 years 08 months and superannuated from service on 29 February 2024. He holds a Bachelor Degree in English Literature from Madurai Kamaraj University.

The prominent appointments tenated by him during his career in Indian Army includes Head Clerk of an Engineer Regiment, Office Superintendent and Asst. Administrative Officer in Military Engineering Services (Ministry of Defence). In his distinguished and illustrious military career spanning almost 33 years, he has the distinction of serving in various operational areas like Op Rakshak (J&K), Op Parakram and Op Rhino.

As Office Manager, his duties involve supervision of Admin office/support staff, handling of petty cash expenses, maintaining office files/documents, and personal records, leave register and providing various facilities for the day-to-day functioning of the Institute. He is also responsible for managing security staff and contract Labours as well as Institute infrastructure. In addition to the above, he is responsible for providing logistic support, which is required in conducting various events/programmes being conducted at the Institute. He executes the works under the guidance of Head-Administration.

Lt Gen Suresh Sharma is a former senior military leader who served as Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army. In a career spanning 38 years, he earned the distinction of steering two premier defence organisations. His successive tenures as the Director General of Border Roads Organisation (DGBR) and Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C) witnessed a large-scale transformation of strategic and military infrastructure across the country and enhanced the technical and logistical capabilities of Indian Army.

As E-in-C, he applied an outcome-oriented approach to revamp the Married Accommodation Project, expedite ongoing works, clear tendering backlogs and fast-track equipment acquisition and modernisation. As DGBR he focussed on aligning BRO’s immediate priorities with India’s evolving geo-strategic interests, thereby reclaiming its pre-eminence as a strategic infrastructure development agency. He also implemented policy reforms and organisational restructuring to resolve complex legacy issues. From 2016-18, he personally oversaw a cumulative revenue and capital expenditure budget of INR 26,000 Crores.

Other career highlights include command of an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram and the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake; key operations, logistics, training and administration portfolios and tenures as Chief Engineer (Indian Navy & Coast Guard) Mumbai Zone, Commandant Bengal Engineer Group & Centre Roorkee, Chief Engineer South Western Command and Director General Combat Engineers. He has been a leader in domestic and international humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) missions — including an appointment as the United Nations Advisor for humanitarian mine action in Bosnia & Herzegovina. He has trained and mentored young military leaders and been deeply committed to improving the liveability index of defence bases.

Lt Gen Sharma has attended prestigious tri-services courses at the Defence Service Staff College, College of Defence Management and National Defence College. In addition to a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Harcourt Butler Technical University, he holds M.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University and a Masters in Management Studies from Osmania University. He is associated, in various capacities, with the Institution of Military Engineers, Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers, Indian Building Congress, Indian Road Congress, Tunnelling Association of India, Construction Industry Development Council, Construction Industry Arbitration Council and Indian Society for Trenchless Technology.

His professional expertise lies in the areas of military and technical leadership, policy formulation, financial planning, government affairs, capital asset acquisition, arbitration, high-level contract and budget management and delivery of mega infrastructure projects. In recognition of his exceptional services, the President of India has honoured Lt Gen Sharma twice, with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) in 2018 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2016. He has further contributed to the Nation Building efforts while working in the Corporate Sector. As Chief Principal WSP Louis Berger ( American MNC), oversaw the Design and Consultancy Projects in India for two years. Currently, he is engaged as an Advisor with Geoconsult India ( Austrian MNC), JCB India and Tikitar Shell.

Currently working as Associate Professor at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bangalore. Dr. Vishnuprasad is a post graduate in biotechnology and obtained his PhD for the work on identification of modulators of GLUT4 translocation from medicinal plants. He has more than 15 years of research and teaching experience in different universities in India and abroad. He is currently involved in trans-disciplinary research in the area of Ayurveda Biology where the concepts of Ayurveda and modern biology are integrated to deepen the systems level understanding of biological changes in glucose and lipid metabolism related diseases like diabetes, obesity, NAFLD etc. He has several peer reviewed research publications, conference papers and book chapters to his credit. He is guiding PhD and M.Sc students at TDU. He has conceptualized and introduced an innovative transdisciplinary post graduate program, M.Sc Life Sciences (Ayurveda Biology), at TDU and currently he is one of the coordinators of this program.

Mr. Anil Kumar completed a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Nuclear Physics from University of Delhi, India.

He started his career as an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in the year 1986. During 34 years of his distinguished services, he extensively dealt with issues relating to security of vital installations and important persons as well as issues relating to terrorism and anti-corruption. He superannuated from Government Service from the rank of Director General in 2020.

During his service, he also got an opportunity to work with Department of Atomic Energy as Inspector General (Security), Mumbai, from 2011 to 2016, where he supervised and advised on the physical security of installations of the Department of Atomic Energy, GOI. He participated in various training courses on Nuclear Security conducted by IAEA and GCNEP. He made significant contributions to the revision of the Physical Security Manual of DAE installations and various SOPs. During his tenure, he coordinated meetings of various inter-ministerial committees on security matters of Atomic Energy establishments in India. He also participated in various mock exercises on Nuclear Safety & Security.

Navneet Bhushan founded CRAFITTI (www.crafitti.com) in 2008, an innovation consulting firm, incubated at IIM Bangalore. He started as a Scientist at DRDO (ISSA) (1990-2000). His corporate stints (2000-2008) include Infosys, Philips, Wipro, and Hexaware besides serving as India CEO of CREAX. He is visiting faculty for warfare simulations and strategies for M. Tech. (Defence Technology) and for strategic design management at the National Institute of Design. Amity Institute of Defence Technology awarded him Honorary Professor title in 2022. He is a Member of the Board of School of National Security Studies, Central University Gujarat.

Navneet is the principal author of Strategic Decision Making – Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process which is featured at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge for Business Leaders and has 1460+ google scholar citations. Navneet developed “Inventive Energy” as the new patent trends metric on which two books have been published.  His book on innovation and entrepreneurship - “Bhelpuri Thoughts” was published in 2022.

Navneet is an associate editor of International Journal of AHP and regularly writes on defence at http://www.indiandefencereview.com/author/navneetbhushan/. MTech in Computer Science and Engineering (IIT Madras), an M.Sc. in Software Science (Allahabad University), and a B.Sc. in Physics (Hons.) (Delhi University), Navneet holds diplomas in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore) and Patent Information (The Netherlands).

He did his masters in Zoology from Kumaun University, Nainital. He did his diploma in Science journalism in 2021. His research area includes Human-wildlife conflict in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand. 

Himangshu is a Doctoral Student of the 2023 batch, enrolled in the school of Natural Sciences and Engineering. He completed his B.Sc. in Zoology (Honours) in 2016, followed by M.Sc. in Environmental and Wildlife Sciences in 2018 from Cotton University, Guwahati, India. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Gender Studies.

Himangshu is an aspiring researcher with interdisciplinary interests in conservation biology, human-wildlife interaction, social ecology, and the gendered dimension of ecology. Prior to joining NIAS, he briefly worked as a Project Assistant in a project titled ‘An Exploratory Assessment to identify the Ecosystem Services and alternative livelihood options and to design Advocacy and Campaigning Programme for the Conservation of Deepor Beel- an Urban Ramsar Site, Guwahati, Assam’ under Principal Investigator Dr. Narayan Sharma in the department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Biology, Cotton University.

He also cleared GATE-2021 in Ecology and Evolution with AIR 79 and UGC NET JRF in Environmental Science in merged sessions of December 2021 & June 2022.