People Page

Dr. Harikrishnan N B currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Information Systems at BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus. His primary areas of interest revolve around data-driven learning, encompassing machine learning, brain-inspired learning, and causal machine learning. With a profound passion for teaching and research, he consistently dedicates himself to advancing knowledge in his field. In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Harikrishnan N B also finds interest in Indian philosophy, reflecting a well-rounded approach to intellectual exploration.

Dr. D.N. GUPTA holds engineering degree from IIT Roorkee (1987) and Ph.D. from IIT Delhi (2012). In his Ph.D. program, he applied System Approach and System Dynamics Modelling to determine Public Policy in the Renewable Energy sector. He retired from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and held various positions in the government for policymaking and program implementation.

His areas of specialization include Policy Research; Complexity Science for Public Policy, Economy, and Business; System Approach and System Dynamics; Renewable Energy; Sustainable Development; Quality in Public Service Delivery; Institution Building; Behavioral Approach in Public Policy; Innovative approaches in Public Policy and Governance; and Policy Design. He has written various articles and books on development issues, public policy, institutional development, and economy

Dr. James Madaio is a fellow at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. He is Editor of The Journal of Hindu Studies (OUP) and an Editor (Indic traditions) of Bloomsbury’s Introductions to World Philosophies book series. He received his PhD from the University of Manchester and was a postdoctoral fellow at New Europe College (Bucharest) and an affiliated researcher at the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute (Chennai). He was previously a lecturer at the University of Maryland (USA), University of Manchester (UK), and Charles University (Czech Republic).

Dr. J.R. Bhatt is an internationally recognized expert on various facets of environment, prominently climate change and biodiversity. As a lead negotiator, he regularly represented India, championing and mainstreaming the principles of conservation, sustainable development, equity, climate justice, balance between mitigation and adaptation, climate friendly lifestyles, means of implementation and technology transfer at over 90 important international meetings. He had been the Designated National Focal Point for all matters pertaining to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and for National Communications including Biennial Updates to the UNFCCC leading to the preparation of 2 National Communications, 3 Biennial Update reports and Long-Term Low Carbon Development Strategy on behalf of India. He also co-authored India’s First Biodiversity Action Plan (2008) which continues to form the basis for work on Biodiversity within the country. He has guided and mentored extensive research on climate change and biodiversity throughout the country. He has been involved in the work of IPCC since 1990. He works with passion for national development and international cooperation.

Dr. Tithi Bhatnagar is a Psychologist by training, a Well-being and Happiness Researcher and Teacher by profession, and a certified Positive Psychology Coach by Practice (trained with Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener, USA). Her doctoral research was in the area of Subjective Well-Being (SWB) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Her professional experience is a mix of industry, freelance consulting, academics, training, and advisory roles. She has served in various capacities in her previous roles, for example, working with Executive Board Members and Founders, serving on an Industry Research Board as a Social Scientist, leading a University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, as Deputy Director of the Centre for Leadership and Change (CLC) and In-Charge of Capacity Building at JIBS, JGU. She currently works as an Associate Professor at the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS), O.P. Jindal Global University. She has trained around 9200+ teachers, students, Govt. Officials, and executives on topics like Understanding Stress, Stress Management, Performance Enhancement, Subjective Well-Being, Multiple Intelligence, Work-Life Balance, Effective Decision Making, Training Evaluation, The Science and Arts of Coaching, and Motivation at the Workplace, and Parenting. She has been a resource person for various Faculty Development Programs, especially in Research Methods. Her research interests include Subjective Well-Being, Positive Psychology, Wisdom, Psychometrics, and Leadership.

A Gold and Silver Medallist for her Master's and Bachelor respectively and an ICF Certified Coach in-training, she is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Society of Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS). She has presented research papers at several national and international conferences of repute and has published both nationally and internationally. She has been awarded various scholarships.

Academic Background:
BE (Mech) 1984,UVCE; ME (Mech) 1991 & Ph.D, 2004, IISc, Bangalore.

Professional Background
36 and a half years of work experience in URSC, ISRO and superannuated at Level 14
(Scientist/Engr -G) and Index 15 (maximum of scale).

Major Responsibilities.
(a) Mar 2017 to 31Oct 2021 (date of superannuation), Project Director , Spacecraft Docking Experiment (SPADEX) Project, IRS-SSS Program, UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC)
-Overall responsibility of system engineering for the realization of two spacecraft for the first Space Docking Experiment of ISRO including the establishment of specialized test facilities for extensive ground simulation and testing.
(b) Apr 1985 to Mar 2017, Spacecraft Mechanisms Group (SMG), URSC. (About 32 years)
Associate Project Director (Mechanical Systems), SPADEX Project.
Deputy Project Director (Mechanisms) - Resourcesat 2, GSAT 16, GSAT 15, HSP: Service Module
Head, Dynamics and Analysis Section & Advanced Mechanisms Section, SMG.
Analysis, Design and Testing of Deployment Mechanisms for several spacecraft projects.
Technology Development Program on Space Docking and Robotics for Spacecraft Berthing.

International Exposure through ISRO.
Testing of DC motors at M/s Honeywell , North Carolina, USA, 1998.
Team Lead, Testing of Deployment Mechanisms of GSAT-16, Kourou, French Guyana 2014
ISRO Team Member, representing Robotics and Space Docking, ISRO-DLR Workshop,
DLR, Oberpaffenhoffen, Germany, 2019.

R&D projects successfully executed with IISc faculty:
Co-investigator from ISRO for 3 projects with IISc faculty in ISRO-STC Cell technical projects.

Co-authored Technical Publications, Awards, Guest Lectures and Text Book Review.
Journals/Lecture Note/Book : 10, Citations:161, h-index:4 -SCOPUS.
International Conferences & Seminars : 10 and National Conferences and Symposia :18.
Newsletters : 3 , Best Paper Awards : 2 , Guest Lectures: 5, Text Book Review:1.

Additional Responsibilities.
Member, Space Robotics Experiment for Gaganyaan Programme Committee.
Technical Reviewer : ASME-JMD, MMT, Robotica, JST & International/National Conferences.
Evaluator : Promotion of a Principal Research Scientist to Chief Research Scientist from CPDM, IISc.
Peer Committee Member : Multi Agent Robotic System, CAIR , DRDO.
PhD Co-guide : for a colleague from URSC who completed successfully from IISc.
Convenor: Paper Review Committee, Satellite Technology Day-2011, URSC
Zonal Vice-President South: Association of Machines and Mechanisms, 2014-2017.
IRCA : Qualified International Registry of Certified Auditors, ISO 9001-2008
Session Chair :35th ISRO-STC Annual Symposium, IISc, Jan 2019.

Memberships of Professional bodies.
Fellow, Institute of Engineers (India) : F-110856/1
Senior Member, Computer Society Of India: Membership no. 7115.
Life member of 11 other professional bodies.
Chartered Engineer, Institute of Engineers, India.
DST-IISc-TIFAC Vision 2047- Two day consultative meet: Apr 27&28, 2023, Faculty Hall, IISc
Member of the coordination team for the consultative meet.
Panelist for the technical session on Vyom Sutra.
 

Observations show that oceanic flows, temperature and salinity vary on space-time scales of centimetres and seconds to planetary and decadal scales. Debasis Sengupta studies physical processes in the ocean, planetary waves and coherent modes of variability in the ocean and atmosphere. He has worked with students and collaborators on several field campaigns using research ships, deep sea moorings and robotic instruments. The high-resolution observations reveal many new facets of oceanic flows, such as 5 km-wide jets and eddies, sharp changes of ocean salinity, and swift surface currents driven by monsoon winds. The oceanic pathways of river water, and the influence of river water on weather and climate is an abiding interest: Freshwater entering the Bay of Bengal from the great monsoonal rivers of south Asia does not readily mix with saltier ocean water – the low-salinity signature of river water can be traced across the Indian Ocean to the shores of east Africa and Madagascar. In the Bay of Bengal itself, river water inhibits turbulent mixing and storm-induced cooling of sea surface temperature, favouring rapid intensification of post-monsoon tropical cyclones.

Prof. Sengupta studied physics at IIT Delhi and oceanography at NIO Goa. He joined the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS), IISc. Bangalore in 1992. His research is supported by DST and MoES.

Biju Dharmapalan is a well-known National Award-winning science communicator, columnist and educator from Kerala. He is the first PhD holder in science communication from the prestigious CSIR- NIScPR (AcSIR). He had his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Kerala and M.Phil. from the Cochin University of Science and Technology. An academically meritorious person, Biju Dharmapalan is a University Rank Holder and recipient of University Merit Scholarships throughout his studies (B.Sc./M.Sc and M.Phil.) and has qualified national level examinations like GATE and NET. He is also a recipient of Summer Research fellowships from the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. 

He has over 20 years of experience in academics and served as the Head of the postgraduate research department of Biosciences at Mar Athanasios College for Advanced Studies,Thiruvalla. He has handled research projects funded by KSCSTE, Govt. of Kerala and National Medicinal Plant Board,Govt. of India. He was in various academic bodies of M.G.University,Kottayam, University of Kerala, and Bhartiyar University.

Biju Dharmapaln has authored several textbooks and regularly writes for national-level science magazines and newspapers. He is the recipient of the prestigious ‘P.T. Bhaskara Panicker Science Writing Fellowship’ instituted by the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment and  the National Award for Outstanding Efforts in Science & Technology Communication through Print Media Including books and magazines.

He is a life member of various professional bodies and is currently serving as the executive

committee member of the Kerala Academy of Sciences.