Bengaluru (Aryavarth) : Govindan Rangarajan would be the next Director of the renowned Indian Institute of Science (IISc) from August 1, after incumbent Anurag Kumar retires on July 31, an official said on Friday.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which was the only Indian entry in the top 300 last year, slipped into the 301-350 group due to a “significant fall” in its research citation impact. The Times Higher Education’s 2020 edition of its World University Rankings of 1,300 universities in 92 countries shows 56 Indian institutions (up from 49 last year), making India the fifth most-represented country in the list and the third in Asia behind Japan and China.
“The institute’s Governing Council has appointed Rangarajan as the next Director from August 1 after the consent of President Ram Nath Kovind as the Visitor,” said the official.
Rangarajan, 56, is the chair of inter-disciplinary research comprising 10 departments and centres located across the institute’s sprawling campus in the city’s northwest suburb. He also served as chair, Department of Mathematics and the international relations cell.
After post-graduation (M.Sc honours) from Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Rajasthan’s Pilani, Rangarajan did his post-doctorate from University of Maryland and worked at Lawrence Berkeley in the US before returning to India in 1992.
“It is an honour and privilege to be appointed as the next Director of the Institute, which a 111-year-old legacy of impactful contributions to science and engineering,” said Rangarajan, who is a J.C. Bose National Fellow, a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a Homi Babha Fellow.
“Rangarajan’s research interests include non-linear dynamics and chaos and time series analysis,” the official told IANS. Rangarajan was also made the Knight of the Order of Palms by the French Government in 2006.
Kumar, who has been the Institute’s Director since August 2014, was the chair of the Electrical, Communication and Engineering Department and later of the Electrical Sciences Division in the state-run deemed university. “It has been an honour for me to serve as the Director of the Institute, which is the country’s top ranked university of science and engineering,” he said.