At the helm

PROFESSOR DAMODAR ACHARYA, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

ON July 1, Damodar Acharya, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, took charge as its director. Acharya, a Ph.D. , did his M.Tech. in industrial engineering and operations research from IIT Kharagpur, after a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.

Acharya has more than 32 years of experience in academics – 27 years of teaching and research at IIT Kharagpur, five years of administration as the Vice-Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Rourkela, and as Chairman of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi.

Before becoming director of the institute, he held positions at IIT Kharagpur such as the head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Chairman of the Joint Entrance Examination, Dean of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy and Chairman of the Vinod Gupta School of Management.

He has proved himself as an academic leader with administrative skills.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay