Govindan Rangarajan named new Director of IISc

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 yesterday.

"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 centers 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 honors) from Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Rajasthan's Pilani, Rangarajan did his post-doctorate from the University of Maryland and worked at Lawrence Berkeley in the US before returning to India in 1992.

"It is an honor 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 Bhabha 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.

Graduating from IIT-Kanpur, he did his Ph.D. in the US from Cornell University in New York. He also worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey before returning to India and joining the Institute in 1988.

"It has been an honor for me to serve as the Director of the Institute, which is the country's top-ranked university of science and engineering," he said..