RSS Linked IIT-D Professor Set to Be Next JNU VC ?

NEW DELHI: According to a leading daily, Dr M Jagadesh Kumar, a professor of electrical engineering from IIT-Delhi, is set to become the new vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

The Indian Express quoted sources confirming the appointment, adding that President Pranab Mukherjee, the Visitor of all central universities, selected Kumar from a panel of four contenders that included R NK Bamezai, genetics professor associated with the School of Life Sciences at JNU, scientist Virander Singh Chauhan, a leading name in malaria research and Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, former vice chancellor of Hyderabad University.

JNU’s current vice-chancellor, Professor Sudhir Kumar Sopory, completes his term on January 27.

The Express also quoted a senior office-bearer of Vijnana Bharati, a wing of the RSS involved with the swadeshi science movement saying that Kumar was associated with the organisation. While Kumar denied that he was associated with Vijnana Bharati, he said it was a “good organisation doing good work.”

The rumoured RSS link aside, Dr. Kumar is quite the interesting personality, as revealed on his IIT-D page. He regularly practices Karate and goes to the gym, and does have a long list of credentials.

Dr. M. Jagadesh Kumar
NXP (Philips) Chair Professor
Member(PT), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110 016, India
Email: mamidala 'AT' ee.iitd.ac.in
Phone: 011-2659 1085
FAX: 011-2658 1264, 2658-1606
Home: http://web.iitd.ac.in/~mamidala

I was born in Mamidala, Nalgonda Dist, Telangana. I obtained my MS(EE) and PhD(EE) degrees from the Dept of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. My research supervisor at IIT Madras was Prof. K.N.Bhat (who is a highly respected and popular teacher from whom I learnt the rudiments of Electronic Devices).

From 1991 to 1994, I did my post doctoral research with Prof. David J. Roulston at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo,Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. (Prof. Roulston is a world renowned expert in Bipolar Devices area and widely respected for his contributions as a teacher and researcher. He was also my PhD thesis examiner.)

From July 1994 to Dec 1995, I was a visiting faculty and an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Later I moved to the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where I became an Associate Professor in July 1997 and a Professor in January 2005. I am currently the NXP (Philips) Chair Professor established at IIT Delhi by Philips Semiconductors, Netherlands (nowNXP Semiconductors India Pvt Ltd). I was Chairman of the Electronics Group in Department of Electrical Engineering (2001-2006). I was the Co-ordinator of VLSI Design, Tools and Technology interdisciplinary program ( Sept 2009-Sept 2011). I am a Chief Investigator of the Nano-scale Research Facility (NRF) being built at IIT Delhi. I am also a Chief Investigator of the Center of Excellence for Nanodevices and Systems funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

More than once my teaching (this is my pride and joy) has been rated as outstanding by the Faculty Appraisal Committee, IIT Delhi. I received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Teaching (in large class category) from IIT Delhi. I welcome you to see some comments from my students CLICK HERE. To see the most recent feedback from my students, please Click here. To read my reflections on teaching a large class, CLICK HERE.

I work in the area of Nanoelectronic Devices, Nanoscale Device modeling and simulation, Innovative Device Design and Power semiconductor devices. I have published extensively in the above areas with four book chapters and more than 200 publications in refereed journals and conferences including 73 IEEE Journal papers (List of Publications) . Six patent applications have been filed based on our research. Several of my undergraduate students and M.Tech students are co-authors of my international publications. My work has been cited widely by researchers in journals and books (Citations) . He is a co-author two forthcoming books in the area of Nanoelectronics; one from CRC Press and the other from Wiley, UK.

I am on the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports, an online and open access primary research publication from the publishers of Nature. I am an Editor of IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA. From 2006 to 2015, I served as an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices published by IEEE, USA. I am the Editor-in-Chief of IETE Technical Review. I am also an Associate Editor of Journal of Computational Electronics published by Springer, USA. I am on the editorial board of Recent Patents on Nanotechnology, and was on the editorial board of Recent Patents on Electrical Engineering, and Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology . I am the lead Guest Editor (i) for the joint special issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices and IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology (November 2008) on Nanowire Transistors: Modeling, Device Design, and Technology. and (ii) for the special issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (January 2010) on "Light Emitting Diodes". I am a member of the IEEE Electron Devices Society Publications Committee for more than five years.

I am a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, The National Academy of Sciences, India, and The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India. I have been awarded the 29th IETE Ram Lal Wadhwa Gold Medal for distinguished contribution in the field of Semiconductor device design and modeling (31 October 2006). I have received the first ever ISA-VSI TechnoMentor Award given by the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association to recognize a distinguished Indian academician and researcher for playing a significant role as a mentor and researcher. The award, presented on 31 July 2007 by Dr. R. Chidambaram (Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India), includes a citation and Rs. 200,000 reward. Click here for details

I am a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE Electron Devices Society selected to speak in the area of Nanoelectronics and a recipient of 2008 IBM Faculty award in recognition of professional achievements (This is an internationally competitive award and nominations are initiated by someone within IBM). Delivered a number of invited lectures in conferences and workshops in India and abroad to large audiences on topics related to Nanoelectronics.

I was the Organizing Chairman of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering ( GATE 2012 ) with the overall responsibility of organizing the test across India in 860 centers spread over 170 cities/towns. About 800,000 candidates appeared in GATE 2012. GATE results are used for Post-graduate admissions in engineering and for job recruitment. In 2011, I was the Organizing Chairman for Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET 2011). I was the Chairman of GATE 2011 and Vice-Chairman of GATE 2010 at IIT Delhi.

I was also the Chairman for JAM 2011 and JAM 2012 (Joint Admission Test to M.Sc) and Vice-Chairman of JAM 2010 at IIT Delhi.

In 2007 and 2008, I was the Vice-Chairman of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at IIT Delhi conducted by IITs for undergraduate program admissions in all IITs.

I am a member(PT) of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which was established in 1997 by an act of Indian Parliament. (TRAI's mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society).

To lead a happy life, it is important to have a happy family and the following are responsible for it. I met my wife Lakshmi in 1989 and got married to her in 1990. She has an MBA in Marketing. However, she has preferred to be the Manager of our home rather than do a conventional job. We have two sons - Saketh and Karthik. Saketh has won a Gold medal in Delhi state karate championship competition. He plays guitar pretty well and is part of a Delhi based band called Crystal Fire. Saketh is doing his Master's degree in Micro and Nano systems. Karthik is learning Hindustani vocal and is proficient in playing Guitar. Karthik too has won a Gold medal in Delhi state Karate championship competition in December 2011 and is now in Eleventh class. My parents are M. Ranga Rao and Jayaprada Devi. My father had retired in 1994 as a primary school teacher. My native place Mamidala is a small village where people know each other. My sister Sunita lives in Nalgonda and the other sister Gita lives in Hyderabad.

I regularly practice Shito-Ryu Karate and go to a gym.

------

What do you think of the appointment, if confirmed? Tell us in the comments.