From the Back Cover
This issue of Direction focuses on the rapid proliferation of electron microscopy (EM) for scientific as well as technological research. The content written by leading experts is intended to provide the capabilities of EM facilities, set at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur to solve various problems and caters to the needs of both internal and external users. The book provides a detailed and comprehensive viewpoint of the basic features and advanced capabilities of EM facilities to the scientific community. A large number of electron microscopes have been installed and utilized by researchers across various engineering and science departments; hence, this volume provides both breadth as well as depth of various EM facilities available at the institute.
Dr. Krishanu Biswas Ranjit Singh Chair Professor at Department of Material Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has made significant contribution towards understanding of several important scientific and technological aspects of metallurgy and materials engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and B.Tech. from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur, India. His research interests ranges from complex concentrated alloys, high entropy materials, electron microscopy, novel processing of ceramic composites, development of alloy catalysis for energy and environment. He has received a number of awards, fellowships and professional reorganization. He has published over 190 papers in international repute peer reviewed journals, three patents, ten book chapters, two books and delivered 50 invited talks in different national and international conferences. He has completed several projects from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Indian National Science Academy (INSA) to bigger projects from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Board of Research on Nuclear Sciences (BRNS). He is a member of Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) and Global Young Academy (GYA). He is also recipient of Young Faculty fellowship from IIT Kanpur.
Dr. Sri Sivakumar is currently working as professor in Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He also serves as Associate Faculty in Materials Science Programme and Co-ordinator of Centre for Nanoscience and Advanced Imaging Centre. He obtained his B.Sc. (Tech) and M.Sc. (Tech) degree from University Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai in 1997 and 2001 respectively. He obtained his Ph.D.degree from University of Victoria in 2006. Dr. Sivakumar carried out his post-doctoral research at the University of Melbourne. Dr. Sivakumar's research focuses on development of functional nanomaterials for biological and environmental/catalytic applications. He has authored over 100 publications, four book chapters, 11 patents and edited one book. He has obtained thirteen grants worth of Rs. 13 crores from government agencies as well as from industry (Chevron, HPCL, Aarti Industries, and TCS). Furthermore, he has graduated 17 Ph.D. students and is currently supervising ten Ph.D. students. Professor Sivakumar works on synthesis of functional nanomaterials for catalysis and biomedical applications. His work on catalysis includes both chemical and electro catalysis.
Dr. Nilesh Gurao is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India in 2010 and Bachelors in Technology from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, India in 2005 prior to attending the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada for a postdoctotoral position. He has established the Microstructure-Texture-Stress Laboratory at IIT Kanpur and has graduated five Ph.D. and 12 master's students till date. The research work from the group has resulted in multiple projects with different government and private funding agencies and high quality journal publications. Dr. Gurao is a recipient of the INSA Young Scientist award from the Indian National Science Academy and the Young Metallurgist of the Year award from Ministry of Steel, Government of India. His current research interests include mechanical behavior of materials, crystallographic texture, crystal plasticity simulations and diffraction studies with specialemphasis on in situ diffraction experiments across real and reciprocal space.
