KU prof is new director of NISTADS

Chandigarh, June 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Prof Ranjana Aggarwal from the Department of Chemistry, Kurukshetra University (KU), as the new director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (CSIR-NISTADS), New Delhi.

NISTADS is one of the CSIR institutes, which come under the Union Government, with the PM being its president. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Cabinet Minister for Science and Technology, is the vice-president of the premier research body.

Prof Aggarwal, who has been appointed for six years, did her BSc, MSc and PhD from the KU and then carried out her post-doctoral research at Cambridge University (UK). She joined her alma mater in 1995 as a lecturer. Subsequently, she worked in European labs such as Cambridge University, Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Trieste.

Her research contributions have been acknowledged in the form of awards notably Commonwealth Fellowship (2003-2004), Dr Basudev Banerji Memorial Award (2014) by the Indian Chemical Society and Prof SS Katiyar Endowment Award (2015) by the Indian Science Congress. — TNS