IIT-K's Prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi new BHU VC
Banaras Hindu University
, officials at the ministry of education announced on Thursday.
Serving as professor in the department of electrical engineering at IIT-Kanpur, Chaturvedi will take charge for a three-year term or until he turns 70, whichever is earlier. "President of India, in her capacity as Visitor of BHU, has approved the appointment," a senior official said.
An expert in wireless communication, Chaturvedi completed his BTech, MTech, and PhD in electrical engineering from IIT-Kanpur. He has made notable contributions to waveform shaping, sequence design, and MIMO ((Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) systems.
Chaturvedi began his professional journey at the very institution he is now set to lead. He served in department of electronics engineering at the Institute of Technology-BHU (now IIT-BHU) from 1994 to 1996, before joining the department of electronics and computer engineering at IIT Roorkee.
In 1999, he moved to IIT Kanpur, where he held multiple leadership roles, including head of the department of electrical engineering, dean of research & development and deputy director.
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Recipient of several awards, Chaturvedi completed B Tech in 1986, M Tech in 1988, and PhD in 1995 degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He was the Coordinator of the BSNL-IITK Telecom Centre of Excellence, which has undertaken numerous projects for the Indian telecom sector. Chaturvedi was member of department of telecom's committee that recommended criteria for spectrum allocation to telecom operators in 2008.
Chaturvedi becomes the 29th vice chancellor of BHU, filling the post left vacant after professor Sudhir Kumar Jain completed his term on Jan 6. BHU witnessed this development a week after nomination of eight members to the executive council by the President. The committee, which did not exist for almost five years, was formed for a term of three years with immediate effect.
The seven months since the end of Jain's term marked demonstrations against alleged anomalies in the admission process, protests in SSL hospital, clashes in trauma centre administration and attacks on academicians, putting the spotlight on security arrangements on the campus.
Even as the new VC combats these challenges, focus is also on the prestigious position of the university's chancellor, lying vacant since the death of Justice Giridhar Malviya on Nov 18, 2024.
Apart from holding key academic and administrative positions at IIT-Kanpur, including dean (R&D) and deputy director, he was given additional charge as acting director of IIT-Mandi until early 2022.
Chaturvedi was awarded the INSA Teacher Award (2017) and IIT-Kanpur's Distinguished Teacher Award (2007), and held the Tan Chin Tuan Fellowship at NTU Singapore. He also mentored the winning team of the 2002 IEEE Computer Society global design competition.
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