Pushpavanam Early Career Chair

Description

We invite you to participate in a meaningful initiative to honor the remarkable legacy of Prof. S. Pushpavanam, an esteemed alumnus and faculty member of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Prof. Pushpavanam (B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, 1984, IIT Madras) currently serves as the Y.B.G. Varma Chair Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Over the course of his distinguished academic career, he has mentored nearly 40 Ph.D. students, many of whom now hold important positions in academia and industry across the world. His former students serve as faculty at leading institutions including IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Tirupati, Banaras Hindu University, BITS Goa, and NIT Surathkal, while others hold key research and leadership roles in global companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, and Pfizer.

His research contributions span nonlinear dynamics, multiphase flows, microfluidics, process intensification, and coal gasification—areas that lie at the heart of modern chemical engineering and energy technologies. Over the years, he has published more than 170 papers in leading international journals and holds multiple patents, reflecting a sustained commitment to advancing both fundamental science and engineering practice.

Prof. Pushpavanam is also widely admired as a passionate and dedicated teacher. His textbooks, Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering and Introduction to Chemical Engineering, are widely adopted by universities around the world. The former provides a unified mathematical framework for graduate students, while the latter was written to inspire young students to pursue the discipline of chemical engineering. His online lecture series on Multiphase Flows, Mathematical Methods, and Transport Phenomena have reached and benefited thousands of students globally.

Beyond his academic contributions, Prof. Pushpavanam has played an important role in strengthening the international presence of IIT Madras. He initiated the hosting of alumni and departmental receptions at the AIChE Annual Meetings in the United States, an initiative that has significantly strengthened global engagement and helped attract outstanding faculty and collaborators to the department.

To recognize his outstanding contributions to research, teaching, mentorship, and institution building, IIT Madras proposes to establish the Pushpavanam Early Career Chair Professorship. This endowed chair will support exceptional faculty in Chemical Engineering and allied areas, enabling them to pursue high-impact research, mentor future generations of engineers, and continue the tradition of academic excellence that Prof. Pushpavanam represents.

We warmly invite you to support this initiative by contributing to the endowment for the Pushpavanam Early Career Chair Professorship. Your contribution will help create a lasting legacy that will inspire generations of students and researchers at IIT Madras.