U S V Chair
Mr. Prashant Tewari and Mrs. Leena Gandhi Tewari instituted the USV Chair. This chair is open to all departments of science and engineering, IIT Kanpur. Mr. Prashant Tewari (BT/ME/1979) is the Managing Director of USV Pvt. Ltd., an Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. USV is a leading player in the diabetes and cardiovascular segments in India.The company was founded by Vithal Balkrishna Gandhi, grandfather of Mrs. Leena Gandhi Tiwari, who currently serves as its Chairperson. USV's R&D efforts focus on small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients, biosimilars, and custom research services for drug development.
Current Occupant
Prof. Santanu Misra
(May 2026 - May 2029)
Prof. Santanu Misra, from the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Kanpur, works on the mechanical response of composite rock systems across brittle-to-ductile deformation regimes, rock deformation and metamorphic processes, structural geology, tectonics, petrology, and geodynamics, with a focus on strain localization and deformation mechanisms during lithospheric plate movement. He earned his Ph.D. from Jadavpur University.
Former Occupant
Prof. Tapobrata Sarkar
(Jul. 2022 - Jul. 2025)
Prof. Tapobrata Sarkar, Department of Physics, area of expertise is High Energy Physics specializing in theories of quantum gravity and astrophysical signatures of gravity. He completed his PhD from Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai in 1999. He was a post- doctoral fellow at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, from 1999 to 2001 and at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy from 2001 to 2004. He is the recipient of many awards such as the IRCC Research & Industrial Consultancy Award, IIT Bombay: Best Paper award of 2006 (paper reviewed by Nobel Laureate), P. K. Kelkar Fellowship, IIT Kanpur (2009-2012).
Prof. M.L.N. Rao
(May 2019 - Apr. 2022)
Prof. M.L.N. Rao, Department of Chemistry, specializes in the area of Organometallics for organic synthesis. His research revolves around the development of green organometallic reagents and their applications to organic synthesis. Prof. Rao earned his doctorate from the University of Hyderabad, 1996.