P.K. Kelkar Chair
Dr. Purushottam Kashinath Kelkar (1909-1990) is best remembered as the founding Director of IIT Kanpur, established in 1959. Born in Karnataka, he graduated in Physics from the Royal Institute of Science, Mumbai (1931), earned a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from IISc Bangalore (1934), and completed his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool under Dr. J.C. Prescott. His association with IITs began in 1956 as Planning Officer at IIT Bombay, later becoming its Deputy Director. In December 1959, he became the first Director of IIT Kanpur, where he introduced a visionary curriculum integrating engineering, science, humanities, and social sciences, and emphasized faculty-led research. He played a key role in launching the Kanpur Indo-American Program (KIAP) with a consortium of nine U.S. universities. In 1970, he was appointed Director of IIT Bombay, contributing significantly to its growth. For his contributions to technical education, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1969.
Current Occupant
Prof. Amit Kumar Agarwal
(Jun. 2024 - Jun. 2027)
Prof. Amit Kumar Agarwal from the Department of Physics, IIT Kanpur has research interests in the areas of topological materials, collective excitations, and nanoscale device modeling, focusing on electronic structure, surface states (ARPES), magneto-transport, plasmons (EELS), charge density waves, and ferroelectric devices. He has received several honors, including the N.S. Satya Murthy Memorial Award, NASI Young Scientist Award (2013), P.K. Kelkar Research Fellowship, and was a Junior Associate at ICTP and Adjunct Faculty at HRI (2015-2016). He completed his M.S. and Ph.D. from IISc Bangalore.
Former Occupant
Prof. S. Ganesh
(Feb. 2021 - Jan. 2024)
Prof. S. Ganesh, Department of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering, specializes the areas of Neurobiology of disorders, stress biology, and human molecular genetics. Prof. Ganesh heads Human Molecular Genetics Laboratory at IITK and works in the areas of molecular pathology of Lafora disease, genetics detriments of complex disorders, etc. He earned his doctorate from Banaras Hindu University in 1996. Prof. Ganesh is currently the Deputy Director of IIT Kanpur.