Prof. Sudarshan Kumar: Prof. Sudarshan Kumar joined IIT Bombay in 2006, and he is Institute Chair Professor since March 2021. He was Head of the Department, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay (2020–2023). He was a visiting professor at the Space Propulsion Research Center, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2015–2016. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. K. Maruta in the Energy Dynamics Laboratory, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, from 2004–2006. He received his Master's (2000) and PhD degrees (2004) from the Aerospace Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, with Prof. P. J. Paul and Prof. H. S. Mukunda. His research interests include microcombustion, pattern formation of flames, laminar burning velocity measurement, flame dynamics in microchannels, numerical modeling of flame propagation, MILD/flameless combustion with gaseous, liquid fuels, and biofuels, spray combustion, lifted flames and their modeling, modeling of combustion systems, and emission reduction from combustion systems. He has successfully completed 3 international and 18 prestigious national projects along with his research team at IIT Bombay. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Defense Science Journal (2020).
Prof. Kumar has authored over 300 research articles in international journals and conferences. He was selected for Marquis Who's Who in the World, 27th Edition (2009). He is the first prize winner of the SAFRAN-French Embassy Awards (2007) for his PhD thesis in the aerospace engineering field. He has been awarded the ‘IIT Bombay Research Publication Award’ (2022), the ‘INAE Young Associate’ (2013), and the ‘IIT Bombay Young Investigator Award for the Year 2011’ (2012). He received the prestigious Dr. Bernard Lewis Fellowship (as a bright young combustion scientist) in 2002. He is a fellow of several professional societies, including the Combustion Institute USA (2022), the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) (2022), the associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) (2022), fellow of International Society for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (ISEES) (2020). He has been acting as Member, Board of Governors, IIT Jammu, Jammu (J&K) since 2018; Member, Finance Committee, IIT Jammu, Jammu (J&K) since 2020; Member, Management Council, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India; Member, Research Advisory Committee, G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering and Management, Pune, 2019; and Member, Executive Committee, Combustion Institute, Indian Section (2012–13 and since 2022).
Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal: Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal joined IIT Kanpur in 2001. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Engine Research Center, UW@Madison, USA (1999-2001). His interests are IC engines, combustion, alternate and conventional fuels, lubricating oil tribology, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, emissions and particulate control, 1-D and 3-D Simulations of engine processes, and large-bore engines. Prof. Agarwal has published 525+ peer-reviewed international journal and conference papers, 63 edited books, 129 chapters, 16200+ Scopus, and 24494+ Google Scholar citations. He is an editor of FUEL, associated editor of the SAE Journal of Engines, and the ASME Open Journal of Engineering. He has edited “Handbook of Combustion” (5 Volumes; 3168 pages), published by Wiley VCH, Germany.
Prof. Agarwal is a Fellow of SAE (2012), a Fellow of ASME (2013), a Fellow of ISEES (2015), a Fellow of INAE (2015), a Fellow of NASI (2018), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018), a Fellow of American Association of Advancement in Science (2020) and a Fellow of Combustion Institute (2022). For his outstanding contributions, Prof. Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019) by SERB, SAE India Foundation GURU Award (2022), WSSET Innovation Award-2022, Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017 in Engineering and Technology, Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2016) in Engineering Sciences, Rajib Goyal Prize in Physical Sciences (2015); NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award (2012); INAE Silver Jubilee Young Engineer Award (2012); Dr C. V. Raman Young Teachers Award (2011); SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (2008); INSA Young Scientist Award (2007); UICT Young Scientist Award (2007); INAE Young Engineer Award (2005); Devendra Shukla Research Fellowship (2009-12), Poonam and Prabhu Goyal Endowed Chair Professorship (2013-16), SBI Endowed Chair Professorship (2018-21, 2022-25) at IIT Kanpur; AICTE Career Award for Young Teachers (2004); DST Young Scientist Award (2002); and DST BOYSCAST Fellowship (2002), in addition to inaugural version of Distinguished Alumni Award-2021 by MNIT Jaipur and Distinguished Alumni Award-2022 by IIT Delhi. Prof. Agarwal was a highly cited researcher (2018) in the top ten HCR from India among 4000 HCR researchers globally in 22 fields of inquiry. He is India’s number one Energy researcher in the recently declared Stanford University listing of the top 2% of researchers globally. Also, he has been nominated for Member of the Council of Indian Institute of Technology by the President of India for three years (2022-2025). He is featured in the DST Golden Jubilee Coffee Table Book “75 under 50 Scientists Shaping Today’s INDIA,” released by Vigyan Prasar, Government of India, on National Science Day, February 28th, 2022.
Dr. Bhupendra Khandelwal: Dr. Bhupendra Khandelwal joined The University of Alabama as an associate professor for fuels and combustion. He is working on combustion, emissions, and performance of alternative fuel to be used in gas turbine engines and other combustion sources. Prior to this position, Khandelwal held a position of assistant professor and lecturer at the University of Sheffield in the Low Carbon Combustion Centre (LCCC). He was leading combustion and emissions research areas at LCCC.
Dr. Khandelwal has worked closely with a large range of industries, government organizations and universities, including U.S. DOE, FAA, Siemens, Rolls-Royce, UK MOD and Dstl. Dr. Khandelwal is an Associate editor in the Aeronautical Journal, published by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), the International Journal of Energy for a Clean Environment, and the International Journal of Rotating Machinery. He is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow; Royal Aeronautical Society member; American Society of Mechanical Engineers Combustion, Fuels and Emissions committee member; and AIAA Terrestrial Energy Systems Technical Committee Member. He is also recipient of a Royal Aeronautical Society Centennial Scholar, ASME IGTI Student Scholar for two consecutive years in 2011 and 2012, and the IMechE Grant. Khandelwal serves as the technical area organizer for AIAA conference and as a reviewer for different scientific journals and U.S. DOE and European Commission for alternative fuels and hydrogen related projects. He was point of contact for ASME Turbo Expo 2020 on behalf of the alternative fuels technical committee. His research on fuels, emissions, combustion, and combustors is widely published in journals and conferences. He has delivered several invited talks at prestigious conferences and meetings including UK fuels standards committee, Aviation Fuels Committee 2018, Aero India, and Coordinating Research Council. He has also delivered tutorials at international conferences.
