Noted environmental scientist C.T. Aravindakumar has been appointed as the pro-Vice Chancellor (PVC) of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
A decision in this regard was taken in a special meeting of the university syndicate held here on Friday.
Mr. Aravindakumar, an environmental chemist who is currently a professor at the School of Environmental Sciences of MG University, is the 10th PVC of the institution. He also holds the position of the director of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the university, and the honorary director of the Inter University Instrumentation Centre, and coordinator of the National Centre of SAIF-DST under the Central government, at the university.
He received his MSc and PhD degree in Chemistry from University of Pune and did Post-Doctoral research at the Max-Planck-Institute, Germany, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has completed 26 years as a teacher and researcher in MG University. He was also a visiting faculty / visiting professor/scientist in several reputed Universities or research organizations in nearly 14 countries in Europe, USA and Asia. He received full visiting professor title twice from the University of Paris, France.
He has already established nearly 13 national and international collaborations with prestigious research centres. He has over 300 publications in International Journals and Conference proceedings. He completed 15 national and international major research projects including the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative. He established the prestigious SAIF centre of the Department of Science and Technology in Mahatma Gandhi Univerity Campus.
He is a recipient of the LEAP programme of MHRD in 2019, and ERASMUS fellowship from the European Union, 2019.