After a ten-year stint, M.S. Ananth will step down as Director of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras by June.
Mr. Ananth said on the sidelines of a lecture at IIT-M on Tuesday that he had conveyed this to Union Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal. His resignation had been forwarded to the MHRD.
“My tenure ends in June 2012. I have asked to be relieved by June this year.”
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Prof. Ananth took over as ninth director of IIT-M in 2001. His tenure as Director is the longest since the inception of the institute.
Prof. Ananth said that he was looking to take up the post of emeritus professor at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore or Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay over the next two years.
Under his leadership, the institute initiated measures such as curricular reform, HRD programmes, ISO 9001:2000 certification for several of its sections, IT infrastructure development and industry-oriented academic programmes.
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His plan is to leave the institute after the formal inauguration of IIT-M Research Park that was postponed a number of times in the recent past. A B. Tech from A.C. College of Technology in 1967, Prof. Ananth received his M.E (1969) and Ph.D (1972) from the University of Florida, USA. He joined IIT-M as assistant professor in 1972 and rose to be the Head of the Chemical Engineering Department in 1991. His research interests are thermodynamics and mathematical modelling. After serving as Dean, Academic Research and Academic Courses, he was elevated as Director.