Dr. Himansu Sekhar Biswal

Early Life and Academic Foundations

Prof. Biswal was born to the late Mr. Hrushikesh Biswal and Mrs. Sushama Biswal. As the eldest son, he has two younger brothers, Sudhansu and Subhransu. He hails from the village of Rampa, located in Bari, Jajpur, Odisha. His family continues to follow a joint-family tradition; his father was the youngest among his four brothers.

After completing high school at Krupasindhu Bidybhaban (KSBB) in 1995, he attended Bhadrak College, where he completed his 10+2 in Science in 1997 and earned a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2000, receiving the "Best Graduate"award. In 2002, he obtained his M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from Utkal University, Vanivihar, where he was honored with the "Best Student" award.

He earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Sanjay Wategaonkar at TIFR in 2009. He is one of the few scholars from Odisha to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry from TIFR—one of India’s premier research institutes, established by Dr. Homi J. Bhabha. His path-breaking doctoral thesis on hydrogen bonding—the intermolecular force responsible for the DNA double helix—earned him the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award.

During this time, he married Dr. Hiranmayee Satapathy, who is currently a Professor of Chemistry at IIIT Bhubaneswar. They have a daughter named Ansulima. From 2009 to 2011, he pursued postdoctoral research at the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA) in Saclay, Paris, supported by a CNRS fellowship. He then moved to the University of Michigan (UoM), Ann Arbor, for a second postdoc (2011–2012), focusing on 2D electronic spectroscopy of photosynthetic reaction centers. In 2012, he joined the School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) at NISER, Bhubaneswar, as the first DST-INSPIRE Faculty in Chemistry in India.

Pioneering Research in Odisha

Driven by a deep love for his home state, Prof. Biswal returned to Odisha. Currently serving as a Full Professor at NISER, he  works in LASER spectroscopy and instrumentation. He and his research group are the first in Odisha to establish a Supersonic Jet Spectroscopy Laboratory and a Matrix Isolation Vibrational Circular Dichroism (MI-VCD) laboratory.

His research on Sulfur-Centered Hydrogen Bonding has received high praise from scientific community around the globe, including Prof. Richard Zare of Stanford University and Nobel Laureate Prof. Arieh Warshel. With over 100 publications, his work has been highlighted in prestigious popular science journals like Chemistry World.

Empowering Rural India: The ViLEG Initiative

Recognizing the gap between rural students and modern research, Prof. Biswal and his team developed "ViLEG"(Virtual Laboratory Experiments for Graduates). This innovative software provides virtual access to advanced scientific instruments—a project that became vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of ViLEG was highlighted by The Times of India in 2022.

For these seminal contributions, Prof. Biswal was shortlisted among the top three for the Odisha Citizens Awards 2025 in the Education category. He was felicitated by the Honorable Governor of Odisha and Odisha Television (OTV) for his excellence in teaching and science outreach.

A Mentor and a Poet

Beyond his scientific prowess, Prof. Biswal is a compassionate mentor. His students are currently pursuing excellence at world-class institutions such as BARC, IISc, the IITs, Yale, Cornell, and Purdue etc. In his leisure time, he is an avid writer of Odia poetry and popular science article.

Global Recognition and Awards

Prof. Biswal’s standing is reflected in numerous accolades

• Editorial Boards: Serves on the editorial advisory boards of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (ACS) and PCCP (RSC).

• CRSI Bronze Medal (2026) from the Chemical Research Society of India.

• Cover Feature: Featured in "Young Physical Chemists" on the cover of The Journal of Physical Chemistry C (2019).

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), UK

• Scholarships/Fellowships: Recipient of the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship, the Young Scientist Award (ISRAPS), and the Kanwal S. Rekhi Career Development Award.