Professor Akhtar Kalam has been at Victoria University (VU) since 1985. He is a former Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science and Head of Engineering of the College of Engineering and Science.

Currently, he is the Head of External Engagement. He is also the current Chair of the Academic Board in the Engineering Institute of Technology, Perth, Australia, and the Editor in Chief of Australian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering. Further, he has a Distinguished Professorship position at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, three Indian and five Malaysian universities. He has also been appointed as the Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Professor Kalam has wide experience in educational institutions and industry across four continents. He received his B.Sc. and B.Sc. Engineering from Calcutta University and Aligarh Muslim University, India. He completed his MS and PhD at the University of Oklahoma, USA and the University of Bath, UK. He has worked with Ingersoll Rand and other electrical manufacturers. Other teaching appointments include the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq and Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education, Rockhampton, Queensland.

Professor Kalam is regularly invited to deliver lectures, work on industrial projects and examine external thesis overseas. His major areas of interests are power system analysis, communication, control, protection, renewable energy, smart grid, IEC61850 implementation and cogeneration systems. He has been actively engaged in the teaching of Energy Systems to undergraduates and postgraduates, and has provided professional courses to the industry both in Australia and overseas.

He regularly offers Continuing Professional Development and Masterclasses on Power System Protection, Renewable Energy, IEC61850, Cogeneration & Gas Turbine Operation and PBL in engineering education to practising engineers, the Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA) and Australian Power Institute (API). He also runs a postgraduate distance education program on Power System Protection for the ESAA.

Professor Kalam has conducted research, provided industrial consultancy and published more than 542 publications on his area of expertise. He has written 26-plus books in the area. More than 35 PhD students have graduated under his supervision and he is an external examiner of many external doctoral students in Australia and overseas.

Professor Kalam provides consultancy for major electrical utilities, manufacturers and other industry bodies in his field of expertise. He is a Fellow of EA, IET, AIE, a life member of IEEE and a member CIGRE AP B5 Study Committee.

Dr. K. Gopakumar received his B.E. (Electrical Engineering) degree from Indian Institute of Science in 1980. Later on he did his M. Sc. (Engg.) (E.E.) in 1984 and Ph.D. (E.E.) in 1994 both from the Indian Institute of Science respectively. His thesis title for M.Sc. was “A Series Dual Current Source Inverter fed Split-Phase Induction Motor Drive” and thesis title for Ph.D. was “Study on Voltage Source Inverter fed Drives for Induction Motor with Split Phase Windings”.

Dr. Gopakumar is currently a Professor at the Department of Electronic sytems Engineering( formerly CEDT- Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT), at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. He is also the member of the following professional bodies :-

• Fellow IEEE

• Fellow IETE (India)

• Fellow Indian National academy of Engineers (FNAE)

• Co Editor-in-Chief IEEE Trans. On Industrial Electronics.

• IETE (India)- B.K Bose award for contributions to the area of power electronics and drives for high power applications

• Distinguished Lecturer-IEEE Industrial Electronics Society

• IISc Alumni award for Excellence in Research in Engineering-2016

• ABB Chair professor 2016 -2018

• IEEE IE Eugene Mittelmann achievement award-2019

• Honorary PhD( Doctor Honoris Causa) By Lublin University of Technology, Poland

Professional Experience – 27 years

1984-1987: During this period, Dr. K. Gopakumar was employed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, Satellite Centre, Bangalore, India. The nature of the work was to design and develop satellite on board power supply systems. During this period he was fully involved in the design, development and testing of the SROSS-1 (Stretched Rohini Satellite Series-1) main power supply systems (switched mode power supply systems) for the controls and payloads.

From 1987 onwards: employed at CEDT, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

• 1987 to 1993: Scientific Officer,

• 1993 to 1997: Senior Scientific officer,

• 1997 to 2003: Assistant Professor

• 2003 to 2007: Associate Professor

• 2007 onwards: Professor

Education

Doctor of Philosophy - 2010 - University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.

Branch:- Control Engineering

Master of Science [engg.] - 2006 - Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Branch:- Aerospace Engineering

Bachelor of Enieneering - 2004 - University of Rajasthan, Rajasthan

Branch:- Electronics Instrumentation and Control Engineering

Industrial Exposure

Co-Founder, xTerra Robotoics Pvt. Ltd., Mar 2023.

Founder and Director, DronaVyuh Technology Pvt. Ltd, Mar 2019.

Co-Founder, EndureAir Systems Pvt. Ltd., Mar 2019.

Scientist, National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, Nov 2006 - Sept 2007.

Experience

Professor - July 2022 - Present

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Associate professor -June 2018 - June 2022

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Assistant Professor - April 2014 - June 2018

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Research Fellow - June 2012 - April 2014

Northumbria University, UK

Research Associate - Nov 2011 - April 2012

University of Porto, Portugal

Research Associate - Aug 2010 - Aug 2011

University of Leicester, U.K.

Prof. Subir Kumar Saha, a 1983 Mechanical Engineering graduate from RE College (Now NIT), Durgapur, India, completed his M. Tech from IIT Kharagpur, India, and Ph. D from McGill University, Canada. Upon completion of his Ph. D, he joined Toshiba Corporation’s R&D Center in Japan. After 4-years of work experience in Japan, he has been with IIT Delhi since 1996.

He is actively engaged in teaching, research, and technology transfer. He completed sponsored projects and consultancies worth about Rs. 14 crores (~ USD 2.0 millions). Prof. Saha was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2020 in Academic and Research by NIT Durgapur. He established the Mechatronics Laboratory at IIT Delhi in 2001, and contributed significantly in the development of the Programme for Autonomous Robotics during 2010-16 with the funding from BARC/BRNS, Mumbai. As a recognition of his international contributions, Prof. Saha was awarded the Humboldt Fellowship in 1999 by the AvH Foundation, Germany. He was Naren Gupta Chair Professor at IIT Delhi during 2010-20, and presently acting as the Project Director of IHFC (a non-profit company of IIT Delhi in the area of Cobotics). He has been also visiting faculty at IIT Madras, and short-term researcher at McGill University, Canada, Monash University, Australia, and University of Verona, Italy.

Prof. Saha published a text book in 2008 on “Introduction to Robotics” published by McGraw-Hill in India and Singapore. It was also translated in Mexican Spanish. To aid the learning of robotics, RoboAnalyzer software was developed in 2009 under his supervision. He also co-authored several specialized books published by Springer, e.g., 1) “Dynamics of Tree-type Robotics Systems” supported with ReDySim (Recursive Dynamics Simulator) software; and 2) “Dynamics and Balancing of Multibody Systems.” He has more than 200 research publications in reputed journals/conference proceedings, and delivered more than 240 invited/keynote lectures in India and abroad.

Prof. Saha’s two special interests are: 1) “Connecting Engineering Minds with the Society”, which he pursues through a lecture series called MuDRA, i.e., Multibody Dynamics for Rural Applications (delivered 70 times since 2007); and 2) Making engineering education industry-relevant, which he propagates through another lecture series “Robotics2Rural---Innovative Teaching and Research Approaches” (delivered 85 times since 2012). He has a fiction book in his credit “RoCK-BEE” published by www.pothi.com. The book was translated in Bengali. 

Prof. Saha occupied several administrative positions at IIT Delhi. He was the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering during 2015-18, Associate Dean of Students during 2009-12, Vice-Chairman of GATE/JAM/GMAT examinations during 2008-09, President of BRCA during 2010-11, and others. Presently, he is the Coordinator of the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) at IIT Delhi, a programme sponsored by the Office of the Principle Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India. Prof. Saha is the Vice-President (Academic) of The Robotics Society (formally known as Robotics Society of India), and National judge of the DD-Robocom competitions in India since 2005. During 2008-15, he was the Vice President of the Association of Machines and Mechanisms (An IFToMM body in India). His philanthropic interest spans over last two decades. Prof. Saha introduced awards/prizes in his school (Vidyasagar Vidyapeath in Midnapore, West Bengal), R.E. College (now NIT) Durgapur, DD-Robocon competitions, and Robotics club at IIT Delhi.