IIT Kanpur professor Laxmidhar Behera appointed new director of IIT Mandi

NEW DELHI: Laxmidhar Behera has been appointed as the new director of the India Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi. He is currently the Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Laxmidhar Behera will succeed the current acting director of IIT Mandi AK Chaturvedi.

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In addition, he is an affiliate faculty member of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Behera earned his BSc Engineering and MSc Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela in 1988 and 1990 respectively. In 1997, he received a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

“Over the past 26 years of his research and teaching career, Laxmidhar Behera has contributed significantly to areas such as Intelligent Systems and Control, Vision-based Robotics, Warehouse Automation, Brain-Computer-Interface and Drone based Pipeline Inspection Systems,” IIT Mandi said in a statement.

In addition to establishing industrial collaboration with TCS, Renault Nissan, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and Bharat Electronic Limited, Bangalore, he had made significant technological development in the areas such robotics-based ware-house automation, vision and drone guided driver assistance system, and drone guided pipeline inspection systems, the institute added.

Between 2007 and 2009, he worked as a Reader at the University of Ulster, United Kingdom. In addition, he served as a visiting professor at ETH Zurich and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FHG), Germany. He has also supervised 22 PhD candidates to completion.

Besides three graduate-level textbooks, he has authored 110 peer-reviewed journal articles, 208 conference papers, and 17 book chapters.

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In a statement regarding his appointment as Director, IIT Mandi, Laxmidhar Behera said, “It is a great honour and simultaneously a huge responsibility. I will strive hard for the all-round and holistic development of the institute where culture of excellence will be a norm.“

Welcoming the new Director, AK Chaturvedi, director of IIT Roorkee, said, “Behera is a renowned academic, I am sure his inspirational leadership of IIT Mandi will ensure growth, along with continuity, on the solid foundation laid by the founding Director Prof. Timothy Gonsalves.”

Prior to this appointment, Prof Timothy A Gonsalves was the Founding Director of IIT Mandi and served a long tenure from January 2010 to June 2020.

Officials informed on Monday that IIT-Bombay professor Rangan Banerjee has been appointed as the next director of IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras professor V Kamakoti has been appointed as director of IIT-Madras.