Professor Suman Chakraborty appointed IIT Kharagpur director

Professor Suman Chakraborty has been appointed as the new director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur for a period of five years. She has been serving as the professor at the department of mechanical engineering at the institute.

“The undersigned is directed to convey that the President of India, in her capacity as the Visitor of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has been pleased to appoint Prof. Suman Chakraborty, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur as the Director of IIT Kharagpur for a period of five years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post or till attaining the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier,” said the higher education secretary in an official statement.

Chakraborty has replaced Amit Patra who assumed the additional charge of the IIT KGP director in December last year after previous director VK Tewari left the position. Patra took over the responsibility until the appointment of a regular director.

The new IIT director completed his graduation from Jadavpur University in 1996. He studied ME in Mechanical Engineering and PhD from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru in 2003. In the same year, he joined IIT KGP as an assistant professor and became a full-time professor later in 2008.

IIT Kharagpur director

Chakraborty has received several awards such as Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2013), J C Bose Fellowship (2018), GD Birla Award (2020), and Infosys Prize 2022 in Engineering and Computer Science.

Recently, he has been felicitated with the 2026 TWAS Award in Engineering and Computer Sciences by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for his seminal work in micro and nanoscale flows.

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He has research interests in micro or nano scale fluid dynamics and its applications focused towards sustainable technology goals. He invented ‘Paper and Pencil Microfluidics’ technology - a new class of electrically-manipulative miniaturized devices that does not require any sophisticated fabrication-facility.

Some of his publications are Cellular-Aggregation Dictates Universal Spreading Behaviour of a Whole-Blood Drop on a Paper Strip, A portable spinning disc for complete blood count, Portable, Handheld and Affordable Blood Perfusion Imager for Screening of Sub-Surface Cancer in Resource-Limited Settings, Electrokinetics with paper-and-pencil devices.