MS Sreekala Editor

Prof. Sabu Thomas, an outstanding Alumnus of IIT, Kharagpur, is one of India’s most renowned scientists in the area of Polymers. After completing his Ph.D. from IIT Kharagpur (1984-1987), he joined MG University as a Lecturer in 1997 and later became its Vice Chancellor. He has taken up a large number of visiting assignments abroad. Under his leadership, the University has been ranked 713th by TIMES, 30th in NIRF and the best University inKerala. He has supervised 120 Ph.D. students, authored 1,300 publications and edited 150 books earning him a H-index of 112 and 60,000 citations. He has received Honoris Causa degrees from Russia and France and obtained grants amounting to Rs. 30 crores for research funding from India and abroad. He has been ranked 114th in the list of the world’s best scientists and 2nd in India by the Stanford University Ranking in Polymers. He was elected as a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences. Considering his excellent contributions in teaching, research and administration, Prof. Thomas is the best candidate for the outstanding Alumnus award of IIT KGP. Preetha Balakrishnan is Principal Scientist at ADSO Naturals Private Limited, Banglore, Karnataka, India. Her area of interest is Polymer Science incorporating Nano materials, and topic of research is Starch based nanocomposites at IIUCNN, M.G. University, Kottayam, in the group of Prof. Sabu Thomas. Dr M.S. Sreekala is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Postgraduate Research Department of Chemistry, Sree Sankara College, Kalady, India. Her research interests include polymer composites, biodegradable and green composites, and thermosetting materials. She has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has edited 6 books. Dr. Sreekala received the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, and conducted research at the Institute for Composite Materials, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. She was also awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan, and conducted research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Japan. She has organized many national and international conferences and delivered invited talks at many international conferences within India and abroad.