Dr. Mihir Kumar Purkait PhD is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Chair Professor of National Jal Jeevan Mission, Dean of Alumni and External Affairs, and former Head of Centre for the Environment at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). Prior to joining as faculty at IITG (2004), he received his Ph.D. and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITKGP) after completing his B.Tech and B.Sc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta. He has received several awards like; Dr. A.V. Rama Rao Foundation's Best Ph.D. Thesis and Research Award in Chemical Engineering from IIChE (2007), BOYSCAST Fellow award (2009-10) from the DST, Young Engineers Award in the field of Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Engineers (India, 2009), Young Scientist Medal award from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA, 2009). Prof. Purkait is a Fellow of several academic and professional body/societies. His current research activities are focused in four distinct areas viz. i) advanced separation technologies, ii) waste to energy, iii) smart materials for various applications, and iv) process intensification. In each of the areas, his goal is to synthesis stimuli responsive materials and to develop a more fundamental understanding of the factors governing the performance of the chemical and biochemical processes. He has around 20 years of experience in academics and research and published more than 250 papers in different reputed journals (Citation: >12000, h-index = 64, 10 index = 152). He has 10 patents and completed 35 sponsored and consultancy projects from various funding agencies. Prof. Purkait has guided 20 Ph.D. students. He is the author of 10 books and several book chapters published in reputed Internal journals.
