Speakers

Dr. S.N. Sridhara is the Vice Chancellor of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science. He has completed his B.E. (Mechanical) from Bangalore University, M.E. (Aerospace Engineering) and Ph.D. (Aerospace Engineering) from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has 32 years of experience working in academic institutions, during which he has developed expertise in Pedagogy, Research & Education Administration; and has contributed in terms of developmental activities in these fields. Dr. Sridhara has guided several scholars through their Ph.Ds. and produced more than 150 research papers in reputed international journals and conference proceedings. He has also successfully carried out several research and consultancy projects from government and private agencies. He has been awarded with ‘Best-Principal’ award from ISTE, New Delhi, and by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka. He has also won the Vocational Excellence Award from Rotary International. He is the life member of prestigious professional bodies such as Aeronautical Society of India, Combustion Institute (India), and Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India). Dr. Sridhara was previously Director at Amity University Haryana, Gurugram before joining HITS.

Prof. Kuldeep Kumar Raina is the Vice Chancellor of M S Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences. Prior to joining RUAS, Professor Raina, well known for his scientific acumen and leadership has served as the Vice Chancellor, DIT University, Dehradun for over 6 years. He has also worked in Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala for about 28 years. At Thapar, he has held several responsible administrative and academic positions like Director (Acting), Deputy Director, Dean of Faculty, Dean, Resource Planning and Generation, Dean Research and Sponsored Projects and Head, School of Physics & Materials Science. Prof. Raina did M.Sc and Ph.D in Solid State Materials and then post-doctorate research work from University of Manchester (UK). His contributions to the teaching and research have brought him recognition nationally and internationally through various awards and fellowships. Prof. Raina’s research achievements are known through his innovative practices and creative thinking approach. He has published over 250 research papers in peer review International journals and delivered about 60 Invited lectures in International conferences. He has attracted considerable research funding from different agencies like DST, DRDO, UGC, CSIR, AICTE etc. Professor Raina has supervised post Doc work, 33 Ph.D theses and 40 PG thesis. His works are well cited and has been awarded by many societies in India and abroad through Best paper awards.

Dr. Neeraj Sharma is currently working as the Director – Institute Partnerships at Teachmint for Higher Education. He has worked for more than 25 years in technology-based executive education in India and abroad. Dr. Neeraj has served institutes like IITs, IIMs, IMT Ghaziabad, XLRI, IIFT, MAHE, MDI, NMIMS, University of Phoenix, Western International University, etc in various senior leadership roles at Hughes Net Global Education, NIIT Imperia, Talentedge, upGrad, Great Learning, and ImaginXP, etc. He holds a Ph.D. degree from IIT Delhi and MTech (HRDM) from IIT Kharagpur.