GITAM scientist awarded coveted Raja Ramanna Fellowship by GOI’s Department of Atomic Energy
Visakhapatnam : Marking a stellar achievement in the field of academic research, eminent academician, and scholar Prof. BVR Tata — a Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, GITAM (Deemed to be University) — has been selected by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India, for the highly prestigious recognition of the Raja Ramanna Fellowship (RRF). The duration of the Fellowship is three years and includes an annual INR 1.5 Lakh research grant for three years apart from financial assistance of INR 1 Lakh per month.
The Physics professor, who has held positions at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, – Kalpakkam, the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), IIT-Palakkad and University of Hyderabad, has been working on photonic materials fabricated through colloidal self-assembly routes. Prof Tata’s research interests are in the areas of Soft condensed matter, Computer Simulations, Optics & Photonics and Biology Inspired Physics. He is working on experiments in the areas of phase transitions in nanoparticle dispersions, hydrogels, surfactants, stimuli-responsive nanogels, bio-colloids, photonic crystals, and also computer simulations.
Prof Tata’s area of interdisciplinary research, referred to generally as ‘soft materials’ or ‘soft condensed metal’ finds application in fields such as biology, chemical engineering, physics, biotechnology, and pharmacy.
As part of the Fellowship, the professor will focus on fabricating novel photonic materials, and more precisely, photonic crystals and photonic band gap materials. Put simply, he focuses on making materials for controlling flow of light (photons). Such materials are photonic analogues of semiconductors. Semiconductors offer control over the flow of electrons, hence are crucial for the electronic and optoelectronic industry. In depth research on photonic band gap materials is expected to lay the road for photonics and all phonic devices which are not only green devices but also faster and superior in all aspects.
“I appreciate GITAM’s enabling research facilities, such as labs for syntheses of monodisperse nanoparticles, flat forms for assembling them, tools for fabricating these structures, and investigating them through a gamut of instruments. After I joined last year, GITAM has spent about INR 45 Cr to set up advanced research facilities both with respect to making material infrastructure, high-end research equipment. I must mention that the research and experiments require lots of computational and simulation activity, for which infrastructure is available at GITAM in the form of high-performance computers equipped with high end computational tools. While being grateful for the Fellowship, I am delighted to get the opportunity to contribute and teach both students and faculty, within my area of expertise as well, making this a win-win situation for me and to the varsity,” said Prof. BVR Tata, Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, GITAM (Deemed to be University).
The Fellowship seeks to utilize the services of active retired scientists, engineers and technologists who have been involved in high-quality research in their specialized discipline and wish to contribute further post-retirement. The Fellowship is an outstanding avenue for distinguished scholars to carry out R&D in the field of their choice and of interest to the DAE, after retirement.