Dr. Mihir Kumar Purkait is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Head Centre for the Environment at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). Prior to joining as faculty in IITG (2004), he has received his PhD and M. Tech in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITKGP) after completing his B. Tech and B. Sc (Hons) in Chemistry from University of Calcutta. He became the Fellow of Institute of Engineering and Technology (FIET, UK,2020), Life Fellow of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, LFIIChE, 2020), Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, UL, 2017) Fellow of Institute of Engineers (FIE, 2016).
He has received several awards including "Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship (2020) from Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), erdillia Award for Excellence in Basic Research in Chemical Engineering for the year 2018 from Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE), Young Scientist Medal Award from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA, 2009), Young Scientist Award from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), (2009) Govt. of India. He is the director of 2 incubated company (viz. RD Grow Green India Pvt. Ltd. and Vixudha Bio Products Ltd.). He is also technical advisor of Gammon India Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation, Bethkuchi for their treatment plant.
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 area, 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 more than 20 years of experience in academics and research and published more than 220 papers in different reputed journals (Citation: >10,000, h-index = 58, 10 index = 125). He has 8 patents and completed 28 sponsored and consultancy projects from various funding agencies. Prof. Purkait has guided 18 numbers of PhD students. He has authored 6 books.
Dr. Piyal Mondal received his BTech in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Durgapur, West Bengal (INDIA) during 2012. He completed his Masters and Ph.D.in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (INDIA) in Chemical Engineering. His research work is dedicated to preparing various surface engineered polymers for specific environmental applications. Synthesis of polymeric membranes, green synthesized nano-materials, and hybrid techniques to combat wastewater treatment is also his research focus. He has fabricated different prototypes for environmental separation applications. Currently, he has authored 4 reference books and published 14 peer-reviewed articles in reputed international journals.