Dr. Bimal Krishna Banik is a Full Professor at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia. Previously, he served as a tenured full professor and the first president’s Endowed Professor of Science & Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, and was Vice President of Research and Education Development at Community Health Systems of South Texas, United States. Dr. Banik has conducted extensive research in synthetic chemistry and chemical biology, focusing on cancer, antibiotics, catalysis, and natural products. He has chaired more than 20 symposiums at the American Chemical Society (ACS) national meetings and has published more than 735 articles and approximately 530 abstracts, with more than 11,500 citations. His numerous awards include the Indian Chemical Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Medal of Honor from the United Kingdom Parliament, the University of Texas System Board of Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, and the ACS Member Service Award. Aparna Das obtained her PhD degree in Material science/nanophysics from Joseph Fourier University based upon the work on “Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Opto-chemical Sensor Application at French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France. Her postdoctoral experiences include working as a research scientist at the California Nano Systems Institute and Electric Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, and as an experienced researcher at the Nanowiring-Marie Curie Initial Training Network, Georg August Universität Göttingen, Germany. Dr Das’s research interests include Computer-assisted Physico-chemical methods, quantum mechanical calculations, interdisciplinary science (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) for drug development, computer-aided drug design, microwave applications, photochemical reactions, III-Nitride based chemical sensors, solar cells, optoelectronic devices, synthesis of thin layers and nanostructures including Quantum wells, quantum dots, and nanowires. She is the author of two books and received the young women researcher award, European microscopy society (EMS) outstanding paper awards, and several international fellowships such as the Marie-Curie fellowship, CEA-CNRS research fellowship, and Brain Korea 21 fellowship.
