Dr. Praveen Kumar is working as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences (IACS), Kolkata and also a Chair of Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) India Chapter funded by the European Commission. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 2011, followed by the postdoctoral studies at ISOM, UPM Madrid. He is recipient of several recognized awards and fellowships, few of them are DAE Young Achiever Award (2019), BRICS Young Scientist Award (2017), Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012), INSPIRE Faculty Award (2013), 08 Best oral/poster awards and Gold Medal in M.Sc. (Physics) From Rajasthan University (2003). Dr. Kumar’s research contribution covers a broad spectrum of materials synthesis including III-V semiconductors, oxides, sulphides, carbon nanostructures, metal/semiconductor interfaces, etc, for LED emitters & solar cells, photoelectrodes, broad-band and self-powered photodetectors, andnext-generation sensors applications. He has authored/edited 3 books, 81 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, more than 55 in conference proceedings, and delivered around 42 invited/oral talks at various conferences/institutes around the globe. Dr. Pooja Devi is currently working as a principal scientist at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. She has done her Ph.D. in Engineering from the AcSIR, New Delhi, M.Tech. in Nanotechnology from IIT Roorkee with Gold Medal, B.Tech in Biotechnology with the first rank from Kurukshetra University. She is a well-established young scientist in the field of nanomaterials, sensors, and energy harvesting devices. She has published 65 international high impact publications, 5 books, 18 Chapters, more than 75 conference papers, and delivered 31 invited/oral talks. Her research interest is towards techniques and technologies design and development for water pollutants monitoring using opto/electrochemical techniques and solar hydrogen production. She is recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships including INAE Young Engineer Award (2020), IASc Associateship (2019), MRSI GC Jain Memorial Award (2020), ISCA Young Scientist Award (2019), ISEES Young Scientist Award (2019), BRICS Young Scientist Award (2018), PITTCON- Travel Grant (2018), Indo-US WARI fellowship (2017), Young Scientist Project Award (2017), Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship (2010), and MHRD GATE Fellowship (2008).
