Prominent Alumni
Dr. K. R. Sreenivasan
Dean Emeritus of NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Ph.D. (Aero Engg), 1970-75
https://engineering.nyu.edu/faculty/katepalli-sreenivasan
Dr. Inderjit Chopra
Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), 1966-68
Dr. K. Sivan
Former Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, ISRO
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), 1980-82
Shri. S Somanath
Secretary, Department of Space, Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, ISRO
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), 1994-96
Dr. Kota Harinarayana
INAE Satish Dhawan Chair of Engineering Emminence
M.E. (Aero. Engg.)
Dr. Roddam Narasimha
DST Year-of-Science Professor, JNCASR, Bangalore
Diploma in Aeronautical Engineering, 1955
Dr. Bhagavatula Dattaguru
Former Chairman and Professor, Jain University
Ph.D. (Aero. Engg.), 1973
Dr. H. S. Mukunda
Former Chairman and Professor, Jain University
Ph.D. (Aero. Engg.), 1970
Dr. Narayanaswamy Balakrishnan
Former Associate Director and Honorary Professor
Ph.D. (Aero. Engg.), 1979
Dr. K R Sreenivasan
Dean Emeritus of NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Ph.D. (Aero Engg), IISc, 1970-75
Professor Katepalli Sreenivasan was the Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering from 2013–2018, where he also was the University Professor and Eugene Kleiner Chair for Innovation, Professor in the Physics Department, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Tandon School of Engineering, and directed the Center for Space Science at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus. He is a fluid dynamicist with a broad range of interests and expertise spanning experimentation, theory, and simulations. He has extensive experience in scientific leadership and has served the scientific community, especially the APS, in various capacities.
Dr. Inderjit Chopra
Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), IISc, 1966-68
Dr. Inderjit Chopra is the Alfred Gessow Professor in Aerospace Engineering, Distinguished University Professor, and Director of the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland. He received his BS in Aero Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1965, his ME from the Indian Institute of Science in 1968 and his Sc.D. from MIT in 1977. He worked at the National Aerospace Laboratory from 1966 to 1974. His research there included wind tunnel testing of scaled aeroelastic models of aeroplanes and launch vehicles.
Dr. K Sivan
Former Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, ISRO
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), IISc, 1980-82
Dr. K. Sivan, former Secretary of the Department of Space, Chairman of the Space Commission, and head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 2018 to 2022, played a pivotal role in shaping India’s space capabilities. Joining ISRO in 1982, he specialised in aerospace engineering and made innovative contributions, notably in mission planning, design, and the development of PSLV. As the chief architect of the 6D trajectory simulation software SITARA, he enhanced ISRO’s launch vehicle capabilities. Recognised for his achievements, Dr. Sivan received several prestigious awards and published extensively, solidifying his legacy in the field of space exploration.
Shri. S Somanath
Secretary, Department of Space, Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, ISRO
M.E. (Aero. Engg.), IISc, 1994-96
Sreedhara Panicker Somanath is the current Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission, ISRO. With a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, he joined ISRO in 1985. As the former Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, he played key roles in PSLV and GSLV MkIII architecture, propulsion stage design, and vehicle integration. A recipient of the ‘Space Gold Medal’ and various awards, Somanath is a distinguished Fellow of multiple prestigious engineering societies. Under his chairmanship, ISRO carried out the third Indian lunar exploration mission – Chandrayaan-3. His impactful contributions extend to structural dynamics, launch vehicle design, and launch services management.
- J.P. Chawla (1943-1944)
- C.V. Joga Rao (1944-1945)
- S. Radhakrishnan (1945-1946)
- S.R. Valluri (1946-1948)
- Guru Dutt (1947-1949)
- C. K. Swaminathan (1948-1950)
- A. Das (1948-1950)
- A. Kameswara Rao (1949-1951)
- S.M. Ramachandra (1950-1952)
- S.R. Telang (1952-1954)
- M.G. Sharma (1952-1954)
- R. Narasimha (1953-1955)
- B.R. Vasudeva (1954-1956)
- B.S. Raghunath (1955-1957)
- M.A. Ramaswamy (1956-1958)
- D.P. Navaratna (1957-1959)
- T.R. Sundaram (1958-1960)
- N. Muniswamy Reddy (1959-1961)
- A.V. Krishna Murty (1960-1962)
- A. Prabhu (1961-1963)
- S.P. Govinda Raju (1962-1964)
- H.S. Mukunda (1963-1965)
- Sathya N. Atluri (1964-1966)
- M.Krishna Murthy (1965-1967)
- Prem Bhatia (1966-1968)
- K. Yegnanarayan (1967-1969)
- K.R. Sreenivasan (1968-1970)
- M.S. Padmanabhan (1969-1971)
- D.S. Janaki Ram (1970-1972)
- P.K. Dutta (1971-1973)
- Sqn.Ldr.M.L.N.Rao (1971-1973)
- A. Raghupathy Upadhya (1972-1974)
- A.K. Sehra (1972-1974)
- Sqn.Ldr.P.B.Harikrishnan (1973-1975)
- N.R. Iyer (1973-1975)
- A. Subhananda Rao (1973-1975)
- Flt.Lt.Ashutosh Nigam (1974-1976)
- Flt.Lt.A.Aggarwal (1975-1977)
- M.A. Srinivasan (1975-1977)
- Alok Das (1976-1978)
- Rakesh Kumar Kapania (1977-1979)
- Lt.Cdr.T.Mohan Ram (1978-1980)
- J.H. Arakeri (1979-1981)
- Flt.Lt.N.Kaul (1980-1982)
- Subhasis Sarkar (1981-1983)
- O. Narayanan (1982-1984)
- V.Y. Mudkavi (1983-1985)
- R. Singh Chowdhry (1983-1985)
- P.P. Nadkarni (1984-1986)
- A.S. Ganesan (1985-1987)
- Ripudaman Singh (1986-1988)
- S.S. Bhatia (1987-1989)
- P.N. Moulik (1988-1990)
- Capt.C.K.Sood (1989-1991)
- Mridul Singal (1990-1992)
- T.N. Venkatesh (1991-1993)
- G. Pradeep Reddy (1992-1994)
- Sanjay A. Khalane (1993-1995)
- S. Somanath (1994-1996)
- S. Nagarajan (1995-1997)
- S.S. Vinod (1996-1998)
- Nitin Khamesra (1997-1999)
- Beerinder Singh (1998-2000)
- Abir Chakraborty (1999-2001)
- N. Jayan (2000-2002)
- Dixit Shivsai Ajit (2001-2003)
- N. Ganesh (2002-2004)
- Kolla Hemanth (2003-2005)
- K.G. Vinod (2004-2006)
- Dilshad Ahmed (2005-2007)
- Desai Parthav Bankim (2006-2008)
- Nayan Dubey (2007-2009)
- Pawan Soami (2008-2010)
- Biswa Prateem Das (2008-2010)
- G. Magesh (2009-2011)
- Kiran Pinumalla (2009-2011)
- Jim Thomas (2010-2012)
- Ankur Nagpal (2011-2013)
- Abhishek Mishra (2012-2014)
- Hari Babu Parupalli (2012-2014)
- Velayutham T (2013-2015)
- Sreenath Bhat B (2014-2016)
- Soumyajit Behera (2015-2017)
- Harish Subramanian G (2016-2018)
- Sangeetha B (2017-2019)