On behalf of all IPR staff, the IPR Newsletter extends a very warm welcome to Dr. Shashank Chaturvedi (SO/H+), who took charge as the third Director of IPR on 5th August 2016. Prior to taking charge as the Director of IPR, Dr. Chaturvedi was heading the CAD(V), BARC Facilities at Visakhapatnam. Having completed his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering (1st rank) in 1985 from IIT Delhi, he obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in the year 1989-90 in Plasma Science & Technology Programme conducted jointly by PPPL and Princeton University. He joined IPR in November 1989 and was involved in R&D activities which included Tokamak modelling, modelling for pulsed power systems, shock waves, pulsed electromagnetics, radiation-hydrodynamics, plasma stealth, EMP simulators, development of HPC facilities etc. In July 2006, he was transferred to BARC and further, to the Visakhapatnam unit of BARC in 2009, where he was instrumental in setting up the Facility for Electromagnetic Systems.

Professor Dhiraj Bora took charge as Director, IPR in January 2013. He completed his PhD in 1979 from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad in the area of experimental multiple life time of particles in a magnetic mirror device. After his PhD work, Prof Bora worked on Bolometers on TEXT device at the Fusion Research Centre at University of Texas at Austin in 1984. He also worked as a guest scientist at the Institute fur Plasmaphysik at Forschungzentrum, Juelich, Germany 1989-90 and 1992 on the ICRH heating system, multi-probe system for SOL studies and ECE diagnostics. Following India’s inclusion in the ITER Programme, Professor Bora was appointed the Deputy Director General and Director for Directorate for Control, Heating and Diagnostics (CHD) in the year 2006 and continued at that post till the end of 2012. Since much of his research efforts has been in the direction of establishment of the RF laboratory and the development of IC system from mW to MW range, his research interests have been in Heating and Current Drive in Tokamak plasmas. He also has a very keen interest in basic experiments in plasma diagnostics.

Prof Kaw was the founding director of the Institute for Plasma Research and served as the institutes as the director from 1986 to 2012. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award, India's fourth-highest honor, in 1985 and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1986. On 28 December 2016, he was awarded the Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics for his seminal contributions in the areas of laser-plasma interactions, strongly coupled dusty plasmas, and turbulence, nonlinear effect in magnetic fusion devices. He is also a recipient of the 2008 TWAS Prize.[4] His older brother is bureaucrat and author M. K. Kaw. Professor Kaw has been deeply involved in the promotion of Fusion Research in India, Asia and other parts of the world. In 1992, he was asked to give the prestigious Artsimovich Memorial Lecture at the International Atomic Energy Agency Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion in Wurzburg, Germany. In his Artsimovich Memorial Talk, Professor Kaw made a fervent appeal for accelerating research in the field of Thermonuclear Fusion for its immense potential for solving the energy problems of the developing world. He has continued to speak on this theme at various international fora. The most recent one in this series was the talk at the Special Symposium on Magnetic Fusion at the American Association for Advancement of Science Annual Meeting held at Boston (February 2008). Professor Kaw was also elected as the Chairman of the International Fusion Research Council of IAEA from 2000-2007. It is the first time that this prestigious Council has been Chaired by a scientist from a developing nation. He currently Chairs the influential Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) of the ITER council. Professor Kaw is widely respected for his significant contributions to Theoretical Plasma Physics. In recognition of this, he was invited by the National Science Foundation of USA to give his evaluation of the overall theoretical program of Department of Energy supported laboratories in the United States; he presented his evaluation at a special meeting held for this purpose by the National Research Council in San Diego, California, USA. The report of this meeting makes a special mention of the talk presented by Prof. Kaw in the introduction.