Résumé

Prof. K. G. Narayankhedkar
Director, VJTI, Mumbai

Born on June 12, 1946, Professor K. G. Narayankhedkar received his schooling in Marathwada and obtained Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering Aurangabad with First Rank in the University (Marathwada University) in 1966. Subsequently he obtained the degrees of M. Tech. (1969) and Ph.D. (1974) from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The projects at both the M. Tech. and Ph. D. were in the field of Cryogenics Engineering He also completed a course on 'Management of Research and Development’ conducted by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay (1973) . He did his Post-doctoral research work at the Department of Engineering Science, Cryogenics Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, during 1975 - 76 as a Commonwealth Scholar.

Professor K. G. Narayankhedkar joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1970 as an Associate Lecturer. He was promoted to the post of Professor in 1983 and served as the Dean (Planning) for two terms during 1995-2001. He was also the Convener, School for Cryogenic Engineering since 1977. Recently he joined as Director at VJTI Mumbai on 29th December 2005.

He is known for his outstanding interest in teaching and research in the areas of Cryogenics Engineering, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Food Preservation and Thermodynamics (Energy Analysis). He has guided sixteen students for their Ph.D. degree and currently guiding six Ph. D. students. He has, to his credit, 153 paper publications. He is the Guest Editor of “Cryogenic and its Application", Indian Journal of Cryogenics, Vol. 18 (1993) and Editor of the Proceedings of the International Cryogenic Engineering Conference, ICEC 18, (2000).

Professor Narayankhedkar developed several technologies in the high-tech area of cryogenics and successfully transferred these technologies to LPSC, Valdimala and ISAC, Bangalore.

He was awarded several prizes. Mention may be made of "K.L. Garg Memorial Cash/ Medal Award and Scroll of Merit” for outstanding piece of research work on cryorefrigerators leading to development of prototypes (1987). Professor Narayankhedkar has been honoured with the prestigious Dr. P. K. Patwardhan Award for the innovative technology development on 'Pulse Tube Cryocooler using the Linear Compressor' on the occasion of the Teachers' day celebrations on September 6, 2004 at IIT Bombay.

He was elected as a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) in 1988, Member of International Cryogenic Engineering Committee (ICEC) in 1994, President of Indian Cryogenics Council (ICC) during 1993-95, Vice - Chairman, International Cryogenic Engineering Committee (ICEC) during 1998-2002, member of International Institute of Refrigeration (France), Commission A1 in 2000.

Professor Narayankhedkar strongly believes in social commitment. He is on the Boards of several Institutes. He is also member of the review Committee at NSC, New Delhi. He is the nominee of the Governor of Maharashtra for the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere. He is also actively engaged in various social activities for which he has been recently felicitated with the award "Samajseva Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar" in February 2004 at Degloor, Dist. Nanded.