Professor Avinash Kumar Agarwal took over the charge of Director, IIT Jodhpur on 1 May 2024. He obtained his Undergraduate Degree in Mechanical Engineering (1994) from Malviya Regional Engineering College, Jaipur and his MTech (Energy, 1996) and PhD (Energy, 1999) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. After his Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1999 – 2001) at the ERC, UW, Madison, USA, he returned to India in 2001 and joined IIT Kanpur. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Loughborough, UK; Photonics Institute, University of Vienna, Austria; Hanyang University and KAIST, South Korea. Prof. Agarwal is interested in research in IC engines, combustion, conventional and alternative fuels, Methanol/ DME/ Hydrogen/ HCNG fuelled engine development, LCA and TCO analyses, Fuel sprays, Lubricating oil tribology, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, particulates and emission control, and large bore engines.

He has developed laser-fired hydrogen and CNG engines in automotive sizes and developed the first electronic fuel injection system equipped with a locomotive engine for Indian Railways. Currently, Prof. Agarwal is developing Methanol and DME-fuelled engines/ vehicles for the automotive/ agricultural sectors. Prof. Agarwal has published over 520 peer-reviewed international journal and conference papers, 63 edited books, and 129 book chapters, attracting 16000+ Scopus and 24000+ Google Scholar citations. Prof. Agarwal is the Editor of ‘FUEL’, Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology, ASME Open Journal of Engineering, International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, and the Journal of the Institute of Engineers (Series C) and an editorial board member of IMechE International Journal of Engine Research. He edited Wiley VCH, Germany’s “Handbook of Combustion” (5 Volumes; 3168 pages), the most updated combustion compilation globally.

For his outstanding contributions, Prof. Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019) by SERB, SAE India Foundation GURU Award (2022), WSSET Innovation Award-2022, Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017 in Engineering and Technology, Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2016) in Engineering Sciences, Rajib Goyal Prize in Physical Sciences (2015); NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award (2012); INAE Silver Jubilee Young Engineer Award (2012); Dr C. V. Raman Young Teachers Award (2011); SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (2008); INSA Young Scientist Award (2007); UICT Young Scientist Award (2007); INAE Young Engineer Award (2005); Devendra Shukla Research Fellowship (2009-12), Poonam and Prabhu Goyal Endowed Chair Professorship (2013-16), SBI Endowed Chair Professorship (2018-21, 2022-25) at IIT Kanpur; AICTE Career Award for Young Teachers (2004); DST Young Scientist Award (2002); and DST BOYSCAST Fellowship (2002), in addition to inaugural version of Distinguished Alumni Award-2021 by MNIT Jaipur and Distinguished Alumni Award-2022 by IIT Delhi.

Prof. Agarwal is a highly cited researcher-2018 in and is among the top ten HCRs from India, among 4000 HCR researchers globally in 22 fields of enquiry. He is India’s number one Energy researcher in the recently declared Stanford University listing of the top 2% of researchers globally. He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers International, USA (SAE; 2012), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; 2013), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE; 2015), International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (ISEES; 2016), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC; 2018), National Academy of Science Allahabad (NASI; 2018), World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (WSSET-2020), American Association for Advancement in Science (AAAS; 2020) and Combustion Institute USA (CI; 2022). He is featured in the DST Golden Jubilee Coffee Table Book “75 under 50 Scientists Shaping Today’s INDIA,” released by Vigyan Prasar, Government of India, on National Science Day, February 28th, 2022. At IIT Kanpur, Prof. Agarwal has established a state-of-the-art “Engine Research Laboratory” (www.iitk.ac.in/erl), and he was also the founder-director of IIT Kanpur’s Science and Technology Research Park (Technopark@iitk; http://www.technoparkiitk.com). He also founded the International Society for Energy Environment and Sustainability (www.isees.in) in 2014 and is the Editor of the Book Series Entitled “Energy Environment and Sustainability,” published by Springer, Singapore (2016 onwards).