Vinod K. Singh
Vinod K. Singh (Hindi: विनोद कुमार सिंह) was born on 9 September 1959, in Kshatriya family in Anantpur, a village in district Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. He is a Rahul and Namita Gautam Chair Professor of Chemistry at IIT Kanpur. Singh's major research contribution[2] is in an area of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, more specifically, asymmetric synthesis. He has developed several new chiral ligands/catalysts for enantioselective reactions. One of the chiral catalysts developed in his laboratory, called "Singh's Catalyst", is an efficient chiral organocatalyst for enantioselective aldol reaction in aqueous medium. He has accomplished total synthesis of several bioactive natural products. His work is documented in more than 160 research publications. Furthermore, Professor Singh has guided 35 PhD students and currently has more than 12 students and postdoctoral fellows working with him.
Vinod K. Singh | |
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Born | |
Nationality | Indian |
Awards | Padma Shri (2014) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2004)[1] Swarna Jayanti Fellowship (1998) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemistry |
Institutions | IIT Kanpur and IISER Bhopal |
Professor Singh has been recognized with several awards and honors such as Swarnajayanti Fellowship (1998),[3] Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2004) and Padma Shri (2014), among others. In addition, he has been elected as a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA), Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc), The National Academy of Sciences (FNASc), and The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS).
Professor Singh is an Editor of an Elsevier journal - Tetrahedron Lett. He is a Member, Editorial Advisory Board of Org. Lett. and J. Org. Chem.
As a Founder Director of IISER Bhopal, for more than 10 years (2008-2018), Professor Singh set up the whole campus in 200 acres land from scratch. He has served as the Mentor Director of IISER Berhampur, Director of School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal (additional charge) and the Chairman of BoG, NITTTR Bhopal.[4] He also held the additional charge of Directorship of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal and the Mentor Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology Bhopal.[5]
Professor Singh is currently the President, Chemical Research Society of India. He was a member of Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (SAC-PM) during 2009–2014. He has made significant contributions in the management of higher educational institutes, science education, science policy, and planning.
Education
Singh had his early education from a primary school in his village area. He passed high school and intermediate from Wesley Inter College and BSc from D. A. V College, both in Azamgarh. He did MSc (Chemistry) from Banaras Hindu University in 1980, he joined Malt-Chem Research Center Nandesari, Baroda, where he earned a PhD degree in 1986 under the supervision of Dr. Sukh Dev. He spent two years (1985–1986) in Canada where he worked with Professor M.H. Benn (University of Calgary) and Professor J.P. Kutney (University of British Columbia). He moved to Professor Elias James Corey's group at Harvard University, US, in early 1987 and worked there for 3 years as a post-doctoral fellow.
Profession
Singh started his career as a senior scientist in Neurogen Corporation, Connecticut, US, in March 1990. In the meantime, he accepted an offer for a faculty position from IIT Kanpur and joined the Institute in December 1990 as an assistant professor in Chemistry. He was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and professor in 2001. He came from IIT Kanpur to start IISER Bhopal in the year 2008 as a Founder Director and was there for 10 years. He served as a Director/Mentor Director, in Institutes such as School of Planning and Architecture,[6] IISER Berhampur, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal, and IIIT Bhopal.[7] He also served as a chairperson BoG in NITTR[8] (National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research).
Awards and honours
- Padma Shri (2014)
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2004)[9]
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, Banaras Hindu University (2012)
- Samman Patra by UP Government (2018)
- Swarnajayanti Fellowship Award (1998)
- J.C. Bose fellowship (2009-2023)
- Goyal Prize (2011)
- Fellow, Indian National Science Academy (FNA)
- Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc)
- Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (FNASc)
- Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS)
- Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
- Chemical Research Society of India Silver Medal (2014)
- Vigyan Ratna Award of U.P. (2006)
- Adjunct Professor, NIPER Hyderabad (12.10.2019 – Present)
- Director's Chair Professor, IISER Bhopal (01.01.2019 – Present)
- S. Ranganathan Memorial Medal by Indian National Science Academy (2018)
- DSc (Honoris Causa), Jabalpur University (2012)
- Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru National Award by MP Govt (2010)
- Umang Gupta Chair Professor, IIT Kanpur (01.06.2007 – 30.05.2010)
- Chemical Research Society of India Bronze Medal (2003)
- Rajib Goyal Prize (2002)
References
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Complete List of Publications of Vinod Kumar Singh" (PDF). IITK Kanpur. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- https://dst.gov.in/scientific-programmes/scientific-engineering-research/human-resource-development-and-nurturing-young-talent-swarnajayanti-fellowships-scheme
- http://nitttrbpl.ac.in/index.php
- https://iiitbhopal.ac.in/
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 February 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- https://iiitbhopal.ac.in/
- http://nitttrbpl.ac.in/index.php
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology