My CV

This is a brief account of my education and employment.

Present occupation

1. I am the coordinator of an e-forum called Vimarsh for the science community of Delhi University. This is a project supported by the Centre For Science Education and Communication (CSEC), University Of Delhi.
2. Keep myself busy in thinking about various issues.
3. Often post on the online forum Hypography.
4. Often edit articles on Wikipedia the online open encyclopedia.
5. Have published over 90 very popular article on scribd.com that have attracted more then one and a half million views in about three years.

Recent Achievments

1. A two books set, W5H of Science and W5H of Technology was very recently published by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous institution under Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
2. A book “How it Works, The Computer” published by the Children’s Books Trust, 2003” (Hindi translation “Kyon or Kaise: Computer” 2004.
3. An article "Amateur publishing ” published in the July 2006 issue of Science Reporter.

4. Was a member of a author team that developed the content of school science textbooks “ Karen aur Khojen” / “Do and Discover” for middle level students (class 6 –8) (under the aegis of SCERT Delhi, 2003)

5. Authored over seventy articles published in Science Reporter, in various issues dated October 1998 todate. These include over thirty articles dealing with questions asked by curious students/teachers; in addition to other articles about various facets of science, technology, computers and information technology. In addition An article detailing the nitty gritty of cellphones "The Mobile Revolution" was published in October 2004 issue and a science fiction story " Communication" has received a prize in a story writing contest and is was published in SR in the October issue 2005. Have also authored several articles published in the Hindi science monthly Vigyan Pragati

6. Coordinated the compilation of a database of 1000 quiz questions/crossword puzzles and scripts for 65 hands on activities for young science enthusiasts under a project sponsored by NCSTC/DST.
   

Directing and Scripting Educational Video

Have scripted and directed the production of twelve video programs for school students. The subjects of these programs are: energy, communication, universe, electronic components, and inventions of the telephone and television. Most of these programs were produced by CENDIT -- a reputed NGO, for NCERT or NOS. These programs are regularly telecast through the national educational TV channel GYAN DARSHAN; also have some experience in using computer animation software.

Innovations and Designs

Compiled four digital libraries for science teachers and launched a project named CREST (April 2003), for training teachers to use web-resources effectively and author subject modules and share them with their colleagues around the world.

Developed some new designs for eight analytical chemistry instruments: colorimeter, pH meter, conductometer, thermostat, polarimeter etc. under projects sponsored by various organizations: UNESCO, UGC and DST. These designs have been published as articles in the UGC sponsored journal ‘Chemistry Education’ (1984-86). In this context I acted as a resource petrson for a number of teacher training workshops held at Rajshahi (Bangladesh); Kasetsart University (Malaysia), Bangkok (Thailand), Madras, Jaipur, Delhi and Hyderabad (India) in addition to several others that discussed designs with other innovators, like the one held at Uberlingern (germany). Have also supervised the production of 600 such instruments that were supplied to IGNOU.

Teaching

1. Research assistants at IIT Kanpur are often asked to take tutorial lecture classes and conduct laboratory sessions for undergraduate classes. Thus had an opportunity to tutor undergraduate classes for several years at IIT Kanpur, significantly, was judged an excellent tutor by students in the annual assessment exercises conducted by the Chemistry department
2. Was the key resource person for more than thirty teachers training workshops, conducted in India and several other countries viz. Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, FRG and UK. In these workshops college and schoolteachers of chemistry were trained to fabricate and use electronic instruments widely used for chemical analysis. The workshops included lecture/demonstration sessions on the basic principles of electronic circuits and electronic components and lab sessions to assemble and test the instruments assembled; was also responsible for developing the training software and hardware kits for such workshops.colorimeter, pH meter, conductometer, thermostat, polarimeter etc. under projects sponsored by various organizations: UNESCO, UGC and DST. These designs have been published as articles in the UGC sponsored journal ‘Chemistry Education’ (1984-86).

   The above photograph was taken during a visit to Uberlingern Germany for a workshop sponsered by UNESCO, You can spot me standing at the extreme right.
   

3. Conducted several workshops on computer literacy for the staff members of NISTADS (CSIR) New Delhi and University of Delhi and in several public schools in Delhi interacting with teachers and students under the sponsorship of Scholastic books.
4. Was the coordinator of a centre for a 21 days teacher training program held under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan during Jan-Feb 2005.
5. Participated in the three National Teachers Science Conferences supported by NCSTC/DST. In these conferences interacted with the participant teachers while evaluating their presentations during the conference.

Academic Research

As a Research Associate at the CSIR Center for Biochemicals, Delhi (now, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR) Mall Road Delhi 110007) (1984-87) developed novel methods for extraction and purification of lipids from biological materials, and published a paper in an internationally acclaimed journal (Analytical Biochemistry).

As a Senior Research Assistant at the Department of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur, developed novel methods for extraction of lipids, estimation of phospholipids (published in J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods) and preparation of phospholopid vesicles. The publication of these methods attracted a lot of attention in the research community as shown by a very large number of requests for reprints.

Experience I

Academic Fellow

Was a part time visiting fellow at the Centre for Science Education and Communication, University of Delhi from 1996-98. During this tenure, interacted widely with students and teachers of the University. In this capacity, answered several hundred questions from the audience of “TURNING POINT” under a CSIR sponsored project; also conducted a workshop for training in multimedia techniques for teachers and students of DU.
Also participated in several UNESCO sponsored workshops for developing independent modules for innovative science teaching in schools (STL).

Editor

Been an assistant editor of the UGC sponsored ‘Chemistry Education’ (1985-1987).

Project Coordinator

NCSTC/ DST/CENDIT project (1992-93) for compilation of a database (consisting of of more than 11000 records) of information regarding software, hardware and liveware related to science communication and popularization from many institutions located in Delhi and Haryana.

A project sponsored by CAPART for compiling a bilingual database on media resources related to rural housing and shelter. (1993-95).
NCSTC/DST/CSEC (2004-5) project for designing quiz questions, crosswords related to popular science and technology and scripts for activities for the website vichar.nic.in

My Education

University Degrees/Honors

Ph.D. (Chemistry) Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1982)

Published significant research papers in internationally reputed journals (J. Biochem. Biophys Methods and Biophysical Journal )
Developed high competence in physics; mathematics; chemistry and computer science (numerical methods) through several postgraduate courses.

M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Hons.) (Chemistry) University of Delhi (1969-1974)

Amongst the top 5% in all annual examinations.


Other qualifications

Certificate and Diploma in German Language, University of Delhi (1972-1974)

Certificate in French Language, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1980)

Certificate of proficiency in C++ and UNIX Programming, ET&T, New Delhi (1994)

Certificate of Participation in a 20-week training program in Video Communication, CENDIT, New Delhi (1990-91)