Academic Profile and Scientific Achievements of Prof. Mallayan Palaniandavar :

Dr. Mallayan Palaniandavar, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is one of the active researchers in Bioinorganic Chemistry. He has made and continues to make major contributions to the field of structural and functional Models for electron-transfer copper proteins and dioxygen-activating enzymes like catechol dioxygenases and methane monooxygenases and has developed copper, ruthenium and nickel based simple and efficient catalysts for alkane hydroxylation. He initiated research work on Metal-DNA interaction in India for the first time to understand the factors affecting the interaction, and now he is actively working on metal-based anticancer drugs and has made many lead discoveries.

A total of 18 research projects sponsored by DST, CSIR, IFCPAR, UGC etc were undertaken and 16 of them completed successfully. He has guided 27 PhD theses and published more than 165 peer reviewed research articles, authored two books and has h-index of 35 and a total citation of 4230. He organized and continues to organize several Conferences, Schools and Workshops on Bioinorganic Chemistry, delivered several Endowment/Invited/Key Note lectures in Universities/Institutions in India and abroad and in National and International Conferences.

As Head (1986-87; 2000-2008), Prof. Mallayan Palaniandavar organized the Department of Chemistry, Bharathidasan University, raised it to the level of UGC-DSA and created major sophisticated instruments facilities like Single Crystal X-ray, 400 MHz NMR, EPR etc under DST-FIST Program. He initiated MSc Chemistry (Autonomous) Course in 1987 and established it as a well-reputed one. As the first Professor of Chemistry (2012-13), he framed the syllabus for Five-year Integrated MSc (Chemistry) Course in Central University of Tamilnadu (CUTN), and continued to teach there till June 2014. He has conducted several Refresher Courses and Academy Lecture Workshops in many Universities and Colleges for the benefit of students and faculty members.

In recognition of his scientific contributions Prof. Mallayan Palaniandavar was elected as Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (FNA), Fellow of Academy of Sciences (FASc), and Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He was DST Ramanna National Fellow twice during 2007-2010 and 2010-2013. Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) conferred on him Bronze medal in 2000 and then Silver Medal in 2013 for extensive and outstanding contributions to Chemistry. He received the Tamil Nadu Scientist Award for 1997-98, UGC Research Award in 1999 and Prof. Sanke Gowda Research Award (Mysore University) in 1995. He served as member, DST-PAC on Inorganic Chemistry during 2002 - 2007 and is now serving as Member in Committee for DST Fast Track Young Scientist Scheme. He served as Member in CSIR-NET Committee on Chemistry during 1995-2010, and serves as Expert in INSA-INSPIRE, UGC Committees. He is Member, Editorial Board of many national and international journals.

Professor Mallayan Palaniandavar started his academic career in Madurai Kamaraj University as Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry (1973-82) and then became Reader in Inorganic Chemistry (1982-86). In 1986 he moved to Bharathidasan University as Professor of Chemistry, and headed the Department of Chemistry during 1986-87 and then 2000-2008. He worked as Instructor Post Doc Fellow (1983-85) and then as Visiting Professor (1989) in Drexel University, USA. He was awarded Japan Science Promotion Society Long Term Visiting Professorship (1993-94, Chuo University, Tokyo), and DST-JSPS Invitation Fellowship (March 2003). He visited many Universities in Germany including University of Bochum (INSA-DFG, 2008; DAAD, 2010), University of Saarbrucken and University of Duisburg (INSA-DFG, 1996). He performed INSA-RS visit to University of Leeds, UK during 2001. He visited Grenoble National Laboratory, France twice (2010, 2013) on IFCPAR collaborative Research Project, and University of Leiden, The Netherlands (1985) as NATO project Fellow. He was Visiting Professor, Academica Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan during 2005.