BITS Pilani, which has campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai, and Mumbai, has appointed Professor V. Ramgopal Rao, formerly the director of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, as its new vice chancellor. The current vice chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani is Professor Souvik Bhattacharyya, who Rao will succeed on March 10th, 2023.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chancellor of BITS Pilani, extended a warm welcome to Professor Rao. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor V. Ramgopal Rao as the new vice chancellor of BITS Pilani, which has campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai, and Mumbai. Formerly the director of IIT Delhi from 2016 to 2021, Professor Rao has joined our faculty. He is currently a professor in the Electrical Engineering Department where he holds the Pillay Chair.
He went on to say that before becoming the Director of IIT Delhi in April 2016, Princeton Rao taught nanotechnology as the P K Kelkar Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay.
In a tweet, Rao said, “After 25 years of being a part of the #IIT system in various capacities both at IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, it’s time to move on and take up new responsibilities.” As of now, I am officially on board to serve as the Group Vice Chancellor for all BITS campuses (Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai, and Mumbai).
He also has honorary doctorates from three Indian universities and a degree from Germany. To name a few, he is a Member of the IEEE, TWAS, INAE, INSA, IASC, and NASI. More than 35 awards and honours from all over the world have been bestowed upon Rao for his work in the field of nanoelectronics and sensors. He has been awarded over 50 patents and has authored over 480 research articles. V. Ramgopal Rao is the head of a number of national committees responsible for guiding India’s educational, scientific, and creative initiatives.
