Prof Suddhasatwa Basu, in his tenure as Director, contributed significantly in revitalizing the CSIR-Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology’s (IMMT) administrative activities, R&D projects execution, Human Resources Development, Facility Creation and several others.
Since then, the Research Development and Planning Division has been bifurcated into Strategic Planning and Business Development (SPBD) to oversee R&D planning, Business Development and Incubation Centre, while Project Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) facilitates execution of the projects. Prof S. Basu has laid the foundation for IMMT’s incubation centre – Innovative Technology Enabling Centre (InTEC) with a major focus on incubating start-ups in minerals & materials. In addition, he established DSIR funded IMMT-Common Research and Technology Development Hub (CRTDH) in the area of New Materials, Chemical Processes to help MSMEs.
He leads the way for pan-CSIR Advanced Materials Mission projects where the emphasis is on developing new materials and undertaking the associated research to deliver devices/prototypes/products for cutting edge applications in the area of advanced opto-electronic materials, meta materials, bio-implants and composite materials, through cohesive multidisciplinary R&D efforts of the scientists of CSIR labs. During his tenure as the Director of IMMT, external cash flow has doubled, and the institute earned 40-45% of its annual budget provided by CSIR HQ. Apart from this, with the directive of the planning think tank NITI Aayog, two research groups at IMMT started extracting Lithium, and Rare Earth Elements from the primary (minerals resources) and secondary resources spent LIB and magnet to boost the e-mobility industry in India.
The Central Characterization Department (CCD) was upgraded from a Unit to a Department with dedicated Scientists, which hosts a series of complex and state-of-the-art analytical instruments that include mineral and material Characterization, optical and electron microscopy, ore and coal petrography, and all types of spectroscopic studies, nanostructured material characterization etc.
Prof S. Basu has created the Human Resources Department. During his tenure, 25 Scientists/engineers were recruited in the last two years. With help from RAB, regular assessment/promotion of the Scientists have been made up to date. All recruitment, training and skill development workshops dissertation of external students are taken up at IMMT.
During the tenure of Prof S. Basu, the critical infrastructural development works taken up include the up-gradation of S.S. Bhatnagar Hall, creation of the Pathani Samanta e-learning centre and Bose-Einstein International Residence as transit accommodation for the Scientists and International Scholars, CRTDH building and renovation of IMMT Guest House. InTEC building, the IMMT incubation centre is being constructed.
Recently, farm-based S&T intervention for socio-economic development in the aspiring districts of Nabarangpur, Odisha, an RKVY project, coordinated by IMMT and participated by 12 CSIR, ICMR, ICAR Institutes, received the Skoch Silver award for Governance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, IMMT developed and licensed hospital assistive devices and personnel protective equipment.
Professor Basu is an accomplished researcher in the area of materials for energy storage and devices, listed among the top 2% influential scientists by Stanford University in 2021 and is a fellow of INAE and NASI, published more than 200 journal articles with H-index 40, supervised more than 20 PhD students and 15 post-doctoral fellows, delivered more than 50 keynote/invited lectures.
Apart from being an erudite academician, Prof Basu showed organizational skills of rare calibre when he successfully hosted the Indian Chemical Engineering Congress (CHEMCON-2021) and the 74th Annual Session of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) kickstarts at CSIR- Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar in December 2021. CHEMCOM 2021 was virtually inaugurated by Chief Guest Mr Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble CM of Odisha, with Guest of Honour, Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Director General CSIR and the guests, dignitaries and participants.
All these roles of responsibility in administration, human resource development experiences, R&D work in new areas, the establishment of incubation centre, planning and execution of infrastructure development and overall leadership qualities make Prof S. Basu one of the most suitable candidates for the IT award
