IIT Delhi Alumni and their siblings endow Prof NK Jha Research Chair in Chemistry.
Ms Apoorva Jha Bansal, Dr Aparna Jha Ahuja, Mr Rajesh Jha (BTech Mechanical, 1982) and Mr Rakesh Jha (BTech Manufacturing, 1994) have endowed a Chair to support research and training in Chemistry in honour of their father Prof N.K. Jha.
Prof N.K. Jha was amongst the earliest members of the Chemistry department starting as a Lecturer in 1965 and retiring as Professor in 1997 and serving as Head of the Department and Chairman of Departmental Research Committee. Prof Jha is well-known for his work on the discovery of hitherto unknown noble gas compounds that he did for his PhD with Neil Bartlett at the University of British Columbia. At IITD he continued research in Inorganic Chemistry and supervised many post-doctoral fellows, over 20 PhD students, and numerous postgraduates. He also contributed significantly to the Institute community serving as President, Board for Student Welfare, Housemaster and Staff Welfare Scheme Secretary.
Teaching and pedagogy were important to Prof Jha and he was actively involved in guiding curriculum development, setting syllabus, contributing to textbooks through participating in numerous NCERT, UGC, and university committees and workshops.
The department of Chemistry at IIT Delhi is amongst the foremost Chemistry departments in the country. A key objective of the department is to create quality human resources at various levels. In addition to the PhD program, the Department offers two years programs leading towards MSc and MTech degrees. The two hundred odd researchers research all major areas of chemistry and allied sciences. The Department offers a vibrant atmosphere to students and faculty to nurture the spirit of scientific inquiry and to pursue cutting-edge research in a highly encouraging environment.
Apoorva Jha Bansal, a Chemistry graduate from Delhi University and an MBA from the University of Southern California has worked in a variety of domains including airlines, advertising, movies and finance. Aparna Jha Ahuja did her MBBS, MD from Delhi University and has held a variety of roles in clinical practice, research, and academia. She was the Worldwide Vice President, Medical Affairs at Becton Dickinson and is now the Chief Medical Officer at T2 BioSystems, USA. After completing his BTech from IITD, Rajesh Jha worked as Research Engineer at McMaster University, Canada. For over 30 years he has been involved in software development for the Canadian defence industry of which the last 10 years have been as Director of Engineering. Rakesh Jha (BTech Manufacturing, 1994, IITD) completed his MBA from IIM Lucknow and has since been with ICICI Bank, where he is currently the Group CFO.
