Delhi/Bhubaneswar:Noted scientist and academician Prof Janardan Nanda passed away at Delhi on Tuesday. He was 80.
Nanda, the former Professor of Department of Electrical Engineering and Dean at IIT, Delhi, was ailing for sometime. The end came at about 4.30 pm today at his Delhi residence.
A former vice president of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Prof Nanda was an authority in electrical engineering and power solutions. He was also advisor to Ministry of Power who engaged in R&D and worked tirelessly for improvement of technical education in India. He was also a PC Mahalanobis awardee.
Conferred Odisha Bigyan Academy’s prestigious Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence in 2011, he was involved in INSPIRE and MENTORING Schemes of Department of Science and Technology, INSA and Indian National Engineering Academy.
Prof Nanda also was a member of National Board of Accreditation and Chairman of Engineering Accreditation Committee for all under UG and PG programmes across the country, including National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
Besides, Prof Nanda was on the governing boards of prestigious institutes including IIT, Delhi, Roorkee University, Netaji Subash Bose Institute, Delhi, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, and Central Power Research Institute, Bengaluru.
With over 300 research publications to his credit, Prof Nanda had supervised over 24 doctoral level and 150 master’s level students. He also was a visiting professor in US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mauritius, Tripoli, Algeria and Papua New Guinea. He assisted several collaborative research works and establishment of laboratory set-ups.
He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. The final rites will be conducted at Delhi.
Prof Nanda was the middle son of Rayabahadur Madhab Chandra Nanda and younger brother of Dr Narayan Chandra Nanda, Odisha’s first plastic surgeon. He was the only son-in-law of acclaimed dramatist Pranabandhu Kar.