Kumar has a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, and a PhD from Cornell University, both in Electrical Engineering. He was with Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, N.J., USA, for over 6 years. Since 1988 he has been with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, where he is a Professor, and also the Chair of the Electrical Sciences Division. From 1988 to 2003 he was the Coordinator at IISc of the Education and Research Network Project (ERNET), India's first wide-area packet switching network. He has been elected Fellow of the IEEE (the Insitution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He received the IISc Alumni Award for Excellence in Engineering Research for 2008.

Tata obtained his BSc (hons.) from U. of Bombay, MSc at Indian Inst. of Science (IISc) Bangalore, and docteur ès-sciences at U. of Paris Sorbonne. He is snr. scientist emeritus at the Medical Research Council, UK; previously trustee, Oxford Intl. Biomedical Centre; sci. adviser Avesthagen, India; chairman, Royal Soc. Research Grants and Intl. Awards Schemes. Previously, he was: vis. prof. in biochemistry, King's College, London; vis. prof., UC Berkeley; Fogarty scholar, NIH, Bethesda; and head, Lab. Dev. Biochemistry, National Inst. of Medical Research, London. His awards include: Van Meter Prize; Colworth Medal; Medal, Soc. of Endrocrinology; Jubilee Medal, Indian Inst. of Science; Doctor h.c., Ecole Normale Superieure, France. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, London, Indian Natl. Science Acad. and Natl. Acad. of Science India, and Member, European Molecular Biology Organisation.

Gupta (PhD 1969, Agra U.), after serving as Director for over 10 years and DBT Distinguished Research Professor for 7 years at Central Drug Res. Inst., Lucknow, is now working as Dist. Prof., Inst. Bioinform. and Applied Biotech., Bangalore. He was previously: Postdoctoral fellow, Syntex Res. Centre; Res.Ass. and Vis. Scientist, MIT; Scientist, CDRI; and Director, Inst. of Microbial Tech., Chandigarh. His awards include: INSA Young Scientist Medal in Chem.; SS Bhatnagar Prize; Ranbaxy Rese. Foundation Award; Dr. Nitya Anand Endowment Lecture Award, INSA; FICCI Award in Life Sciences; Goyal Prize in Applied Sciences; and Om Prakash Bhasin Award in Biotech. and Biological Sciences. His membership includes: INSA; Indian Acad. of Sciences; NAS, India; and National Acad. of Medical Sciences, India. He has published 145 research papers in peer reviewed journals and filed 6 patents.

Narinder Mehra is Vice President (international affairs) of the Indian National Science Academy, Hon Emeritus Scientist of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Former Dean and Founder Head Dept. of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Vastly experienced in Science policy, he is founder Secretary General of Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia Oceania; councillor, International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) and of International Histocompatibility association. Major honors include India’s highest S.S. Bhatnagar award, Ranbaxy Science foundation award, Chevalier of the National Order of Merit (France), Iran's highest Khwarizmi international award, B.R. Ambedkar award for excellence in Research (ICMR), Member Honoris Causa of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hon Foreign Associate, Academy of Science in South Africa (ASSAf), Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS), Fellow International Science Council (FISC), Indian Academy of Sciences (FNASc), Indian National Science Academy (FNA) and National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS). He holds Hon Fellowship of Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) of UK.

Tuteja (PhD 1982, DSc 2008, U. of Lucknow, India) is Prof. and dir., Amity Inst. of Microbial Tech., Amity U. (India). He has made significant contributions in crop improvement under adverse conditions using genetical and microbial approach, developing marker-free transgenic crops with stress tolerance. He was group leader and sen. scientist, Intl. Centre for Genetic Engg. and Biotech. (ICGEB), New Delhi, India; postdoc fellow, UCLA and NIH, USA. He is a fellow of FNASc., FNA, FASc., FNESA and FNAAS. His honours include: Genomic Pioneer Award; Best Scientist Award, Natl. Envl. Science Acad.; Vigyan Gaurav Samman Award, Council of Science and Tech. UP; and the Goyal Prize Award, Kurukshetra U.. He is editorial board member of Arch. Biochem. Biophys, Plant Physiol. Biochem., Plant Signaling and Behavior and The Open Plant Science J.. He has published +300 papers and edited 9 books.

Sharma was educated at the Universities of Rajputana (Jodhpur), Mumbai, and Cambridge. He obtained his BSc in chemical engineering (1958), MSc (tech.) by research (1960) and PhD (Cantab) in 1964. He is honorary Kothary research professor, JNCAR, and professor of eminence, Inst, of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. He was previously: professor (1964-97) and director (1989-97), Dept. of Chemical Technology, Univ. of Mumbai. His awards include: Om Prakash Bhasin; Padma Vibushan; FICCI Award in Science and Technology; JC Bose Memorial Lecture, Royal Society, London; Shatabdi Puraskar, Indian Science Congress. He is a fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences; INSA; Maharashtra Academy of Science; Royal Society, London; and hon. fellow, Natl. Academy of Sciences; foreign assoc., US Natl. Academy of Engineering; intl. fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering.

Agrawal is Professor in Computer Science department at IIT Kanpur. He obtained his PhD in 1991 from the same department, spent a few years in Chennai Mathematical Institute before joining IIT Kanpur in 1996. His awards include Clay Prize, Godel Prize, Fulkerson Prize, Bhatnagar Prize, TWAS Prize, ICTP Prize, Infosys Prize, and Humboldt Award. He is a member of all three science academies and engineering academy in India as well as Foreign Associate of US National Academy of Sciences.

Khan (PhD 1980, Indian Agric. Res. Inst.) is principal scientist and leader of the widely-reputed push-pull programme at the Intl. Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya. He is Thomas Odhiambo Dist. Res. Fellow of icipe. He is a fellow of the African Acad. of Sciences, the Entomological Soc. of America and the Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Soc., UK. He is an adjunct prof. of entomology at Cornell U., USA, and extraordinary prof. at the North-West U. in South Africa. Khan is a council member of the Intl. Congress of Entomology. In 2010 he received the Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology and the ESA Distinguished Scientist Award, and in 2011, the TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sciences and in 2015 Louis Malassis International Prize for Outstanding Career in Agriculture for his contribution in the field of agriculture and food

Sinha was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata, and the U. of Delhi. He obtained his PhD at the U. of Rochester. He is a SERB-Distinguished Fellow and Honorary Professor, JNCASR; Distinguished Associate, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His previous positions include: Bhatnagar fellow,CSIR; distinguished scientist and Director, Indian Statistical Institute; visiting professorships at the Universities of Texas at Austin, Tennessee at Knoxville, Geneva, Switzerland, and RIMS, Kyoto. His honours include: CV Raman Medal; Ulam chair professor, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder; SS Bhatnagar Prize; Ganesh Prasad Memorial Award, Indian Mathematical Society; and PC Mahalanobis Medal, Indian Science Congress. He is a fellow of the Indian Natl. Science Academy and Indian Academy of Sciences, and life member of the Indian Mathematical Society and Intl. Assoc. of Mathematical Physicists.