Director, Natl. Inst. of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. Played a key leadership role to help India achieve a pre-eminent position in fast breeder nuclear reactors with closed fuel cycles. His tenure as Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), provided exceptional leadership for India in clean, critical and strategic technology. His contributions as Pres. of Indian Natl.Acad of Engg. have been recognized by the engineering profession as being visionary and impactful. Deep and effective engagement in areas ranging from cultural heritage to medical technology to education. He has authored over 1100 research papers in peer reviewed journals and wrote over 70 books and special journal volumes. He has also the rare distinction of being a Fellow of all the four Science and Engineering Academies in the country. He has been the Pres. Indian National Acad. of Engineering, Intl.Coun

Datta was educated at the University of Kolkata, India (PhD, 1968, and DSc, 1974). He is Distinguished Professor, Natl. Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. His previous positions include: Vice chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; General President, Indian Science Congress (2003-2004); founder director and Professor of Eminence, NIPGR; and President, National Academy of Sciences (2009-2010). His honours include: SS Bhatnagar Prize; Guha Memorial Award; GD Birla; BR Ambedkar; RD Birla; Sir Amulya Rattan Oration Award; Om Bhasin; TWAS Award; Adhar Chandra Mookerjee Award, Goyal Prize in Life Sciences; Ranbaxy Award; Padma Shree; Padma Bhushan; Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini, G. M. Modi Science award, Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Gold Medal Award, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Medal Award, Bharat Vikas Award, Glory of India Award, Best Citizens of India and Bharat Jyoti Puraskar. His membership includes: INSA; Indian Academy of Sciences; National Science Academy, India; and New York Academy of Sciences.

Choudhary is an eminent bioorganic chemist and Director of the Intl. Center for Chem. and Biol. Scs.. He has 962 res. pubs. with an impact factor 1646, citations 9,447 and h index 38. His work bridges the gap between structures of new chem. constituents and their pharm. properties. He is distinguished for his pioneering work in discovering hundreds of new molecular entities and their role in the treatment of various diseases. He has discovered the most potent anti-epileptic and anti-leishmanial compounds, which completed phase-1 clinical trials. His research in the field of enzyme inhibition has led to advances at fundamental level, exploring the potential of enzyme inhibition based therapeutics. He established several research centres in Pakistan and helped to set up research units in Africa, South and Central Asia. He trained hundreds of foreign researchers, including women scholars.

Chopra (PhD, Edinburgh) is chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, India. He was educated at the University of Delhi and Indian Agricultural Research Institute where he began his research career in 1958. He has held key positions in the government of India including Dir. Gen., Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and Member, Planning Commission. He sat on the Boards of Trustees of IRRI, ICRISAT and CYMMIT, and was a member of the Science Council, CGIAR. He is a fellow of the Indian Natl. Science Acad.; Indian Acad. of Science; Natl. Acad. of Science India; Natl. Acad. of Agricultural Science and Eur. Acad. of Science, Arts and Humanities. His honours include: Padma Bhushan, India; Aryabhata Award, INSA; Biological Science Award, FICCI; and Borlaug Award. He served as president of the Natl. Acad. of Agricultural Science, and has received DSc (h.c.) from six universities.