MENTORS

Dr. Sandeep K. Jha is an Associate professor of biomedical engineering at IIT Delhi and his areas of interest include non-invasive clinical biosensors; capillary electrophoresis microchip devices for clinical, environmental and biopharmaceutical applications; microfluidic Lab-on-a-chips for PCR and on-chip cytometry; on-chip COD analysis; biosensors for pathogen detection, on-chip neurochemical analyzer.

Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharyya - He is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at IIT Delhi. He was awarded with the prestigious Duke University’s postdoctoral fellowship. His research interest involves the development of bio-inspired and bio-derived materials to meet unmet needs in treating and diagnosing diseases.

Dr. Nomesh Bolia - Dr. Nomesh Bolia is an IIT Bombay alumnus, co-founder, startup advisor, and an IIT Delhi professor with extensive experience in logistics and supply chain particularly in the FMCG sector. He is currently providing business development leads and assisting startups in the IoT space in identifying new opportunities and problem areas.

Dr. Sandeep K. Jha is an associate professor of biomedical engineering at IIT Delhi and his areas of interest include Non-invasive clinical biosensors; capillary electrophoresis microchip devices for clinical, environmental and biopharmaceutical applications; microfluidic Lab-on-a-chips for PCR and on-chip cytometry; on-chip COD analysis; biosensors for pathogen detection, on-chip neurochemical analyzer.

Dr. Chetan Arora - He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (IIT Delhi) and Joint Yardi school of AI and ANSK schools. He specialises in machine learning including trustworthy AI, computer-aided cancer detection using, Mobility and Egocentric Vision.

Dr. Subodh Kumar - Dr. Kumar is an IIT Delhi and North Carolina alumni with deep interests in three dimensional interactive computer graphics. He has been helping startups in the new areas of emerging technologies such as AR/VR/XR.

Dr. Amit Kumar Jain - Dr. Amit is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi. He received his PhD from prominent IISc. He maintains an interest in Power Electronics, specifically the control of grid-connected and stand-alone operation of wound rotor induction machines.

Abhisek Dixit- He is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi. He is an IIT Delhi Alumnus and a PhD from Ghent University, Belgium. He is leading research activities at IIT Delhi in the area of optical communications and networking. He has been involved in a large number of Indian projects and has also completed several consulting projects in the field of railway signalling.

Dr. Jitendra P. Khatait is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He has deep interests in precision machine design, Flexures, Air bearings, Design of medical devices and manipulators, Medical Robotics, Flexible instruments to name a few. He is currently helping the industries by providing design solutions to improve their existing machines and minimise their downtime.

Dr. Manan Suri is a co-founder and an associate professor at IIT Delhi with several accolades including being listed on two MIT Technology Review Innovator lists. He is also one of the world's top 35 Innovators, and top 10 Indian innovators, under the age of 35 by MIT. His primary area of interest lies in - Semiconductor Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Technology & Unconventional Computing Hardware (Neuromorphic, AI, Compute, Security).

Dr Tapan K Gandhi is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, at IIT Delhi and as adjunct faculty in the school of AI and data science, at IIT Jodhpur. He is also a research affiliate at MIT, USA. He received his Ph.D. fellowship from (MIT, USA) and obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from IIT Delhi. His research expertise spans from Computational Neuroscience, Brain imaging, Assistive Technology, Bio-medical Instrumentation, machine learning, and Cognitive Computing to Artificial intelligence.

Dr. Sandeep K. Jha is an associate professor of biomedical engineering at IIT Delhi and his areas of interest include Non-invasive clinical biosensors; capillary electrophoresis microchip devices for clinical, environmental and biopharmaceutical applications; microfluidic Lab-on-a-chips for PCR and on-chip cytometry; on-chip COD analysis; biosensors for pathogen detection, on-chip neurochemical analyzer.

Dr. Jitendra P. Khatait is currently working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. His area of specialization includes precision mechanisms, machines, products and devices. He is currently helping industries by providing design solutions to improve their existing machines and minimize their downtime.

Dr. Ashok Patel - KSBS - Ashok Kumar Patel, PhD, is an applied biologist with a diverse portfolio of research united by an interest in understanding how research outcomes impact public well-being. Much of his work focuses on aspects of Virology Screening of phytochemicals for antiviral activity was his main research focus. He has a keen interest in chromatin remodelling projects along with cancer biology.

Dr. V.M Chariar's current work combines the principles of sustainable design with the traditional knowledge available to indigenous communities. He has worked with the Ministry of Rural Development to launch the Rural Housing Knowledge Network. In the field of Ecological Sanitation, he is one of the co-inventors of Zerodor, a waterless urinal solution being used by more than 500 organisations in India and Africa.

Akhil Garg is an Asst. Prof. at centre for automotive research and tribology, IIT Delhi. His area of expertise lies in the field of Intelligent optimization, reusability of battery packs, and thermal management of batteries

Dr. Vipin Kumar - Dr. Vipin Kumar is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He received his doctorate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore in 2016. His interests lie in electrochemical energy storage through high-energy rechargeable batteries (e.g., Sodium-Sulphur), and flexible and stretchable energy harvesting devices based on layered materials.

Prof. Bijaya Ketan Panigrahi - Prof. Panigrahi is a Prof. in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi since 2005. He completed his PhD at Sambalpur University in the year 2000. He specialises in the areas of Power Quality, Power Quality, FACTS Devices, Power System Protection, AI Applications to Power Systems, and Power Quality Analysis of Distribution Systems using advanced DSP techniques and Artificial Intelligence techniques.

Prof. Bijay Tripathi - Dr. Tripathi is an Alumnus of DDU Gorakhpur and CSIR, CSMCRI. He has been awarded several prestigious awards such as DAAD, Humboldt fellowship, and Marie-Curie fellowship to name a few. Dr. Tripathi’s area of specialisation includes redox polymers for aqueous redox flow batteries, materials for energy storage and heat management.

Dr. Sukumar Mishra is an alumnus of National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and is presently a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Prof. Mishra has won many accolades such as Young Scientist award (1999) by Orissa Bigyan Academy, INSA medal for young scientist (2002), INAE young engineer award (2002), INAE silver jubilee young engineer award (2012), The Samanta Chandra Shekhar award (2016), Bimal Bose award (2019) and NASI-Reliance Platinum Jubilee award (2019), National Mission Innovation Championship award (2019) and INAE Outstanding Teachers award (2021). Prof. Mishra is currently acting as ABB Chair professor and has previously delegated as the NTPC, INAE and Power Grid Chair professor. He has also served as an Independent Director of the Cross Border Power Transmission Company Ltd. and the River Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Prof. Mishra has also carried out many important industrial consultations with TATA Power, Microtek and others. The company specifically deals in products related to renewable energy sources utilizable at household scale as well as at commercial setups for example bidirectional electric vehicle supply equipment, AC based EV charger, DC based EV charger, grid connected solar inverters, smart DC home management systems, online UPS etc. Prof. Mishra’s research expertise lies in the field of Power Systems, Power Quality Studies, Renewable Energy and Smart Grid.

An IIT Kanpur, IIM Bangalore and Wharton alumnus, Mr. Alok Agrawal has led large corporations, startups, mergers, acquisitions and many successful brand launches. Alok works as an Innovation and Business Consultant, enabling companies to unlock untapped value and grow exponentially. He has helped a number of corporations and startups innovate their business and has conducted numerous Innovation challenges and hackathons. As a media professional, Alok has earlier worked as Group COO at Network 18 and CEO at Zee Media.

Mr. Pradeep Gupta is the Chairman of the CyberMedia Group, the specialty media house with brands like Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, DARE, CIOL, Global Services, etc. He is the co-founder of Indian Angel Network, Asia’s largest angel network. He was the GP of India’s first angel fund, Infinity Ventures and has been the President of PanIIT India and the Association of Indian Magazines. He has been on the Boards of IIT Mandi, Indian Newspaper Society, IIT Delhi incubator, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Lemon Tree Hotels, etc.

Mr. Alok Mittal is the co-founder and CEO of Indifi, India’s leading full-stack platform for enabling debt financing for small businesses. Alok is also an active angel investor, co-founder of Indian Angel Network, and on the board of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Delhi. Before starting Indifi, Alok setup and ran Canaan Partners’ venture investment business. Earlier, Alok co-founded JobsAhead.com, a leading web-based recruitment business in India. Alok earned a BE in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and a MS in computer science from UC Berkeley.

Mr. Ajay Muttreje is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad. He is a Strategy Advisor & Mentor for MSME’s and Start-ups, since his retirement as CEO & Board Member of Tecnova, where he helped more than 1,000 multi-national and Indian companies achieve transformational growth and long-term success in India. He was a former Industry Advisor to the Royal Government of Bhutan (1985-87). Over the past years, he has been supporting many Indian Government bodies, Incubators, Accelerators, Innovation Centres, Angel Investors, Venture Capital Funds, Educational Institutions, and start-ups (including social impact enterprises) as their Strategic Advisor, Mentor, Jury, Investment Expert, Think -Tank.

Mr. Pankaj Thakar is a tech evangelist, chief mentor, technical advisor and founder of Padup venttures with specialization in Digital Media Strategies, Digital Marketing, Online Consumer Behavior and Big Data Applications & Analytics. He has been mentoring 200 startups through his structured mentor driven coaching program. He is an alumni of Harvard Business School & MIT.

Pankaj Thakar is a Serial Entrepreneur and has 35 years of Corporate and Start-up Experience. Pankaj has worked with many reputed companies like HCL, India Telecom Ltd, Atlas Telecom Ltd to name a few. He has created Global Start-ups like Consilnet Inc.which is based out of Silicon Valley USA.

Founder & CEO, Lead Angels - Sushanto Mitra is an entrepreneur who has been associated with the early-stage ecosystem in India for more than 15 years. He has prior experience in consulting and financial services. Sushanto has taken the network to over 130+ members/investors across the globe. Lead Angels, today, has gone beyond Angel Investing. A TIE Chartered member, he is also a part of the advisory committee at premier incubators in India as well undertaken multiple training programs for Government & Private organizations such as IIT Bombay, DST, ISRO, and CSIR.

With over 20 years of clinical experience in Critical Care Medicine and healthcare operations, Dr. Pinak Ashok Shrikhande leads the Investment Team at HealthQuad, a leading Indian healthcare-focused fund, in deal sourcing, clinical evaluation, market understanding, due diligence, and investor relations. He is Ex- the Director of Critical Care Medicine Fortis Hospitals, New Delhi.

Mr. Aishwarya Kachhal is an HBS alumnus and has a track record of building large businesses in Technology, Clean Energy, shared infrastructure & financial services. His expertise lies in scaling businesses, building entrepreneurial teams, and disruptive business models.

Mr. Kapil Kaul is an investor and a startup advisor with more than a decade of leadership experience in vetting scalable and investable startups and SME opportunities.

He also served as an Executive Director on the board of Duke Equity (a US-India Based PE firm) from 2006 till 2012, where he was instrumental in executing Global Acquisitions, Strategic Partnerships and JV's for Portfolio companies.

He has served as a Vice President of IndusInd Bank and has set up a completely new vertical for SME Advisory under Business Banking.

Mr. Yogesh Andlay is an entrepreneur and is one of the promoters of Nucleus Software. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and has also served as a president of IIT Delhi Alumni Association from 2006 to 2007. Yogesh has been mentoring several IT startups and is a keen participant in several community activities.

Dr. Atul Sardana is a surgeon by profession and a technological enthusiast who has been applying technology to conventional surgical principal which benefits patients. Dr. Atul has over 30 national and international clinical publications and presentations and is a honorary member of the World Association of laparoscopic Surgeons, and a member of the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.

M. Balakrishnan is an IIT Delhi professor at Department of Computer Science & Engineering. He is an alumnus of BITS Pilan, from where he did his graduation and PhD degree. He worked as a Scientist in CARE, IIT Delhi, where he was involved in designing and implementing real-time DSP systems. For the last 32 years, he is involved in teaching and research in the areas of digital systems design, electronic design automation and embedded systems. He is a three time recipient of the National awards, ACM Eugene L Lawler award and very recently IIT Delhi's Life Time award for his work in the disability space.

Dr. Ankesh Jain is an Assistant professor at IIT Delhi working in the area of analog and mixed signal circuit design. Dr. Jain’s area of expertise lies in the domain of PLL design, analog & mixed signal design & verification.An IIT Madras alumni, Dr. Jain has experience with analog and digital design flow, oversampled ADC Design, low power and high frequency circuit design.