Prof R Kumar Fund

About

The Chemical Engineering Department is celebrating 75 years of its founding this year. It is a matter of immense pride that our department established early on a culture of quality research and enabling atmosphere for everyone, students in particular. The years spent at the institute by students leave a mark on their professional capabilities, something widely appreciated and sought after in the community.

Prof. R. Kumar, a distinguished chemical engineer and recipient of the Padma Bhushan, passed away in February 2022. His outstanding contributions and visionary leadership have shaped the Department of Chemical Engineering in innumerable ways and brought it the stature that it enjoys today. The Department is keen to carry his legacy forward.

Professor Kumar envisioned internationalization as an imperative progression for the Department’s advancement, aligned with the contemporary paradigm of breakthrough research, characterized by collaborative exploration through the amalgamation of diverse and distinguished expertise. To capitalize on the forthcoming opportunities, the department must embrace internationalization and cultivate agility, enabling it to adept to the dynamic changes in the profession.

Total funds raised for this project, including both online and offline donations, stands at 70.27 lakhs INR as of August 2025.

Objectives

Creation of Prof R Kumar Fund (RKF) to receive funds to support the department’s current and futuristic aspirations in teaching and research.

The fund will support Prof. R Kumar Travel Award to enable department students to initiate collaborative research efforts by way of visiting other labs. The fund can also meet shortfall in the travel support available at the institute to present research findings.

The fund will support Prof. R Kumar Visiting Fellowship as per the Institute rules to host distinguished researchers for 1-2 weeks for prolonged interaction with students and faculty. The visit may also lead to the delivery of lectures, short course modules, etc.

The fund will establish Prof. R Kumar Award for the Most Innovative Modelling Work in the country by a student-faculty team (Award money Rs.1 Lakh) in a Chemical Engineering Department/Lab.

The Fund will support short-duration courses and workshops, delivered by professionals and/or alumni to augment students skills for research/academics.

The fund, on the suggestion of its advisory board, may support new activities to promote student learning and collaborative research with other institutions. The advisory board approves a change in the division of the incoming funds in later years into the corpus and the project mode of utilisation.

The Department expects these initiatives to open new vistas for international engagement and collaborations, catalysing the growth of the Department to new heights. The department invites contributions from alumni, faculty, friends, well-wishers, industry, and organisations.

Donors

We thank our donors for their generous contributions. Donor lists will be updated quarterly.

Interested in setting up your own named endowments? Please contact us at donation.odaa@iisc.ac.in to learn more. Our team will be happy to assist you in exploring the options that best fit your goals.