Dr. G. Sundararajan obtained his B.Tech (Metallurgy) from IIT, Madras in 1976 and M.S. and Ph.D from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA in 1979 and 1981 respectively. He returned to India in September 1982 and joined Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) as a Scientist. He was at DMRL till 1997 and then was appointed as Director of the International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI) from September 1997. CKMNT, which is a project of ARCI, is his brainchild. Under his leadership, the institute has made rapid strides to be widely recognized as a center of excellence for materials science & engineering including nanomaterials within a very short span. Dr. Sundararajan is a recipient of several prestigious awards in recognition of his significant contributions in the areas of Tribology and Surface Engineering and has published more than 150 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Dr. Shrikant Joshi obtained his B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University in India (1982) and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1984) and the University of Idaho (1987) respectively. He has been at ARCI for nearly a decade and is currently an Associate Director. His research interests in Surface Engineering include experimental and theoretical studies involving varied coating technologies, while his research activities in the field of laser materials processing have dealt with diverse manufacturing operations like drilling, cutting, welding, heat treatment and alloying/cladding. Apart from his above personal research interests, as Associate Director he also supervises programmes at ARCI's Centre for Nanomaterials and Centre for Non-Oxide Ceramics. His previous assignments have included a decade-long stint at Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, India where he led the High Temperature Coatings Group and subsequently as Head of the Centre for Laser Processing of Materials (CLPM). More recently, he has also been the founder Dean of the recently established School of Engineering Sciences & Technology at the University of Hyderabad, while on deputation from ARCI.

Mr. H. Purushotham obtained B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from Andhra University Visakhapatnam, in 1982, M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in 1984 and M.B.A. from IGNOU in 1998. He has acquired more than 25 years of diverse experience in R&D, technology marketing, techno economic feasibility analysis, technology transfer & commercialization, project appraisal, project finance and business development by working at Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat, Cement Research Institute, New Delhi, Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation, Port Blair, ARCI, Hyderabad, Technology Development Board of DST, National Institute for Smart Government/Department of Information Technology, New Delhi. He is a recipient of "Meritorious Young Consultant Award 1991" Instituted by Consultancy Development Centre, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. He has published and presented 70 research papers in various journals and conferences and filed four patents.

Dr. Y. R. Mahajan obtained his M.Tech. in 1971 and Ph.D. (Metallurgical Eng.) in 1978 from IIT, Kanpur and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York, respectively. He carried out his post doctoral research in the areas of titanium base alloys, powder metallurgy and high temperature dispersion strengthened aluminum base alloys at the Air Force Materials Laboratory, WPAFB, Ohio for four years. He has worked in various capacities, namely, scientist/Associate Director at the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, ARC International, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad. He made major contributions in the areas of MMCs, advanced ceramics and CMCs. Under his leadership, a number of ceramic based technologies were developed and transferred to industry. He was the editor-in-chief of Advanced Composite Newsletter, Nonferrous Materials Newsletter, and also corresponding editor of IUMRS Facets. He has published more than 130 technical papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings and holds 13 patents (including 2 US). He is a recipient of NRC Associateship of National Academy of Sciences, USA, the Best Metallurgist of the year award (IIM), MRSI Medal, MRSI-IISC superconductivity award, VASVIK Medal. He is a professional member of ASM International, TMS, MRS-USA, SPIE-USA, Institute of Materials-UK, American Ceramic Society, MRSI and IIM.