Dr.R.A.Mashelkar is presently the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the largest chain of industrial research and development institutions in the world, with thirty-nine laboratories and about 23,000 employees.

  An outstanding chemical engineering scientist, his pioneering research in polymer science and engineering has won him many laurels. He is only the third Indian engineer to have been elected the Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), London in the twentieth century. He has over 235 research publications to his credit, through which he has made path-breaking contributions in non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, gel science and polymer reaction engineering.

  Dr.Mashelkar was the Director of National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune during 1989-95. His dream of converting NCL into an International Chemical Laboratory, which will export its knowledge to the developed world, is a reality today with NCL’s processes, products and services being sought by some of the leading multinational companies. As the Director General of CSIR, Dr. Mashelkar enunciated “CSIR 2001: Vision and Strategy”. This was a bold attempt to draw out a corporate like R&D and business plan for a publicly funded R&D institution. This initiative has transformed CSIR into a user focused, performance driven and accountable organization, which converts its knowledge into wealth and social good through a process of innovation.

  Dr.Mashelkar has been propagating a culture of innovation and strong intellectual property rights regime for over a decade. He spearheaded the successful challenge to the US patent on the use of turmeric for wound healing. This landmark case has set new paradigms in the protection of India’s traditional knowledge base.

  Dr.Mashelkar has won many laurels some of which are very unusual for a scientist. In 1997 Business India named him as being among the 50 path-breakers in the post-Independent India, along with Manmohan Singh, Dhirubhai Ambani and Amartya Sen. In 1998, Dr.Mashelkar won the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award, the first scientist to win it; his predecessors being Aditya Birla, H.D. Parekh and Narayanamurthy. In June 1999, Business India did a cover story on Dr. Mashelkar as “CEO of CSIR Inc.”. Dr. Mashelkar has also won numerous honours and awards nationally and internationally. Some of these include the S.S. Bhatnagar Prize (1982), FICCI Award (1987), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Technology Award (1991), G.D.Birla Scientific Research Award (1993), Goyal Prize (1996), material Scientist of Year award(2000), H.K. Firodia Award (2000), IMC Juran Quality Medal(2002),HRD Excellence Award (2002), Lal Bahadur Shastri National award for Excellence in Public Administration and Management Sciences(2002), World Federation of Engineering Organisations(WFEO) Medal of Engineering Excellence (2003) by WFEO, Paris, Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) bt Indian Science Congress etc,. His academic distinctions include the Fellowship of Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Academy of Engineering. He was elected the Fellow of Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste (1994), Foreign Member of Royal Academy of Engineering, UK (1996). Thirteen universities have bestowed upon him honorary Doctorate of Science (honoris causa), These include Universities of London, Salford, Pretoria, Wisconsin and Delhi.