Dr. Rajesh Kumar has worked for more than 10 years in Europe and the USA (including NASA, JPL, and MIT, Cambridge) in the area of Biophotonics. He is a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar. He also holds Associate Faculty status in the Department of Physics at IIT Ropar and, a Visiting Faculty status at the University of Georgia, USA. He has led several cross-disciplinary R&D projects that sums over more than 500 lakhs (INR). He leads a cutting-edge research group in the area of “Biomedical-Photonics”, specializing in optical spectroscopy techniques such as Raman, NIR, and Fluorescence, alongwith advanced microscopy imaging techniques. His research focuses on combining light-based techniques (including spectroscopy and imaging) with AI and machine learning (ML) to address complex challenges in the biomedical and agricultural areas. Currently, he is a member of the National Scientific Panel Committee of FSSAI, Government of India and, associate fellow of HEA, UK. He serves as an external reviewer for various committees and research grant panels, and as a peer reviewer for multiple journals as well as academic theses at both national and international levels. He has also served as a Grand Jury Panel Member for the Intel-ISEF awards (Los Angeles), as a judge for the California State Science Fair Award as well as for the best poster/presentation awards at multiple conferences.
Academic/Scientific Positions
Current position:
• Assistant Professor, Former HoD, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, IIT Ropar, Punjab.
• Associate Faculty, Dept. of Physics, IIT Ropar, Punjab.
• Visiting Faculty: University of Georgia (UGA), USA
2015-2019 : Project Leader and Research Scientist
• NASA – Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, USA
• MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
2012-2015 : Research Fellow, Biophysics and Medical Technology, NTNU, Norway
2009-2012 : Marie-Curie Research Fellow (European-Union/FP7), United-Kingdom (UK)
Education
• Ph.D. in PHYSICS (Biophysics and Medical Technology), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.
• M.Sc. (5 years) in PHOTONICS, International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology. Thesis: South-Korea.
Other
• Management and Business Skills (certified course), University of Oxford, UK.
• Pedagogical Education (certified course), University of St. Andrews, UK.
• Cybersecurity and Sensitive Unclassified Information Training, NASA, USA.
Research Grants, Awards and Fellowships (selected list)
2021-2023: PI – MIT/MISTI Global Seed Fund Award, USA
2020-2025: PI – Dept. of Biotechnology (DBT), Gov. of India
2020-2023: PI- Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Gov. of India
2020-2022: PI – ISIRD Grant, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, India
2015-2019: PI of Project (No:46084300) – Health Authority of Central Norway
2017-2017: PI of Project (No:90191400) – Health Authority of Central Norway
2014: SPIE Award by International Society for Optics and Photonics, USA.
2012-2013: PI of Project-Internationalization of Medical Technology, Norway.
2012-2013: PI of Project-Medical Imaging (MedIm) Grant, NTNU, Norway.
2012-2015: Research Fellowship, NTNU, Norway.
2012 onwards: Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, UK.
2009-2012: Marie-Curie Research Fellowship (European-Union / FP7), UK.
2008-2009: Visiting Research Fellowship, SKKU, South-Korea.
2005-2009: KVPY – National Fellowship, DST, Gov. of India.
2008: National Level Award by Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Delhi.
2006: National Level Award by Indian Physics Association (IPA), Mumbai.
Contact
Dr. Rajesh Kumar
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Room: BM-27 (SAB, Block-B)
IIT Ropar (main campus)
Rupnagar, Punjab-140001, INDIA.
E-mail: rajeshkumar@iitrpr.ac.in; rajesh.kumar@uga.edu
Phone: 01881-232508
