IIT-Kanpur professor Ajit Chaturvedi appointed new BHU vice chancellor

Professor Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi has been appointed as the next vice chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the Ministry of Education confirmed on July 31.

Currently a faculty member in the electrical engineering department at IIT-Kanpur, Chaturvedi will serve a three-year term or until he turns 70, whichever is earlier.

A specialist in wireless communication technologies, Chaturvedi holds all his degrees, BTech, MTech, and PhD, in electrical engineering from IIT-Kanpur.

His research contributions include work on waveform shaping, sequence design, and MIMO systems. His academic career began at the Institute of Technology-BHU, now IIT-BHU, where he taught from 1994 to 1996 before moving to IIT-Roorkee.

In 1999, he joined IIT-Kanpur and has since held key academic and administrative roles.

Over the years, he has served as head of the electrical engineering department, dean of research and development, and deputy director at IIT-Kanpur. He was also given temporary charge as director of IIT-Mandi until early 2022.

As coordinator of the BSNL-IITK Telecom Centre of Excellence, he led projects supporting India’s telecom sector and was part of a Department of Telecom committee in 2008 that framed guidelines for spectrum distribution to operators.

Among his recognitions are the INSA Teacher Award (2017), the Distinguished Teacher Award from IIT-Kanpur (2007), and the Tan Chin Tuan Fellowship at NTU Singapore. He also guided the winning team of the 2002 IEEE Computer Society global design competition.

Chaturvedi becomes BHU’s 29th vice chancellor, succeeding Professor Sudhir Kumar Jain, whose term ended on Jan 6.

His appointment follows the nomination of eight new members to BHU’s executive council after a nearly five-year gap. The council will now function with a full term of three years.

The leadership change comes at a time when the university has faced multiple challenges, including protests over admission procedures, disturbances in the SSL hospital and trauma center, and incidents that raised questions about faculty safety on campus.

In addition to managing ongoing unrest, the university is also awaiting the appointment of a new chancellor. The post has remained vacant since the death of Justice Giridhar Malviya on Nov 18, 2024.