a national level technology development initiative of MHRD, Government of India); the Chairman of the Research Council of CSIR-AMPRI, Bhopal; Member of the Research Councils of GAIL India, BHEL, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Society of IIM Indore, Board of Governors of IIM Lucknow, IISER Pune and IISER Kolkata; Governing Body of Indo US Science and Technology Forum (IUSS&TF), Executive Council of AICTE, and a Member, Administrative Council, Dr. Abdul Kalam Tech. University, Uttar Pradesh. Presently he continues to serve as the Member, Board of Governors, IIEST, Shibpur and a Member of the Academic Council, KIIT Bhubaneswar.

Academic and Research Achievements:
Before taking up administrative responsibility, Professor Manna taught subjects related to physical metallurgy, phase transformations, material characterization and surface engineering at IIT Kharagpur for 25 years (1985-2010). During this period, he also visited as a guest scientist different renowned Institutions/Universities abroad like Max Planck Institute at Stuttgart, Technical University of Clausthal, Unipress in Warsaw (Poland), Liverpool University, Nanyang Technological University and University of Ulm with teaching or research assignments. Professor Manna has been a renowned and prolific researcher with wide ranging research interests concerning microstructure-property correlation in nanometric and amorphous solids, laser/plasma assisted surface engineered components, bainitic and ODS steel and nano-fluid. His significant contribution in the study of amorphous/nanocrystalline Al-alloys, nano-fluid and laser/plasma assisted surface engineering received serious attention from the scientific community and is highly lauded. His early contributions in moving boundary phase transformation are still widely cited. Prof Manna has over 250 journal publications and supervised over 20 PhD theses. During his initial stint at IIT Kharagpur, he is credited to have developed various research facilities and laboratories in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department covering FEG-SEM, PLD, PIII, SOFC, electron beam welding, mechanical alloying, wear/erosion testing, vacuum sealing, etc. He continued to regularly teach at IIT Kanpur despite his administrative commitments and introduced a new course on surface engineering.

Awards and Honours:
Professor Manna is a recipient of several awards and honours including MRSI Distinguished Lecture prize 2017 at the MRSI-AGM held at IIT Bombay on 15.02.2017, Fellowship of the ‘The World Academy of Sciences’ (2016), Gopal Tripathy Memorial Lecture Award (Banaras Hindu University, Chemical Engineering) in 2015, TWAS Prize in Engineering Sciences (2013). He has been conferred with Honorary Doctor of Science Degrees by the University of Kalyani (September 2017) and Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol, West Bengal (January 2017). He received Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Kharagpur in 2016 and from IIEST, Shibpur in 2015. He has been a JC Bose Fellowship of DST since 2012. He is Fellow of all National Academies in India: INAE-FNAE (2005), NASI-FNASc (2005), IASc-FASc (2008), INSA-FNA (2010). Professor Manna has been the INAE Visvesvarya Chair Professor (2009-2011) and INAE-AICTE Distinguished Industry Chair Professor (2007-2009). He is recipient of Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2001-2002 and DAAD Fellowship (1988-1990), Germany (for independent research). He is a former President of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) and the current Vice President of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE). He is also a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and a Member of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials (APAM).