Former IIT Delhi director appointed as new VC of BITS Pilani

The current Vice Chancellor, Professor Souvik Bhattacharyya will be leaving on March 10. Professor Rao will be the vice chancellor of campuses located in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai and Mumbai.

The news was shared by Professor Rao in a social media post, along with a letter by the chancellor, Kumar Mangalam Birla. He will be based at the Pilani campus in Rajasthan.

After 25 years of being a part of the #IIT system in various capacities both at @iitbombay and @iitdelhi, it’s time to move on and take up new responsibilities. I will be joining as the Group Vice Chancellor for the #BITS institutions in Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai and Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/zWOcluae1K

— V. Ramgopal Rao, Ph.D. (@ramgopal_rao) February 23, 2023

Professor Rao was the director of IIT Delhi from 2016 to 2021 and is currently the Pillay Chair professor in the department of Electrical Engineering. He also served as a PK Kelkar chair for nanotechnology in the department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay.

During his tenure, he improved the ranking of IIT Delhi across all campus ranking platforms through various steps including creation of 13 new centres of excellence and 10 new academic units as well as implementing a multipronged approach towards faculty recruitment, research finds, social media engagement and more.

He also holds a degree from Germany and honorary doctorates from three universities in India. He is a fellow of IEEE, TWAS, INAE, INSA. IASc and NASI. A recipient of over 35 awards and honours from all over the world and has published over 480 papers and holds 50 patents in the field of nanoelectronics and sensors.