Avinash Chander is an Indian scientist who was Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, the Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development. He had succeeded

V. K. Saraswat Vijay Kumar Saraswat is an Indian scientist who formerly served as the Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Indian Minister of Defence. He retired on 31 May 2003 a ...

to this post.AVINASH CHANDER
/ref> He is the chief architect of the

Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

series of ballistic missile systems.In Conversation with Avinash Chander
/ref> Chander is a recipient of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

from the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

Education

Chander joined DRDO after completing his training in Electrical Engineering from

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

(IIT Delhi). He subsequently pursued an MS in Spatial Information Technology and Doctorate from

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU Hyderabad) is a public university, located in Hyderabad, Telangana. Founded in 1965 as the Nagarjuna Sagar Engineering College, it was established as a university in 1972 by ''The Jawah ...

(JNTU, Hyderabad).

Leaving DRDO

After completion of 42 years of Distinguished Service in DRDO, on 14 January 2015, the Department of Personnel and Training advised his contract as Chief of DRDO was to finish on 31 January 2015.

Awards

Chander is recipient of numerous awards, some of which are listed below: # IIT Delhi Alumni Award #

# DRDO Scientist of the year, 1989 # Astronautical Society of India Award, 1997 # Awarded by Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt. of India. # AGNI Self-Reliance Award, 1999 # Dr. Biren Roy Space Science Award, 2000 # DRDO Award, 2007 # Outstanding Technologist Award, 2008 # DRDO Technology Leadership Award, 2008 # Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineers # Fellow, System Society of India # Fellow, Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences # Vice-president, Astronautical Society of India # Chairman – Sensors Research Society, India #

Aryabhata Award The Aryabhata Award or Aryabhatta Award is an annual award, presented to individuals with notable lifetime contributions in the field of astronautics and aerospace technology in India. It was instituted by the Astronautical Society of India (AS ...

- Astronautical Society of India. # Eminent Engineer Award, The Institute of Engineers (India) 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chander, Avinash Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering Defence Research and Development Organisation Engineers from Andhra Pradesh Indian military engineers 20th-century Indian engineers Year of birth missing (living people)