Shailesh Nayak (born 21 August 1953) is an Indian scientist and is currently Director of the

National Institute of Advanced Studies National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) is a premier institute in India engaged in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It was founded by J. R. D. Tata for providing a ...

from 2018 onwards, former

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

TERI School of Advanced Studies The TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI) is a higher education institute in New Delhi, India which specializes in the field of sustainable development. It was established in 1998 by The Energy and Resources Institute. In 1999, the TERI Schoo ...

(2019-2025) and Distinguished

Scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

in the

Ministry of Earth Sciences The Ministry of Earth Sciences is an executive ministry of the Government of India, established on 29 January, 2006. It was formed through the reorganisation of the Department of Ocean Development and the assumption of administrative control ov ...

. He was the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) Chair and Secretary to the Government of India for

(MoES)

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

, between August 2008 – 2015. He was also the Chairman of the Earth Commission in India. He served as the interim chairman of

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...

between 31 December 2014 and 11 January 201

He has also served as director of the

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is an autonomous organization of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, located in Pragathi Nagar, Hyderabad. ESSO-INCOIS was established as an autonomous body ...

, INCOIS, Hyderabad, India, an autonomous institution under ESSO (May 2006 to July 2008). At ESSO-INCOIS, he set up a state-of-the-art Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean. He was responsible for the conceptualization and development of Marine

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

. He made outstanding contributions in improving advisory services related to potential fishing zones, ocean state forecast, and Indian Argo project. He has been providing leadership for the programs related to science of climate change, weather services, polar science, ocean science and modeling, ocean survey, resources, and technology. He chaired an expert group and helped to establish a national GIS in the country.

Personal life

Nayak was born on August 21, 1953, at

Billimora Bilimora is a city situated on the banks of the river Ambika, in Gandevi taluka & Navsari district of Gujarat state, in India. The city comes under the purview of the Surat Metropolitan Region. The city is roughly south of the city of Surat ...

Navsari Navsari is the ninth biggest city in the state of Gujarat in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Navsari District. Navsari is between Surat and Mumbai. It is a twin city of Surat, 37 km to the north. At the 2011 Census of Ind ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. He did his Ph.D. in geology in 1980 from M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara and specialized in

Oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

Remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

. He has also served in

, his area of research includes Coastal and Ocean processes and ocean-atmosphere interaction, coastal geomorphology, hazards. He was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate of Science by

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

in 2011 and

Assam University Assam University is a central public university located at Silchar, Assam, India. It was founded in the year 1994 by the provisions of an act enacted by the Parliament of India. Former Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha is the Chancellor, the Gover ...

in 2013. He is recognized as a Ph.D. Guide by six Universities, and six students have obtained Ph.D. under his supervision. He has published more than 100 papers in journals, conferences and reports. On August 31, 2015, he relinquished his post of Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences, Indian Government.

Positions held

He has served ISRO and MoES in several capacities namely: * 2014 - Chairman,

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO) * 2008 - Secretary,

(MoES) and Chairman, Earth Commission, India * 2006 - Director,

, INCOIS, Hyderabad * 2001 - Group director, Marine & Water Resources, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad * 1978 - Joined

Space Applications Centre Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution of research in Ahmedabad under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is one of the major centres of ISRO that is engaged in the research, development and demonstration ...

, ISRO, Ahmedabad He has held several key positions namely: * Chair, Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) and the Indian Ocean Observing System Resource Forum (IRF) * President,

Indian Meteorological Society The Indian Meteorological Society is an Indian non-profit organisation that promotes the advancement, dissemination, and application of meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric p ...

(IMS) * President, Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG) * Vice-Chair, Inter-Governmental Coordinating Group on Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (ICG-IOTWS) (2007–2011) * President, ISRS, Dehradun * Chairman, Indian Ocean–Global Ocean Observing System (IO-GOOS) (2006–10) * President, ISPRS Technical Commission (TC) IV on ‘Geo-databases and Digital Mapping’ for the term 2004-08

Academic and research activities

Following are the highlights of his career as a renowned scientist: *

Disaster management Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actua ...

: Provided leadership to set up a state-of-the-art Tsunami Warning Centre within two years within stipulated time and cost. Interacted with fourteen institutes from four different ministries to develop entire tsunami warning system. * Fishery service for social benefit: Developed methodology for potential fishing zones for saving fuel and time while at the Space Applications Centre (SAC) and continued to improve further while at INCOIS, both methodology and dissemination. Initiated tuna forecast on an experimental basis. * Marine weather for safe navigation: Operationalized service related to ocean state (height and direction of wave and swell) for the entire Indian Ocean. * Database organization: Conceptualised and developing Marine GIS for the country. A marine data centre has been established at INCOIS and data is being provided to web. * Generation of database for coastal zone management: Created satellite-derived benchmark database in a systematic manner on coastal landforms, mangroves, coral reef and shoreline change, high and low tide lines for the entire Indian coast for the first time. * Development of technique and algorithms: Developed techniques for identifying various coastal landforms, mangrove plant communities as well as high tide line and low tide line. Directed research in development of algorithms for retrieving the information on chlorophyll and coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and other bio-geo-chemical parameters from the space-based satellite data. The software has been installed in about twenty agencies in the country to utilise Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) data. He has contributed immensely towards the advancement of research in Science and Technology in leading institutes of India in various capacities: * Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Oceanography,

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

* Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee of the Centre for Earth Science Studies,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

* Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee of the Defence Terrain Research Laboratory,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

* Chair, Governing Board, Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany,

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

* Member of many national committees related to earth science, coastal protection, mangrove, coral reef, and coastal zone management

Fellow and member of professional bodies

*Fellow,

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

*Fellow,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, India, Allah Abad. * Fellow,

International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(ISPRS), 2012 * Member,

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is a Paris-based non-government association for the field of astronautics. It was founded in Stockholm, Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán. It was recognised by the United Nation ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. * Fellow,

Indian Society of Remote Sensing The Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS) is an Indian learned society devoted to remote sensing; it was created in 1969 and has more than 5000 members. It is a national member of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing a ...

(ISRS), 2011 * Fellow,

Geological Society of India The Geological Society of India is based in Bangalore, India. Its flagship product is the ''Journal of the Geological Society of India (JGSI)''. Establishment As declared in the ''JGSI'', the society was established on May 28, 1958, to promote t ...

, Bangalore * Fellow, Meteorological Society of India * Life Member, Indian Society of Remote Sensing,

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

* Life Member, Indian Society of Geomatics,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

* Life Member, Institution of Geoscientists (India),

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

* Life Member, Mangrove Society of India, Goa * Life Member, Astronautical Society of India, Bangalore * Life Member, Meteorological Society of India,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Honours and awards

* Honorary Doctor of Science by Assam University, 2013 * Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2012 * Honorary Doctor of Science by Andhra University, 2011 * Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award -2008, E.S.R.I., San Diego, USA (for Tsunami Warning Centre) * Skotch Challenger Award for Security and Disaster Management, Jan. 2009 (for setting up Tsunami Warning Centre) by Skotch, New Delhi * Bhaskara Award for 2009 * Gold Medal of Indian Geophysical Union 2009 * National Mineral Award-2005, (Applied Geology) Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India * Indian National Remote Sensing Award for the Year 1994, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Dehradun * Hari-Om Ashram Prerit Inter-University Smarak Trust Prize for the Year 1981-82 for Geology * Dinesh Chokshi Memorial prize for securing highest marks in M. Sc. (Geology) in 1975

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayak, Shailesh Indian oceanographers 21st-century Indian geologists People from Navsari district 1953 births Living people 20th-century Indian earth scientists Scientists from Gujarat Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering