Tavarekere K Chandrashekar received the BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Mysore. He earned his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where he worked in the area of bioinorganic chemistry under the supervision of Professor V Krishnan. From 1982 to 1984, he did his post-doctoral work with Professor Hans Van Willigen at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. From 1984 to 1986, he worked with late Professor GT Babcock at Michigan State, East Lansing in the area of Biophysical chemistry. He spent a year on sabbatical with Professor E Vogel at the University of Koln, Germany, as an Alexander van Humboldt Fellow.

Academic and Research Achievements: On returning to India, Chandrashekar joined as a lecturer at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1986. He started a bioinorganic laboratory and initiated both teaching and research programme. In 2003, Professor Chandrashekar moved to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, as the Director of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST - CSIR). In 2009, he joined National Institute of Science, Education & Research at Bhubaneswar as its Director. His research interests are on photosensitizes for photodynamic therapy; model compounds for photosynthetic intermediates; molecular receptors for neutral, cationic and anionic substrates; catalysts for organic conversions; and supramolecular systems for molecular devices. Since 1988, he has been a Project Investigator in over 12 projects of DST, DAE and CSIR. He has published over 120 research articles in national and international reputed peer reviewed journals. He mentored a large number of students including 17 PhD.

Other Contributions: Under Chandrashekar's Directorship, the NIIST has excelled in high quality publications, technology transfers and in receiving several awards and honours. He is the member of INSA Council (2009-11).

Awards and Honours: Professor Chandrashekar was awarded the SS Bhatnagar Prize in 2001. Among several honours and prizes that he received are the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Bronze Medal (2000), Professor P Ray Memorial Award (2002), Chemito Award (2003), JC Bose National Fellowship (2006) and CRSI Silver Medal (2008). He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad (1996) and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1999).