Anurag Sharma obtained MSc, MTech and PhD degrees from IIT Delhi. He joined the Faculty of the Physics Department, IIT Delhi (1980) and is presently working there as Professor (1995- ). He visited the Technical University of Karlsruhe as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (1982-83) and worked on single and multimode optical fibers. He also visited the Telecommunication Research Centre (CSELT) at Turin, Italy (1988) and worked on advanced characterization method for single mode optical fibers. He also held Homi Bhabha Fellowship (1990-92).

Academic and Research Achievements: During his stay at Karlsruhe, he developed a method for characterization of single mode fibers and refined it further while working at CSELT. His researches mainly deal with developing methods and algorithms for wave propagation through guiding and imaging optical structures. His method on ray tracing in gradient-index (GRIN) media, developed in 1982, has been used universally for design of imaging systems involving GRIN lenses and for characterization of inhomogeneous media in a variety of research fields. He also developed very useful and effective models for single mode fibers. Since late eighties, he has been developing efficient method for wave propagation through waveguiding components and devices. He has published over 85 papers in journals, coauthored a book and edited two books. He has also guided ten students for PhD.

Other Contributions: Sharma has been involved in the activities of the Optical Society of India and was its Vice President (2008-12). He is also the founder Secretary of the Delhi Section of the Optical Society of America, and Member of the Asian Subcommittee of the Committee for the Regional Development of Optics (2006-2007 ). He has also served as Dean of Students Affairs, IIT Delhi (2006-2009).

Awards and Honours: Professor Sharma received the Young Scientist Medal (1986), AK Bose Memorial Award (1991), SS Bhatnagar Prize (1998), MN Saha Award (1999) and SK Mitra Memorial Award (1987). He was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad (1998), Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2002), Optical Society of America (2004), and Indian National Academy of Engineers (2009); and Associate (1988-99) and Senior Associate (2001-08) of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.