Parimal Kanti Bharadwaj earned his BSc from Burdwan University and MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur He obtained his PhD (1979) in Inorganic Chemistry from IIT, Kharagpur under the supervision of Mukul Chakravorti. After post-doctoral positions at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, he joined Rutgers as Assistant Professor in the chemistry departments. He moved to UC Davis in 1985 and then to IIT Kanpur (1987), rising to Professorship there (1995). He was a Visiting Professor at the University Saarlandes, Germany and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea.

Academic and Research Achievements: Dr Bharadwaj has worked on modelling the active sites of copper and nickel metalloenzymes and was involved in establishing a single crystal x-ray diffraction laboratory. His area of research interests includes supramolecular chemistry, fluorescence signaling for sensing and information processing, synthesis of metal-organic framework structures for selective adsorption of gases, heterogeneous catalysis, etc. He made seminal contributions to supramolecular chemistry of cryptands, transition metal-induced fluorescence signaling and structure of water clusters in constrained environments. He has published more than 180 research papers and has mentored a large number of students including 15 PhD students.

Other Contributions: Professor Bharadwaj established a Facility for single crystal x-ray diffraction in 1994 and trained a large number of students from IIT, Kanpur and other academic places. He has served as a Member of the International Committee of Asian Coordination Chemists and Global Supramolecular Chemistry Network.

Awards and Honours: Bharadwaj is a recipient of several awards and honours that include Ajit Memorial Award (1995), Fellowship of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1998), Korean Chemical Society Medal (2001) and CRSI Bronze Medal (2002).