"Life and living are not the same. For living, we may need a job, money, a home, a car and other creature comforts. However, these alone fail to make life complete. For that, we need love, compassion, tenderness — a heart that knows and responds to the pain of others. We need broadmindedness and maturity in thought and action."
- Amma
A renowned humanitarian leader and spiritual teacher, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi is the guiding light of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Amma’s concept of education, stress on research and commitment to instilling universal values have come together to shape Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham into an institution where the latest advancements and discoveries combine with compassion and service-mindedness.
Swamiji Amritaswarupananda Puri is the Vice-Chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and President of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University). He is the head disciple of renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma). He has been living in Amritapuri Ashram since its inception in the late 1970s. He holds a Master's in Philosophy and is a renowned author and translator, has written: "The Irresistible Attraction of Divinity" (2019) and "The Colour of the Rainbow: Compassionate Leadership" (2014), as well as Amma's Biography. He has also translated into English more than 10 volumes of conversations between Amma and devotees, for which he also served as a compiler. He is a magnificent singer and composer of bhajans and has traveled around the world more than 30 times with Amma in her service.
In 2003, Amma appointed Dr. P. Venkat Rangan as the Vice Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Previously, Dr. Rangan founded and directed the Multimedia Laboratory and Internet & Wireless Networks (WiFi) Research at the University of California, San Diego, (UCSD) where he served as a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering for 16 years. He is an internationally recognized pioneer of research in Multimedia Systems and Internet E Commerce. In 1996, Dr. Rangan became one of the youngest faculty members to be awarded the Full Professor position at the University of California - just 7 years after his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1989. Dr. Rangan has over 75 publications in International (mainly IEEE and ACM) Journals and Conferences, and also holds over 20 US Patents.
Prof. Sankaran received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and has had a long and distinguished career as a Professor, Chairperson, Principal, and an Academician. Since the founding of Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri campus, Dr. Sankaran has been a key academic leader in his role as the Principal, actively contributing to its development, and overseeing two NAAC accreditations of the campus with both of them yielding an A grade.
Dr. Prem Kumar Vasudevan Nair currently serves as the Provost at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences at Kochi campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. He also serves as a Professor at the Department of Gastroenterology at the School of Medicine, Kochi. He is a skilled clinician par excellence and also serves as a Professor at the Department of Gastroenterology at the School of Medicine, Kochi.
Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh pursued her Ph. D. in Computer Science from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and authored a research thesis titled Wireless Sensor Network to Detect Rainfall Induced Landslides. Her research work was instrumental in deploying the first ever Wireless Sensor Network system capable of issuing landslide warning...
Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean- Faculty of Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, brings with him over 25 years of international research, management and leadership experience. Dr. Ramanathan’s focus and dedication is in preparing the next generation graduates for challenges in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management. He is a strong believer in an educational process that promotes creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship while providing the students with strong fundamentals.
Swami Sankaramritananda Puri (Dr. C. Nagarajan) is a senior disciple of Sadguru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. He joined Mata Amritanandamayi Math in 1991. He is an Ayurvedic physician by profession with a postgraduate qualification (MD) in Kayachikitsa. He has completed his BAMS in 1986 from University of Madras and MD from University of Kerala in 1991.
Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar is the Dean for the School of Engineering at Amritapuri campus. He currently serves as a Professor, Head of the Department and the Chairperson at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri. His research interest includes Materials Science. Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar received his Ph. D. from University of Texas at Austin, USA...
Professor Nair is the Dean of Research to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and also the Director of Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine (ACNSMM), Health Sciences Campus. Dr. Nair received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, in 1976; Master of Science (1978) and Doctor of Engineering Science (1983) degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from...
Dr. Bipin Nair received his Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1986 from the Department of Microbiology, M.S. University of Baroda, India and received his post-doctoral training at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, USA, in the Dept. of Pharmacology from 1987-1992. His major contributions...
Dr. U. Krishnakumar currently serves as Chairman (Board of Studies), Director & Research Supervisor in the Department of Computer Science and I.T., School of Arts & Sciences, Kochi. He recieved his Ph. D. from IIT-Mumbai and M.E. in CS from I.I.Sc., Bangalore. He has 44 years academic...
Dr. Geetha Kumar is currently a Professor at the School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, where she heads the Microbial Active Genetics lab.
Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan is the Dean of Post Graduate Programs at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham heads the Center for Cybersecurity Systems and Networks and Amrita Technology Business Incubator (Amrita TBI) at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Dr. Krishnashree is an ardent researcher with multi-disciplinary interests, and holds a PhD degree from Clarkson University, NY, USA. Her areas of interest...
Dr. Bhavani Rao R. serves as the UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) and is the Director of AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Multi Modal Applications Using Computer & Human Interaction Labs, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Under the UNESCO Chair...
Prof. Nava Subramaniam, Ph.D. Griffith University, Australia, Dean, Ph.D’s academic career spans over 30 years, during which she has served in several leadership roles. She has served as the Acting Dean, School of Accounting, and Deputy-Dean Research and Innovation (R&I), AISSC, at RMIT University,
Prof. Raman has over 30 years of executive management experience at variety of fortune 500 companies and has been with Amrita since its inception. Prof. Raman established the Center for Research in Analytics & Technologies for Education (CREATE), with over $5m in research funding...
Dr. Sudheesh Manalil currently serves as Principal of School of Agricultural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus.
Dr. Manoj joined Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in 2007 after fifteen years of international work experience, where he headed the International Initiatives Office from Coimbatore. Dr. Manoj received PhD from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in 2019 for his research focusing on Disaster Management. He was educated in Singapore...
Manikantan I. B. currently serves as the Campus Director of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Chennai Campus. He has been associated with the IT industry for close to two decades managing the IT Infrastructure for customers
Shri. Sreevalsan M currently serve as a Director -ICTS, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and heading the ICTS Department of the University. He has an experience of more than 35 years in IT field with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. Started career as a faculty member in St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad in the year 1985. From 1995, working with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham – University. Currently heading the ICTS Department of the University. Heading the Cisco Networking Academy at the University and is the Academy Support Expert for Cisco Networking Academies in India. Member – Global Advisory Committee – Cisco Networking Academy 2021-22. His Areas of interest include Computer Networks and Security, Operating Systems, Cloud infrastructure, Systems Administration, IT infrastructure design & implementation.
Dr. Jyothi S. N. currently serves as Principal at the School of Engineering, Amritapuri Campus. She holds a PhD degree from IIT Madras, and has served in Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for over four years. Her areas of interest for research include process control, instrumentation, and environmental engineering.
Dr. Mahadevan S. currently serves as Deputy Dean of School of Engineering and Chairperson of the Department of Sciences at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus. His areas of research include Theoretical Nuclear Physics. He has attended several national conferences and international conferences and presented papers in the field of Theoretical Nuclear Physics.
Dr. Sriram Devanathan is the Principal of Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru Campus. He was fomerly the Head of Center for Excellence in Advanced Materials and Green Technologies and Professor & Chairperson in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore Campus.
Dr. Balagopal Varma joined the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Amrita School of Dentistry in December 2004. He is currently serving as the Principal of Amrita School of Dentistry and Professor and Head of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry. He obtained his B. D. S. and M. D. S. degrees from the College of Dental Surgery, Manipal. He has worked as Assistant Professor in Pedodontics at College of Dental Surgery, Manipal & Mangalore. Before joining Amrita School of Dentistry, he was working as Professor & Head of Pedodontics at Ragas Dental College & Hospital, Chennai. He has also worked as a Senior Registrar in Paediatric Dentistry at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
Dr. Sabitha M. joined Amrita School of Pharmacy in March 2000. She completed her Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy from St. John's Pharmacy college, Bangalore University and her Master's Degree in Pharmaceutics from the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Doctor Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, (Formerly known as Saugor University, SAGAR) of Madhya Pradesh which is a pioneer Pharmaceutical institution. She completed her Ph.D in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in 2012. Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Chitin Nanogels as an Effective Nanocarrier for the Treatment of Melanoma via the Transdermal Route". She served as the Vice Principal of the School during the period February 2008 - September 2011. She has more than 17 years of teaching and research experience and has several publications in national and international journals.
A PGDRM graduate from IRMA, and a Fellow of IIM Calcutta, Dr. Rajiv Prasad joined Amrita in the year 2007. He has around twenty years of industry, teaching and research experience. He was invited to teach the core course on Business Ethics as a visiting faculty at IIM Kozhikode in 2007. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member of State University of New York at Buffalo and has been teaching the Organizational Behavior and Leadership course at the Executive MBA program conducted jointly by SUNY, Buffalo and Amrita School of Business at its Bangalore campus. He was invited to develop the Course Curriculum and the Text for the Business Ethics course by Vancouver,
Prof. K. T. Moly currently serves as Principal at the College of Nursing, Health Sciences Campus, Kochi.
Prof. Prabaharan Poornachandran (Praba) is the Director at Centre for Internet Studies and Artificial Intelligence-CISAI, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, Kerala.
Prof. Rajesh Kannan Megalingam currently serves as a Head, Advanced Robotics and Automation, Amritapuri
Shyam Diwakar is the Director of the Amrita Mind Brain Center, a Faculty fellow at the Amrita Center for International Programs and a Professor at the Department of Electronics and Communication, Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri campus.
