The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has officially approved the appointment of veteran physicist Professor Umesh V. Waghmare as the new Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Prof. Waghmare will hold the position from the date he assumes charge until he reaches the age of 60. He steps into the vital leadership role following a vacancy created in April when then incumbent Secretary, Professor Abhay Karandikar, was named a member of the Niti Aayog. As an interim Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) held this position as an additional charge until Prof Waghmare formally took over a couple of days ago.
Prof. Waghmare brings a wealth of academic and research experience to the DST. Prior to this appointment, he served as the President and a Professor in the Theoretical Sciences Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru. His distinguished academic journey began with a Bachelor of Technology in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 1990. He subsequently earned his PhD in Applied Physics from Yale University in 1996, followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard University from 1996 to 2000.
As an applied physicist, Prof. Waghmare’s primary research interest lies in the computational design of materials of industrial relevance. His work centres on determining the properties of materials on macroscopic and intermediate length and time scales through a non-empirical or theoretical description of their chemistry and microscopic structure. Using computer modelling, elaborate equations, statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanical density functional theory, he develops theoretical models from first principles to predict how specific materials will behave. His innovative modelling techniques seamlessly bridge the gap between the microscopic details of atoms and the macroscopic properties of a solid, allowing scientists to model materials from a few tens to hundreds of nanometers, and across time durations from a millionth of a billionth of a second to tens of nanoseconds.
Throughout his career, Prof. Waghmare has amassed a highly decorated record of scientific achievements. Most notably, he was awarded the prestigious Infosys Science Prize in 2015 in the 'Engineering and Computer Science' category, a rare honour for a physicist. The Infosys citation recognised his fundamental contributions to providing a much-needed bridge between the microscopic details of a material and its properties at various length and time scales.
Among his most groundbreaking achievements is his extensive work with 'ferroelectrics', materials widely used in sensors and electronic devices. Addressing a critical environmental and industrial challenge, Prof. Waghmare successfully predicted a lead-free ferroelectric material. This discovery, which has since been experimentally verified, has the potential to detoxify and revolutionise a billion-dollar industry that currently relies heavily on poisonous lead. Additionally, his academic excellence was recognised early in his career when he graduated with the Institute Silver Medal from IIT Bombay.
Prof. Waghmare’s appointment as DST Secretary underscores the government's recognition of the indispensability of basic science to technological advancement and industrial applications in India.
