Professor Prakash Gopalan joined Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala, as directorin 2014. As an academician, he has taught more than 12 core courses at IIT Bombay and received the Best Teacher Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000. Working along with ProfessorBart Kahr(now at NYU), ProfessorGopalan has solved problems in crystallography that eluded solution for more than two centuries. This work has been cited very highly in the chemical science literature.