Biography

Biography

Welcome!

Dr. Sourav Kanti Jana was born in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal in 1981. He has been working as a senior research scientist at IIT Madras, India, since December 2016. He is a materials physicist and researcher in the field of electronic and optoelectronic devices, with a particular focus on the physics and chemistry of interfaces.

His current research includes developing sensing technology for heavy metal ion sensing in field water and low-cost handheld devices for versatile applications. He is also actively involved in developing capacitive deionization (CDI) projects. He also investigated electrochemical and photochemical applications of atomically precise nanomaterials.

He is highly regarded for his innovative research on the physics and chemistry of interfaces in energy materials and his commitment to mentorship and promoting diversity in materials science. He has supervised research problems of the thesis works of several undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students.

Previously, he was a Research Scientist at IISER Kolkata from 2015-2016. From May 2012–January 2015, he was a Post Doctoral Fellow at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. He was involved in developing several energy devices, like photoelectrochemical cells and supercapacitors. During this tenure, his notable work was to investigate electrochemical diodes and transistors based on electrochemically reduced graphene oxide.

During his professional activities, he engaged with several projects and took the opportunity to lead those projects. The most significant is 2d materials for energy storage devices.

Sourav completed his Ph.D. in Material Science at the University of Milano Bicocca, Italy, in January 2012. In this period, he developed several light-harvesting strategies using surface plasmon and spectral down conversion techniques on Si and thin film Photovoltaic devices. He and his team also fabricated and characterized CuInGaAs (CIGS) thin film solar cells.

He published more than 40 papers in several peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he bagged 5 patents which were filed /published at national and international levels.      

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Academic Qualification

  • Bachelor of Science, B.Sc (Hons.) in Electronics from Vidyasagar University, India, in 2001.
  • Master of Science, M.Sc in Electronic Science from Jadavpur University, India, in 2003.
  • Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, GATE in 2005
  • Master of Technology, M.Tech in Material Engineering from Jadavpur University, India, in 2008.
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, in 2012

Professional Experiences

  • Microsoft Power BI Certified (2023) from Skill Nation, India
  • Hands-on training on Power Electronic Devices and Circuits in 2003
  • Guest Lecturer at Panskura Banamali College (Vidyasagar University) June 2005 to May 2006
  • Post Doctoral Fellow at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics from 2nd May 2012 to 6th January 2015
  • Research Scientist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER Kolkata) 7th January 2015 to 12th December 2016
  • Senior Project Officer at IIT Madras 14th December 2016 to date

Sponsored projects handled

  • Development of a novel combined arsenic filtration/monitoring system for community-scale water supplies

Role: Project Investigator

Collaborator: Bio Nano Consulting (BNC), London

Sponsoring agency:  DST (GITA), Budget: 80 lakhs (INR)

Duration: December 2016 to November 2018

  • Development of capacitive deionization technology for the extraction of germanium and selenium: Two elements of strategic relevance

Role: Project Proposer and supervisor

Sponsoring agency: Ministry of Mines

Duration: 2017  to 2019

Awards / Recognitions

  • National Talent Search Test qualified in secondary class (1995)
  • National Scholarship (Govt. of India) for Post-Graduate Study (2001)
  • GATE Scholarship for studying post graduate degree in Engineering (2005)
  • CORIMOV fellowship for pursuing Ph.D. in Europe (2009)
  • Selected as Outstanding Reviewer by the Editors of  Materials Letter (Elsevier), November 2016
  • Selected as Outstanding Reviewer by the Editors of the Journal of Alloys and Compounds (Elsevier), July 2017
  • Recognized reviewer of the American Chemical Society (ACS) publications, 2018
  • Recognized reviewer of the Journal of Power Sources (Elsevier), April 2021