Govindan Rangarajan

At the Indian Institute of Science, Govindan Rangarajan wears the director’s hat with vision and scientific depth. A mathematician trained at BITS‑Pilani (integrated MSc) and the University of Maryland (PhD), he spent time at UC Berkeley before returning to India in 1992 to join IISc, where he later became the director in 2020.

Rangarajan’s research spans nonlinear dynamics, chaos, time-series analysis, and computational biology. He’s been deeply involved in interdisciplinary education, setting up satellite-based Indo‑French cyber‑university programs, an interdisciplinary PhD in mathematical sciences, and the Indo‑French Centre for Applied Mathematics.

A fellow of the JC Bose National and India’s top science academies, Rangarajan also holds France’s Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Speaking at Belagavi in mid-2024, he took a realistic stance on AI’s impact: “Primary-level jobs and very common field and technology jobs will be replaced by AI,” urging youth to “reskill and upskill frequently”.

At NITK’s 2024 convocation, he emphasised “direct interaction” and creativity as essential human strengths that set us apart in an AI‑driven world.

Rangarajan combines deep research excellence—evident in over 220 publications and leadership of national and international mathematical initiatives—with a clear vision for preparing India for an AI‑enabled future.