Dipankar Banerjee to head Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

After a gap of three years, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) is set to get a full-time director. The Union Department of Space (DoS) has issued orders appointing astrophysicist Dipankar Banerjee as the new director of IIST.

After a gap of three years, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) is set to get a full-time director. The Union Department of Space (DoS) has issued orders appointing astrophysicist Dipankar Banerjee as the new director of IIST.

Dr. Banerjee has been heading the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, since 2019. The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet (ACC) had cleared Dr. Banerjee’s name for the IIST director’s post in July this year.

Dr. Banerjee is expected to take charge this month, IIST officials told The Hindu.

The IIST was established in 2007 as a deemed to be university under the DoS for moulding space scientists for the Indian space programme. It has not had a full-time director since senior scientist V.K. Dadhwal stepped down in 2021.

From July 2021 to January 2022, S. Somanath, then director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba, had held the additional charge of IIST director. After Mr. Somanath succeeded K. Sivan as ISRO chairman, the additional charge of IIST was given to D. Sam Dayala Dev, who was then heading the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) in Thiruvananthapuram. The additional charge was transferred to the current director of VSSC, S. Unnikrishnan Nair, in September 2022.

According to a recent IIST report, 1,316 IIST graduates are currently employed in different ISRO/DoS units. IIST offers BTech programmes in Aerospace Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering (Avionics), and a dual degree programme in addition to 14 MTech programmes, one MS programme and PhD programmes.