JOIN USN Kalaiselvi becomes the first women chief of CSIR in 80 years
Energy researcher Nallathamby Kalaiselvi has become the first woman director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, breaking a glass ceiling for the 80 year old research council that has 38 laboratories under its umbrella.
Her appointment is for a period of two years, according to a government order released on Saturday.
Kalaiselvi will also be the Secretary to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and become only the fourth woman scientist to occupy the position of a Secretary of a scientific department under the central government.
Other women scientists who helmed central scientific departments are Manju Sharma and Renu Swarup in the Department of Biotechnology, and Soumya Swaminathan who was the director general of Indian Council of Medical Research and Secretary, Department of Health Research before moving to the World Health Organisation.
Known for her work in the field of lithium ion batteries, Kalaiselvi is the current director of CSIR’s Central Electrochemical Research Institute at Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu.
Hailing from Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district, she studied in Tamil medium schools that, she said, helped her grasp the concepts in sciences in college. She began her career at CECRI as an entry level scientist and rose through the ranks to become the institute’s director in February, 2019.
"She is inspirational on many counts. She came from a small town but her research is cutting edge and of global standards. Her role would be critical in the National Hydrogen Mission,” K Vijayraghavan, former Principal Scientific Advisor to the government told DH.
Kalaiselvi’s research is primarily focused on electrochemical power systems, development of electrodes and evaluating their suitability in energy storage device assembly.
In the last decade, she expanded her interests to include lithium and beyond lithium batteries, super-capacitors - energy storage devices that bridge the gap between batteries and conventional capacitors - and waste-to-wealth driven electrodes and electrolytes.
Kalaiselvi is involved in the development of practically viable Sodium-ion/Lithium-sulfur batteries and supercapacitors that can have crucial applications in the new age energy systems.
“Her expertise needs to be developed into multiple national missions as we are trying to develop new types of batteries,” said Vijayraghavan.
Kalaiselvi succeeds Shekhar Mande, who superannuated in April.