Our Current Team
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor
Center for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bangalore
Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560012
Room: 405
Mobile: +91-80-2293-3046
Email: nkgupta@iisc.ac.in
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Bhagirath Saini [Currently in Japan Under an Indo–Japan Collaborative Project]
Bhagirath Saini obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur in 2024. His doctoral studies focused on the synthesis of nanomaterials and 2D layered catalysts for electrocatalysis (HER, OER, and CO2 reduction), photocatalysis (dye degradation and metal ion removal) and biomass to biofuel production (biodiesel and bio jet fuel). He previously worked as an assistant professor at Lachoo Memorial College of Science & Technology (Autonomous), Jodhpur.
His current research interest includes the upgradation of biomass-derived furanics.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Navya Bhat
Navya Subray Bhat received her Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Mangalore, India, in 2023. She then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Catalysis, Hokkaido University, Japan, for 1.5 years. Her research areas are the chemistry of renewables, catalysis, and organic synthesis, especially the synthesis of furanics from carbohydrates and the synthetic upgradation of furanic platform chemicals to fuels and specialty chemicals.
Her current research area includes the synthesis of furanics and its upgradation to industrially value-added chemicals.
Independent Researcher
Dr. Saranya Gunasekaran
Saranya earned her PhD from the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bengaluru, in 2021. Following her doctorate, she worked as a Research Associate at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited for one year, before joining at Material Innovation Private Limited as Scientist-I for six months. Her research focuses on sustainability, with expertise spanning biofuels, platform chemicals, and enzymes.
Currently, her work centers on converting lignocellulosic biomass into value-added products, driven by a passion to develop advanced functional materials from agro-residues.
Doctoral Student
Ripsa Rani Nayak
Ripsa completed her M.Tech. in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology from NIT Kurukshetra in 2022, where she was awarded a Gold Medal for securing first rank in her program. Her master’s thesis focused on the green synthesis of semiconducting ZnSe-based nanomaterials using organic waste and plant extracts for environmental applications, particularly dye degradation. She is proficient in operating various advanced materials characterization techniques.
She was a recipient of the prestigious Raman–Charpak Fellowship (August–December 2025) and carried out research at the University of Lorraine, Nancy, France, gaining valuable international research experience.
She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. focused on the design and development of catalysts for biomass conversion into value-added chemicals.
Beyond research, she enjoys painting, hiking, and traveling, and has a keen interest in numismatics.
Doctoral Student
Hafila S Khairun
Hafila completed her Master of Science in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology–Palakkad (IIT–Palakkad) in 2023. During her M.Sc. thesis, she investigated defects in materials utilizing Spectroscopic techniques for catalytic applications. Additionally, she focused on assessing the stability of metal nanoclusters using Molecular Dynamics (MD) tools for potential biological applications. Her outstanding academic performance earned her the distinction of being the Best Student in MSc Chemistry (Medalist), an honor bestowed upon her by Somanath, Chairman of ISRO.
Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. where she is engaged in functionalizing oxygenates derived from biomass into valuable chemicals using heterogeneous catalysts.
Beyond her academic endeavors, she finds enjoyment in playing volleyball, traveling, reading books, and watching movies.
Doctoral Student
Rajat Singhal
Rajat received his M.Sc. in Chemistry & Environmental Science from Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur in 2023. His master's thesis centered on the in-situ synthesis of melem-based polymeric materials, designed to emulate half of the natural photosynthetic system. Rajat was honored with a Gold Medal by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Presently, his focus lies on catalytic bio-based aromatics production.
Outside of his academic pursuits, he enjoys traveling, playing cricket, and listening to music.
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Doctoral Student
Vismaya Vijayan
Vismaya completed her Master of Science in Chemistry from the Central University of Kerala (CUK) in 2023 with First rank. During M.Sc. Thesis, she worked on the Synthesis of Cerium Oxide, Characterization and Its Catalytic Applications at Inorganic material synthesis and Heterogeneous Catalysis laboratory, CUK. She received INSPIRE (DST) Scholarship for Higher Education (2018-2023).
Currently she is working on the Development of catalysts for the conversion of biomass-derived furanics into value-added products.
Beyond her academics, she enjoys wall painting, craft works and cooking.
Doctoral Student
Agrima Pandey
Agrima completed her Masters of Science in chemistry from Uttaranchal University, Dehradun. For her M.Sc. thesis she worked on Electrochemical treatment of tannery wastewater at IIT Roorkee. She earned a Gold Medal for her exceptional performance in M.Sc. Chemistry, 2023. After that, she worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-IIP where she worked on Design and Development of Biochar supported nanocatalysts for Transfer Hydrogenation reactions and synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates.
Presently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. on development of catalyst for biomass conversion to value-added chemicals.
Besides academia, she enjoys travelling, trekking, painting and writing.
Doctoral Student
Kaushik Moni Saikia
Kaushik has completed his Masters degree from the Department of Chemistry from Gauhati University. He worked on the effect of solvation on the phenol ⇌ keto tautomerisation of an imine containing fluorophore. He has cleared the GATE-2025 with AIR 193, CSIR-NET 2025(LS) and NE-SLET 2025.
Currently he is working on the catalytic rare sugar production from the biomasses.​
Beyond academia he loves to sketch portraits , art and crafts, cooking and travelling.
Doctoral Student
Ashlesha Upadhyay
Ashlesha Upadhyay joined the lab as a PhD scholar in January 2026. She holds an Integrated MSc from NIT Durgapur, where she developed a strong foundation in the chemical sciences. Prior to beginning her doctoral journey, Ashlesha completed her Master’s thesis at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), focusing on CO2 utilization with amines to synthesize value-added chemicals. She further honed her research expertise at IIT Bombay as a Project Research Associate, where she worked on developing specialized pyrolysis protocols to derive biomass-based hard carbon for sodium-ion batteries. Her research interests lie at the intersection of sustainable green chemistry, carbon sequestration, and advanced energy storage materials.
Master Student
Harinath
Harinath is currently pursuing an M.Tech in Sustainable Technologies at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bengaluru. He holds a B.Tech in Biotechnology and has dissertation experience at CCMB-LaCONES, where he contributed to an ecological population genetics study under Project Gharial. He also worked on sustainability assessment and life cycle analysis of a municipal solid waste management system and a Bio-CNG plant in Puttur, Karnataka. In addition, he was an academic exchange student at FH Dortmund, Germany, from October to December 2025, where he gained international exposure in sustainability-related coursework and research.​
At present, he is working on a master's thesis developing novel catalysts for COâ‚‚ fixation to produce value-added products from amines.
Outside academics, he is passionate about sports—he enjoys playing badminton, cricket, table tennis, and chess. He is also an avid cinephile.
Master Student
Thanish Nasir
Thanish Nasir is currently pursuing an M.Tech at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bengaluru. He holds a B.Tech in Biotechnology and had completed his internship at Emirates airlines in the Engineering and Operations Directorate the goal of helping bring about Sustainability in the Aviation Industry.
He worked on Climate Risk, Lifecycle Assessment and Non-CO2 impact of the airlines and is deeply passionate about Alternative Fuels especially SAF
He is currently passionately working on his a master's thesis on Converting Plastics into Fuels and other Value added chemicals.
Outside academics, he loves heading to the gym, mountain biking and rock climbing.