Team

Faces of IGCS

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras and RWTH Aachen University lead IGCS activities with active support from TU9 universities and Kiel University (CAU). Various actors from these universities as well as representatives from ministries and funding organizations coordinate the center’s activities.

IGCS Advisory Board

IGCS is headed by an Indian co-chair from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (director IIT Madras) and a German co-chair from RWTH Aachen University (rector RWTH Aachen). Together with two centre coordinators from IIT Madras and RWTH Aachen, high functionaries of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Indian Department for Science and Technology (DST), and the industry partner Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen (MR), the director and rector of each university meet yearly to discuss the center’s development.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. mult. Ulrich Rüdiger

Rector of RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Ulrich Rüdiger has been rector of RWTH Aachen University since 2018. He studied Physics with a research focus on Solid State Physics at RWTH Aachen University from 1988 to 1994. In 1997 he wrote his doctoral thesis and in 2002 his habilitation in the group of Prof. Dr. G. Güntherodt at RWTH Aachen University, before moving to the University of Konstanz as Professor of Experimental Physics in the same year. He headed the university as rector from 2009 to 2018. In 1997 he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at New York University in the group of Prof. Dr. A.D. Kent with visits at the IBM Research Laboratory in San Jose and at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility of Cornell University in the USA. He is a member of numerous committees, including the German Rectors’ Conference, whose Vice President for Research and Young Scientists he was from 2014 to 2018. Among his responsibilities as Rector of RWTH Aachen University is his membership in the Board of Directors of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen and in the Advisory Board of the Aachen Engineering Award. Ulrich Rüdiger published about 140 publications in national and international journals and was awarded several awards and honorary doctorates, among them the “Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques”, Award of the Republic of France in 2012.

Picture of Prof. Kamakoti Veezhinathan,

Professor
Kamakoti Veezhinathan

Director of IIT Madras, Chennai, India

Prof. Kamakoti Veezhinathan took charge as the new Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras on the 17th of January 2022. Prof Kamakoti takes charge as Director from his predecessor, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, who has completed two terms as the Director of the Institute. Prof. Kamakoti is a faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Madras and also held the position of Associate Dean for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR), IIT Madras. He holds numerous positions in various Government agencies and bodies including being a member of the National Security Advisory Board, Government of India.

IGCS Steering Committee

The center’s activities are facilitated through the IGCS Steering Committee. Twice a year the centre coordinators meet the professors who oversee the IGCS focus areas water, energy, waste and land use / urban and regional development. Aside from IIT Madras and RWTH Aachen University, significant contributions come from TU9 Universities as well as Kiel University (CAU). Partners from DAAD, DST and MR as well as IGCS staff join these meetings.

The German Centre Coordinator is Professor Klaus Reicherter, RWTH Aachen University, whereas Professor Krishna Vasudevan, IIT Madras, is the Indian representative.

Professor
Dr. Klaus Reicherter

German Centre Coordinator
RWTH Aachen University, Neotectonics and Natural Hazards

Since 2018 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Reicherter is the centre coordinator at RWTH Aachen University for the IGCS – Indo-German Centre of Sustainability in Chennai/India and the Rector´s delegate for India.
He is Full Professor and head of the Neotectonics and Natural Hazards Institute since 2006. He was spokesperson of the German Science Foundation (DFG) for the Geology panel for 8 years (2013-2020). He has published more 200 publications and >100 ISI Journal papers. KR has supervised more than 30 PhD students and currently supervising 15 PhD students, 3 post-doctoral fellows. KR´s main interests are earthquake geology and neotectonics, many sidekicks like tsunami and landslide research. Furthermore he is interested in paleoclimate, landscape evolution and anthropogenic geology (modifications induced by humans and outreach). KR has been working mainly in the European Mediterranean region, Germany and other countries like Chile, China, Mongolia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kirgistan, India, Oman, USA, Cuba, Iceland, as well as many others and very recent India. He has extensive industry connections and has international collaborations with a number of universities.

Professor
Dr. Krishna Vasudevan

Indian Centre Coordinator
IIT Madras, Department of Electrical Engineering

Krishna Vasudevan received his B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering (power) from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in 1989, and his M.E. degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1991. Between 1991 and 1992 he worked as a senior engineer in Kirloskar Electrc Company, responsible for developing UPS systems. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from IIT, Madras, in 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, he was also Senior Engineer with M/s Lucas TVS Ltd., involved in the performance improvement of automotive alternators. From 1998 he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras, where he is currently a Professor. Dr. Krishna Vasudevan is a recipient of Best student Award during his Master’s study at IISc, and is a recipient of DAAD fellowship for research in Germany during 2006. He has guided several students at the PhD, Masters and Btech levels. He has also interacted with several industries during the course of his tenure at IITM by way of consultancy and technology development. His research interests are in the area of power electronics for renewable energy, machines and drives.

IGCS focus area teams

Energy

Professor
Dr. Frank Behrendt

Area Coordinator
Technische Universität Berlin, Energy Process Technologies and Conversion Technologies for Renewable Energies

Prof. Dr. Frank Behrendt, born 1959, studied chemistry at RWTH Aachen and Heidelberg University. He got his PhD in 1989 from Heidelberg University and his habilitation at Stuttgart University in 1999.
Since 2001 Behrendt Full Professor for Energy Process Engineering and Conversion Technologies for Renewable Energies at Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin). His scientific work focuses on the experimental investigation of reactive multi-phase flows exemplified by the pyrolysis and gasification of biomass as well as liquefaction of coal and biomass in various types of reactors. These experiments are complemented by extensive modelling and numerical simulation efforts as well as their economic and ecological evaluation. His research portfolio also includes activities in the field of energy system modelling, e.g., integration of renewable energies into electrical and thermal grids.

Professor
Dr. Krishna Vasudevan

Area Coordinator
IIT Madras, Department of Electrical Engineering

Krishna Vasudevan received his B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering (power) from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in 1989, and his M.E. degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1991. Between 1991 and 1992 he worked as a senior engineer in Kirloskar Electrc Company, responsible for developing UPS systems. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from IIT, Madras, in 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, he was also Senior Engineer with M/s Lucas TVS Ltd., involved in the performance improvement of automotive alternators. From 1998 he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras, where he is currently a Professor. Dr. Krishna Vasudevan is a recipient of Best student Award during his Master’s study at IISc, and is a recipient of DAAD fellowship for research in Germany during 2006. He has guided several students at the PhD, Masters and Btech levels. He has also interacted with several industries during the course of his tenure at IITM by way of consultancy and technology development. His research interests are in the area of power electronics for renewable energy, machines and drives.

Waste Management

Professor
Dr. Martin Kranert

Area Coordinator
University of Stuttgart, Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Kranert is full professor, director and board member of the Institute of Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management and chair of Waste Management and Emissions at the University of Stuttgart since October 2002 and director of the interfacultative study programme environmental engineering. From 2011 to 2013 he was Dean of the faculty of civil and environmental engineering. Main focus in research are biological systems and technologies in solid waste management (composting, anaerobic digestion), food waste (waste prevention, statistics, quantities, qualities), solid waste management models and strategies, waste analyses and emissions from waste treatment plants. He wrote more than 400 scientific papers and publications and is co-author and editor of several books. He is organizer, co-organizer and member of scientific committees in national and international conferences, project manager and project partner in national and international projects and member in different national and international organizations, committees and in advisory boards. At IGCS he is area coordinator for solid waste management since 2010.

Professor
Dr. R. Vinu

Area Coordinator
IIT Madras, Department of Chemical Engineering

Dr. R. Vinu is currently an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at IIT Madras, Chennai. He obtained Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 2010. Prior to joining IIT Madras in 2012, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. At IIT Madras, he leads an active research group that focuses on thermochemical conversion of a variety of feedstocks such as biomass, waste plastics, algae, refuse derived fuels, municipal solid wastes (MSW) and coals to liquid fuels and chemicals. He is the recipient of several awards including (a) Young Scientist Awards of the Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India, in 2018, (b) Institute Research and Development Award-Early Career level from IIT Madras in 2018, (c) Young Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences-Bangalore in 2017, and (d) Young Faculty Recognition Award from IIT Madras in 2015. He also serves as an Editor of Advanced Powder Technology, and Editorial Board Member of Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis.

Land Use, Rural and Urban Planning

Professor
Dr. Martina Fromhold-Eisebith

Area Coordinator
RWTH Aachen University, Economic Geography

Martina Fromhold-Eisebith is full professor at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where she holds the Chair of Economic Geography since 2006. She joined IGCS as Area Coordinator of Land Use/ Urban and Rural Development in late 2017. Since 2016 she is an appointed member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Earlier in her career she was professor of regional development and planning at the University of Salzburg, Austria, guest scientist at the Austrian Research Centers, Vienna, and senior researcher at several German universities. Her research interests cover issues of technology-oriented regional development and of environmental economic geography, focusing on how innovations and ‘smart’ solutions can support more sustainable industries and socio-economic development. Empirical research activities have covered Asian countries (focus on India and Indonesia) as well as European regions.

Professor
Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam

Area Coordinator
IIT Madras, Department of Civil Engineering

Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam joined the faculty of the Civil engineering department at IIT-Madras in 2006. Ashwin received his B.Tech in Civil engineering from IIT-Madras and then proceeded to Stanford University for a Masters in Construction Engineering and Management. He then helped start up an internet based company in the USA called All Star Fleet, aimed at providing asset management services for construction companies. Following this he returned to Stanford University to pursue a PhD in the area of Infrastructure Project Management. Ashwin’s research interests are in the areas of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Resilient infrastructure planning and management, governance of large engineering projects and digital construction. Ashwin is also a co-founder of Okapi Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd and serves as a Director on the Board.”

Water Management

Professor
Dr. Nicola Fohrer

Area Coordinator Water Management
Kiel University, Hydrology and Water Resources Management

Prof. Dr. Nicola Fohrer is full professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Management and director of the Institute of Natural Resource Conservation at Kiel University since 2003. Her research focus is ecohydrology, water quality and water management in rural areas. She has a long-standing working experience with ecohydrological modelling of rural watersheds and water quality assessment of rivers and lakes under anthropogenic pressures. She has worked for more than 20 years in international research projects in e.g. India, China, Myanmar and Ethiopia as consortium leader and PI. She is strongly involved in academic training and has been responsible for the implementation of the Master of Environmental Management and the Erasmus Mundus Programme Ecohydrology at Kiel University. She has supervised 18 PhD students so far and is the supervisor of further 14 ongoing PhD theses. Two habilitations have been concluded under her guidance and both candidates hold now professorships in Germany and China, respectively. She has published more than 300 scientific publications, books and book chapter. She was president and is currently vice-president of the German Hydrological Society (DHG) and served for 8 years as member and spokesperson in the DFG review board for water science. Currently she is appointed as a member of the Leibniz Senate Commission for Evaluation (SAE), of the Global Water Partnership as member of the Technical Commission (TEC) and of the Georg Foster Commission of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She was chair of the scientific board of the German National Committee of IHP/HWRP of the UNESCO from 2008 to 2014. She is committed to the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT Madras as area coordinator for water management at the since 2010.

Professor
Dr. S.A. Sannasiraj

Area Coordinator Water Management
IIT Madras, Department of Ocean Engineering

Dr. S. A. Sannasiraj is the Professor of the Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His area of specialization includes wave hydrodynamics, wind-wave modeling, numerical simulation of nonlinear wave-structure interaction and, coastal erosion and protection. He has supervised 16 phd scholars and, at present, 12 scholars are guided by him in the above specialization. Since 2003, he has completed 18 research projects sponsored by Department of Science & Technology, National Research Board, Indian Space Research Organization, European Union & National university of Singapore. At his credit, he has 94 peer-reviewed journal publication and participated over 150 technical conferences. During the last 10 years, he was awarded: DAAD fellowship from Germany during 2006 for tsunamic wave impact on coastal structures; Indian Maritime Award for 2005-’06 for the work on the prediction of tsunami using data buoys; Endeavour India Executive Award from Australian Government during 2007; Fulbright-Nehru senior research fellowship during 2011 for modeling tsunami impact on coastal structures. He has successfully executed more than 300 industrial projects of nature port and harbours, intake/ outfall systems, design of coastal protection structures and wind-wave prediction. Further, he has organized about 20 short Courses and Workshops duing the last 10 years for Researchers, Field Engineers, Faculties & Senior Managers

Other Steering Committee members

Dr. Uwe Kaltenborn

Director Business Development
HIGHVOLT

Dr. Uwe Kaltenborn graduated as MSc Electrical Engineering (EE) from Technische Universität Dresden University and received a PhD EE from Technische Universität Darmstadt (both Germany). He continued his career as researcher and research manager at ABB Corporate Research Switzerland was working in the field of R&D management and strategy for different companies like ABB, Siemens, AREVA T&D (today Schneider Electric) and the Reinhausen Group. At AREVA T&D he was promoted as Corporate Senior Fellow in the field of Medium Voltage Products and Distribution Systems. In 2012 he joined Reinhausen Group, where he was working as Head of Corporate Technology and moved on inside the group as Director Business Development at HIGHVOLT in 2017. He published more than 50 papers and is named as inventor of more than 40 patents. He is heading the German National Committee of CIRED, is Member of the Directing Committee of CIRED, Senior Member IEEE, member of CIGRE and acts as member in several German and international standardization committees. He is also Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology.

IGCS-Postdocs

From 2019 on, four Postdoc researchers with different backgrounds are installed at IGCS. They work both at their German home university and at the IGCS office at IIT Madras for up to six months in a year. The Postdocs are required to engage in interdisciplinary research and teaching at IIT Madras and to significantly contribute to the IGCS outcomes. Thus, the IGCS-Postdocs translate the agenda items of the IGCS focus areas into action, carrying out Indo-German teaching and research forward.

Dr. Gabriela Garcés Sánchez

IGCS-Postdoc Waste Management and Visiting Faculty at IIT Madras
University of Stuttgart, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management

Dr. Gabriela Garcés has extensive experience in research, international cooperation projects and consulting on waste and water management, treatment technologies, reuse, hygiene, watershed management and environmental/ water quality assessments. She advised on capacity building, participatory planning processes, and formulated waste and environmental management strategies in interdisciplinary teams in the context of ecosystem protection and climate adaptation. Works done in Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, and Chennai, India, in collaboration with local governments, NGOs, int. organizations (GIZ, IUCN), academia and the private sector, and advising on a global women and waste project. Gabriela earned her doctoral degree in natural sciences at the Technical University of Munich, has postgraduate studies in Sustainable Resource Management, and degrees in Biological Sciences (Peru/Germany) with majors in waste and wastewater management and environmental microbiology. Her research interests include waste management, resource recovery, sustainability, economics, prevention of environmental/water pollution, governance and planning processes, global development, and the nexus waste-water-ecosystems with consideration of social and public health aspects.

Dr. Daniel Rosado

IGCS-Postdoc Water Management and Visiting Faculty at IIT Madras
Kiel University, Hydrology and Water Resources Management

Dr. Daniel Rosado has several years of experience conducting research on pollution in aquatic ecosystems and water treatment and is interested in pollutant’s fate, their effects on aquatic biota and human health, and restoration. He has worked in projects regarding these topics in several catchments worldwide, including but not limited to the Odiel-Tinto system in Spain, the Napo and Yacuambi rivers in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, the Kielstau in Germany and the Pallikaranai catchment in southern India. Daniel has also worked on the implementation and maintenance of quality management systems for the accreditation of test laboratories against the standard ISO/IEC 17025. Daniel holds a PhD in Chemical and Environmental Technology from the University of Seville, Spain. He also was an associate professor of different subjects related to water pollution and environmental engineering at the Department of Chemistry, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador. In 2019, he joined the IGCS and is based at both, the University of Kiel and the IIT Madras.

Dr. Anna Uffmann

IGCS-Postdoc Land Use

RWTH Aachen University, Neotectonics and Natural Hazards

Dr. Anna Kathrin Uffmann holds a PhD in Petroleum System modelling and Geochemistry (RWTH Aachen) and has worked several years in consulting companies for clients worldwide. During her time in industry, she gained experience in leading interdisciplinary projects in multicultural teams. Her first India experience in 2016, when she was teaching a group of scientists from ONGC, let her fall in love with the country and cultures and inspired her to learn more about India. Her involvement in local sustainability groups in the UK and Germany motivated her to start also something new on the jobsite, as she became more aware of the consequences of climate change and ecosystem destruction. She joined IGCS in 2019 and her field of interest is in geohazards, their impact and consequences on ecosystems and sustainable urbanisation and waste management. She works as geologist at RWTH Aachen and is currently involved in managing a DFG proposal on the long-term effects of flooding in India.

Dr. Christoph Woiwode

IGCS-Postdoc Land Use, Urban and Regional Development Visiting Faculty at IIT Madras
RWTH Aachen University, Economic Geography

Dr. Christoph Woiwode has accumulated more than twenty years experience of working and living in India. He holds a PhD in Planning Studies from the Development Planning Unit, University of London. Christoph graduated in urban and regional planning (TU Berlin) and social anthropology (FU Berlin). Previously he was a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Bath Spa University (2017-2019), a long-term visiting professor at the IGCS in Chennai (2013-2016), lecturer at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund, Germany (2008-2012), and a planning advisor with the German development agency in Sri Lanka (2005-2007). His research areas cover sustainable urbanisation, climate change and disaster risk mitigation, urban socio-cultural change and transformation, theory and practice of urban planning and governance, international development, India/South Asia.

Alsouleman, Khulud

Dr. Khulud Alsouleman

IGCS-Postdoc Energy and Visiting Faculty at IIT Madras
Technical University Berlin, Institute of Energy Technology

Dr. Khulud Alsouleman has several years of experience conducting research on biogas production from different substrates and the microbiology of the anaerobic digestion process in Germany and Syria. During her work, she has gained valuable proficiency in conducting and operating different laboratory scale reactor types (CSTR, batch, UASB, LBR), applying different molecular biological analyses (TRFLP, RFLP, ARDRA, FISH, cloning, PCR) as well as optimizing of the applied methods. As someone who is concerned with protecting environment and preventing the climate change by switching to complete green power, she has worked in PV and solar energy sector to develop her experiences in renewable energy sector.
Khulud holds a PhD in Agricultural Sciences- Renewable Energy from Göttingen University- Germany.
Her research interests include renewable energies, bioenergy (Biogas), biochemical engineering, energy process technology, microbiology, and molecular biology.
Currently, she works as a researcher in the Institute for Energy Technology -TU Berlin and joined the IGCS.