Two NPTEL Chair Professorships Instituted at IIT Guwahati

IIT Guwahati will confer its inaugural NPTEL Chair Professorships at the Institute's 33rd Foundation Day celebrations, to recognize and support outstanding faculty members of IIT Guwahati who have demonstrated excellence in research, innovation, and industry collaboration, and made significant contributions to NPTEL-SWAYAM

Published 31 August 2026 | Category Institute Events | Office Faculty Affairs

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), IIT Madras, has instituted two Chair Professorships at IIT Guwahati. The Professorships are named in honour of two towering figures associated with the Institute: Prof D. N. Buragohain (Founding Director, 1994–2003), and Prof Gautam Barua (Director, 2003–2013)

The Chairs have been instituted to recognise and support faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in research, innovation and industry collaboration, alongside a sustained commitment to technology-enhanced learning.

This year's honours go to Professor Dilwar Hussain of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, who will hold the D. N. Buragohain Chair, and Professor Ajay Kalamdhad of the Department of Civil Engineering, who will hold the Gautam Barua Chair.

Professor Hussain's NPTEL-SWAYAM courses span the psychology of stress, personality, emotion and well-being. He has built a substantial body of work in positive psychology and trauma studies.

Professor Kalamdhad, a widely published researcher in solid waste management and environmental engineering, has created courses on Municipal Waste Management on NPTEL. His work helps learners comprehensively understand the entire chain of activities in solid waste management – from generation, to segregation, transformation, and disposal. He also leads several active research groups at the Institute working on composting, anaerobic digestion and water treatment.

The Chairs will be awarded at the Foundation Day ceremony on 1 September, an occasion that drew senior dignitaries, alumni and members of the wider academic community to the Institute's campus at Guwahati.