Dr Samir V Kamat assumes charge as new Chairman of DRDO

New Delhi: Dr Samir V Kamat has assumed the charge as Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) and Chairman of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) with effect from August 26. Dr Kamat is a distinguished scientist, previously he served as Director General in Naval Systems & Materials (NS&M) at DRDO in 2017. With his new assignment, Kamat has replaced, G Satheesh Reddy, who has been appointed as the scientific adviser to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) on August 25, 2022, Dr Kamat has been appointed to the post till he attains the age of 60 years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Dr Kamat has obtained B Tech (Hons) in Metallurgical Engineering in 1985 from IIT Kharagpur. In 1988, he completed his Ph D in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, USA. He has specialised in the area of mechanical behaviour of materials. He joined DRDO at DMRL, Hyderabad, as Scientist 'C' in 1989. He was then elevated to the post of OS/Sc 'H' in October 2013. Eventually, he became the Director of the lab on August 17, 2015.

Dr Kamat received the Indranil Medal from the Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India in 1986. Eventually, in 1998, he was awarded the DRDO Young Scientist Award. In 2006, he received the Binani Gold Medal (jointly) of the Indian Institute of Metals 2006, and in 2008, he received the National Metallurgists' Day Metallurgist of the Year Award from the Ministry of Steel. Later on, he got the National Science Day Oration Silicon Medal in 2009, and in 2012, he received the DRDO Scientist of the Year award. Finally, in 2018, he received the IIT Kharagpur Distinguished Alumni Award.

Dr Kamat has made impactful contributions in the field of microstructure-mechanical property correlations in advanced materials such as particulate reinforced metal matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites, aluminium-lithium alloys, etc. over the last 25 years. Additionally, he has been instrumental in the setting up of state-of-the-art experimental facilities and has expertise in the characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of materials in small volumes.

Dr Kamat has also made contributions to the development of Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) Technology in DMRL, in recent times, which is also being supplied to various sister DRDO labs. He also played an important role in the initiation of an MoU between DMRL, BARC, IREL, and ARCI for the launch of a Mineral-to-Magnet programme to make India self-reliant on the REPM technology.

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