Prof. Rintu Banerjee became the first female deputy director of IIT Kharagpur.

The appointment of Professor Rintu Banerjee as IIT Kharagpur's first female deputy director is a historic moment for the university. 

Through a variety of high-impact jobs and research programs, she has made a substantial contribution to academia and industry during her illustrious career in biotechnology.

Professor Rintu Banerjee has been appointed as the deputy director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, making history as the first woman to hold this position. 

Professor Banerjee has had a distinguished career in biotechnology, founding and currently chairing the P K Sinha Centre for Bioenergy and Renewables. 

She has also led the Centre for Rural Development, Innovative and Sustainable Technology, and served as Head of the Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering at IIT Kharagpur.

Professor Banerjee has overseen multiple noteworthy positions over her career, such as Coordinator for RuTAG, Nodal Coordinator for Australia and New Zealand for SPARC, and Chairperson of the Centre of Excellence in Precision Agriculture and Food Nutrition.

 She graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur with a PhD in Microbial Biotechnology. She has been involved in industry-academia joint research, which has led to the issuance of numerous national and international patents.

One of Professor Banerjee's noteworthy accomplishments is the successful commercialization of her 1G and 2G ethanol technology. She has also managed a number of well-known projects sponsored by the government and business, and written two books on environmental biotechnology and OMICS-based methods in plant biotechnology.

Her knowledge is in high demand worldwide; she has worked with scientists on joint projects and served as a visiting lecturer in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Egypt, Australia, the US, Taiwan, Japan, the UK, South Korea, Laos, Thailand, Dubai, Doha, Brazil, Canada, and Malaysia.

Professor Banerjee received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Louis Pasteur Award, Madan Mohan Malviya Award, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Dr. Prem Dureja Endowment, Young Scientist Award 94 from the Association for Food Scientists and Technologists (India), Panjabrao Deshmukh Award for Outstanding Women Scientist from ICAR, and Best Woman Bioscientist from Biotech Research Society of India.

 In addition, she was named the Most Inspiring Women Engineer/Scientist of 2014 by Engineering Watch, New Delhi, for her outstanding contributions to the world of science and technology. She has been cited in more than 6000 publications.