Dr Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune, received the Engineering Council of Indi’s Eminent Engineer Award. Dr Ashish Lele, has taken over the charge as the Director of CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, on 1 April 2021.

Dr Lele completed his Chemical Engineering graduation from the Department of Chemical Technology (ICT), University of Bombay, in 1988. He obtained PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware, the USA in 1993. He joined CSIR-NCL in 1993 as a scientist and set up a research group on the rheology of complex fluids, polymer dynamics, and polymer processing. He led many industry-sponsored research projects at the laboratory and carried out several product development activities. He led the efforts for developing PEM fuel cell technology in a consortium of three other CSIRlaboratories and three Indian industries.