Dr K N Shankara, Outstanding Scientist, ISRO, has been appointed as Director
of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad. Dr Shankara, took over
his new assignment from Dr A K S Gopalan, who superannuated on October 31,
2002, after a distinguished career in ISRO spanning for more than three
decades. Dr Gopalan has made significant contributions in the field of
space-based remote sensing, especially, in image processing.
Born in May 1945, Dr Shankara obtained his Post Graduate Degree in Physics
from Bangalore University and Doctorate in Electrical Communication
Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Dr Shankara joined ISRO in 1971 at SAC and carried out pioneering work in
the design and development of communication transponders that are used in
INSAT series of satellites. In 1996, he took over as Deputy Director of ISRO
Satellite Center, Bangalore. He moved over to ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore
in the year 2001 as Director of Satellite Communications Programme Office
(SCPO) and Programme Director, INSAT. In this capacity, he was looking after
the overall planning and direction of communication satellite programme.
Dr Shankara has also served as Honorary Professor at the Gujarat University
and a Member of the Research Council of Central Electronics Engineering
Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani. At present he is a member of the
Governing Council of the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics
Engineering Research (SAMEER), Mumbai.
