Dr. Chandra Shekhar obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from BITS Pilani in 1971 and 1975 respectively. Thereafter, he moved to CEERI, Pilani where, after serving as a post doctoral fellow, he joined the institute as Scientist ‘B’ in August 1977. He has been serving as Director of CEERI since 2003.

In 1980, Dr. Chandra Shekhar initiated research work at CEERI in the field of LSI/VLSI design and CAD and established one of the best known R&D groups in the field in the country. Under his leadership, the group developed country’s first full-custom dedicated LSI processor chip, the first semicustom CMOS VLSI chip for digital telephone exchanges of CDAC, the first 16/32 bit general purpose processor and the first Application Specific Instruction Set Processor (ASIP). He has established new research laboratories at CEERI in the field of High Power Microwave Devices, MEMS, Micro-sensors, Integrated Systems and Nano Electronic Devices which have served both the strategic sector and the society immensely.

Dr. Chandra Shekhar also played a key role in the formulation and execution of Government of India, Department of Electronics’ national initiatives in Microelectronics research and education through various research focused programs and the well known “Special Manpower Development Program for VLSI Design and related software”. He has pioneered the use of VHDL and synthesis based VLSI design methodology in academia, industry and strategic sector R&D in the country. He has published more than 90 research papers in reputed national and international journals.

Dr. Chandra Shekhar has served as a member of Governing Bodies of CSIR, AcSIR, BITS-Pilani, NIT Kurukshetra, UIET Kurukshetra University and Mody University of Science and Technology. He has also been a member of CSIR Society, Society for Semiconductor Laboratories of ISRO, and on the Board of Directors of Central Electronics Limited. He is a Fellow of IETE, Honorary Fellow of Metrology Society of India and a life member of Indian Physics Association, Semiconductor Society of India and Indo-French Technical Association.

Dr. Chandra Shekhar has been awarded UNESCO/ROSTSCA Young Scientist Award in 1986, CEERI Foundation Day Merit award in the year 1988, ISHEER Science Councilor Award in 2005, Prof. L K Maheshwari Foundation Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2010, Doctor of Science (honoris causa) by NIT Kurukshetra in 2012 and IETE Diamond Jubilee Gold Medal award in the year 2013.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Category of Professional management of businesses is awarded to Dr. Chandra Shekhar, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the society. Through his achievements, Dr. Chandra Shekhar has brought glory to the name of the Institute.