Department of Chemistry, NITC
Set in a picturesque landscape at the foothills of the Western Ghats, National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) is located about 22 kilometers north-east of Calicut City. The programmes and courses offered at NITC are designed to provide a balanced blend of basics of any field and adequate exposure to cutting edge ideas, research and technology in the area.
In education and research, the Department of Chemistry is emerging as a major centre of excellence, not only in the national level but also in the international level. The academic activities of the department are supported by highly qualified and experienced faculties who pursue research in the frontier areas of science. The major research areas covered by the department include theoretical and computational chemistry, polymer science and technology, physical chemistry, coordination chemistry, organic chemistry, bio-organic and bio-inorganic chemistry. The department has the state of the art instrumentation facilities, for thermal, mechanical and spectroscopic characterization of materials, and other laboratory facilities. The research activities in the department are generously supported by the external national and international funding agencies. The department also has collaborative research programs with national and international universities/institutes.
CROSSLINKS - 2024
The focus theme of Crosslinks-2024 is ‘sustainable polymeric materials for our better future’. The main objective of the conference to create a platform of scientists, engineers, industrialists, faculty, scholars and students for discussing the recent trends in polymer science & technology. This national conference consists of plenary and invited lectures by the experts in polymer science and material science and poster presentations by young researchers.
Prof. G. Unnikrishnan
Dr Unnikrishnan is a Senior Professor in the Department of Chemistry of NIT Calicut. He received Ph. D. from M. G. University, Kottayam, Kerala State, India, with the thesis based on the transport characteristics of polymer membranes. He possesses experience, in academia and industries; in teaching, research and administrative domains.
His current research interests include design and development of novel macro-molecular architectures, synthesis and characterization of pi-conjugated polymer systems, nano- materials, polymer blends for bio-medical applications, natural fibre reinforced composites, transport phenomena, polymer membranes, tribo-piezoelectric materials, novel catalysts for organic reactions and materials for physical medicine & rehabilitation.
Dr Unnikrishnan supervised 32 Ph Ds. Five scholars are currently work in his group. He has authored 271 technical articles. He successfully completed 12 research projects funded by MHRD, DST, STEC, CSIR, British Council etc. Fiver patents (one awarded; 4 under processing) have been derived from his group. His group developed two inner liners for CTEV orthosis and Knight Taylor's Brace in association with Calicut Medical College, Kerala. He is a recipient of Prof. Sankarlal Memorial National Award (IIT Kharagpur) and Best Performer Award (NIT Calicut).
He was a visiting researcher at the Department of Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK. He had combined research programmes with Lunghwa University, Taiwan. He has current collaborative programmes with different universities and institutes. His post-doctoral experience includes the assignment as an Environmental Specialist at Abu Dhabi, related to petroleum related operations.
He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry ( FRSC). He is a Member of American Chemical Society(ACS), International Union of Pure and and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), Materials Research Society of India (MRSI), and Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).He is the Founder Secretary and current President of the Calicut Chapter of Society for Polymer Science (India) (SPSI).
He served as the Coordinator of NIT Sikkim during 2011-2013. He was the Dean (SW) of NIT Calicut during Nov. 2015-Nov. 2018. He was also the Professor -in- charge of PG and doctoral programmes, Head of Department of Science and Humanities, Head of Department of Chemistry and Chief Warden of NIT Calicut. He was the Faculty-in- Charge of Social Engineering Forum, the vibrant technical platform connecting NIT Calicut with public. He is a consultant/mentor for the development of polymer and lubricant products. Two start-ups are currently being mentored by him.
