Ashutosh Sharma is Institute Chair Professor at IIT Kanpur and elected President of the Indian National Science Academy (2021- 23). He has been Chair of G20 Science, S20/G20 (2023). He is a former Secretary to the Government of India (2015-2021) and former Chairman of the Board of Governors of IISERs at Tirupati and Berhampur. He obtained his BTech from IIT, Kanpur in 1982, MS at the Pennsylvania State University, and PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1988. His research contributions are highly interdisciplinary, spanning a wide spectrum in nanotechnology; materials and devices in energy, health, and environment; nano-patterning and nanofabrication; biomaterials & biosurfaces; wetting and adhesion. He has published over 350 peer reviewed papers, granted over 12 patents, given over 150 invited or keynote scientific conference presentations, and mentored a successful nanotechnology startup. He has received several honors including the Infosys Prize, TWAS Science Prize in Engineering, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award of the Humboldt Foundation, J. C. Bose National Fellowship, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, The Syed Husain Zaheer Medal of INSA, Distinguished Alumnus Award of IITK and SUNY Buffalo and the Life-time Achievement Award of the Indian Science Congress and several honorary doctorates including from SUNY Buffalo and Jadavpur University. He is a fellow of INSA, the INAE and TWAS. He is an associate editor of ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces and has been on the editorial boards of over 6 international journals.