Ajayaghosh is the Director of the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India and Professor of Academy of Scientific Innovative Research, CSIR, India. He obtained his Ph.D in Chemistry in 1989 at University of Calicut, India. He has made significant contributions in molecular assemblies, fluorescent materials, organogels, molecular probes and photoresponsive materials. His awards includes INSA medal for young scientists, S S Bhatnagar prize, Khwarizmi International Award, Infosys prize, TWAS prize, CRSI Silver Medal and J.C.Bose National Fellowship. His membership includes: Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the TWAS fellowship.

Suresh is President, Nanyang Technological U., Singapore. Previously, he served as Pres., Carnegie Mellon U. (2013-17), Dir., Natl. Science Foundation of the United States (2010-13), and as dean of engineering (2007-2010) and Vannevar Bush prof. of engineering, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT). He received his bachelor of technology (1977) from Indian Inst. of Technology, Madras; MS (1979) from Iowa State U.; and ScD (1981) from MIT. He is world renowned for his pioneering work on the mechanical properties of engineered and biological materials and for establishing connections between cell mechanics and human diseases. He has authored over 240 research articles, 20 patents and 3 books. A recipient of 11 hon. doctorates, he has been elected to 15 engineering/science academies incl. the US Natl. Acad. of Engineering, Natl. Acad. of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Inventors, and the American Acad. of Arts and Sciences, as well as the French, Chinese and German science academies.

Mohan is Chairman of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and President of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai, India. He obtained PhD in 1987 and DSc in 1997. He has over 1530 publications including 986 original research articles in peer reviewed journals, 367 review articles and 186 chapters in text books. His work has a h-index of 145 and has over 174,000 citations. He has received Fellowships from all the four Royal College of Physicians of UK and Ireland, American College of Endocrinology and the American College of Physicians. He has received 200 awards including the prestigious Dr. B.C. Roy Award by the Medical Council of India and the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centenary Award from the Indian Council of Medical Research. In 2012 he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards given by the Govt. of India. He was conferred Hon. Doctorate from Deakin University of Melbourne in 2017. He has been conferred with the prestigious Harold Rifkin Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes Award by the American Diabetes Association in 2018 for his pioneering work in the field of diabetes and he is the first Indian to receive this award. He

Raghunathan is Distinguished Guest Professor and Head, National Centre for Mathematics at IIT-Bombay, Mumbai, India. He obtained his PhD in mathematics from the University of Mumbai in 1966 and was appointed associate professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research the same year. His awards include: the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematics; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India, 1977; TWAS Prize for Mathematics, 1991; and the 1991 Srinivas Ramanujan Medal, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) He is a fellow of INSA, Delhi, the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, and the Royal Society, UK. He has been awarded (2012) the Padma Bhushan award for Science and Engineering, a high civilian award by the Government of India.

Narlikar received his BSc (Banaras Hindu Univ., 1957) and PhD (1963) and ScD (1976) at Cambridge. In 1988 he became the foun. dir. of the Inter-Univ. Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, where he was dir. until his retirement in 2003 and where he became emeritus prof. He was SS Bhatnagar laureate (1978) in physics and has several other national awards including Padmavibhushan (2004). In 1996 he received the UNESCO Kalinga Award for science popularization. In 2004, he received the Janssen Medal of the Societe Astronomique de France. He is a fellow of the 3 natl. academies of science in India and assoc. of the Royal Astronomical Society, London. In 2012 he received TWAS Institution building award. He received hon. doctorates from several Indian universities and also one from the Univ. of Natal, Durban, South Africa. In 2011 he received the State Award Maharashtra Bhushan.

Valiathan is national research professor at the Manipal University. After obtaining surgical training (Univ. of Liverpool), a master's (surgery), and fellowship (Royal College of Surgeons, England), he specialized in cardiac surgery (Johns Hopkins and Georgetown), and became fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Canada. He was faculty member at Georgetown Univ. Hospital, Postgrad. Medical Inst. (Chandigarh), Indian Inst. of Tech. (Chennai), Sree Chitra Tirunal Inst. (Trivandrum) and was past pres. of the Indian Natl. Science Academy. His awards include Hunterian professorship, Royal College of Surgeons of England; fellowship, Royal College of Physicians, London; Chevalier, order of palmes academiques, French Govt.; Samuel P.Asper Award of the Johns Hopkins Medical School; and 7 doctorates (h.c.). He is member of the Natl. Academies for Science, Med. and Eng. (India) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, USA.

Shukla is Univ. Prof. and founding Dir. of Climate Dynamics, PhD., found chair AOES dept., George Mason Univ. Obtained his BSc, MSc and PhD from BHU, India, and DSc from MIT. Previously, he was: res. assoc., Princeton; vis. assoc. prof., MIT; sr. scientist, GSFC, NASA; prof., Univ. of Maryland; chairman, TOGA Panel, NAS, USA; chairman, Int. Advisory Panel for Weather and Climate, India; Founding dir., Ctr. for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies. Honors and awards include: Honorary member, AMS; Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, Padma Shri (India, 2012), IMO Prize, AGU Fellow, Rossby Medal, AMS; Walker Gold Medal, IMS; Exceptional Sci. Achiev. Medal, NASA. His membership includes: VA Governor's Commission on Climate; Joint Scientific Comm. and Chair of Modeling Panel, Climate Variability, WCRP; Fellow of IMS and AMS. Contributions include "Predictability in the Midst of Chaos." He is Founder of Gandhi College for the education of rural women in the village of his birth in India.

Tyagi is professor, Delhi University South Campus, India. He has served as head, Dept. of Plant Molecular Biology; chairman, Board of Research Studies; and dir., Interdisciplinary Centre for Plant Genomics at Delhi University South Campus; and dir., Natl. Inst. Plant Genome Research, India. He has made important contributions to genome sequencing of rice, tomato and chickpea, investigated transcriptome profile and characterized function of several novel genes/regulatory elements related to rice reproductive system and stress responsive networks by forward and reverse genetics approaches. His awards include: JC Bose Natl. Fellowship; DBT Natl. Bioscience Award; NASI Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award; BP Pal Memorial Award; Birbal Sahni Medal; and Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Sci and Tech. He is a member of: Ind. Natl. Science Acad.; Natl. Acad. of Sciences India; Ind. Acad. Science and Natl. Acad. of Agric. Scs., India; Former President, Natl. Acad. of Sciences India.