Prof. Umesh Waghmare received a B Tech (with institute silver medal) in Engineering Physics from the IIT, Bombay (1990) and a PhD in Applied Physics from Yale University (1996). He worked as a post-doctoral research associate in physics department at Harvard University before joining the faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in 2000, where he served as the President (2025-26) and a Professor in the Theoretical Sciences Unit. He served as the President of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore during 2022-2024. He joined Department of Science & Technology as a Secretary to Government of India on July 3, 2026.
His research has led to atomistic understanding of a variety of technologically important materials, having made significant contributions to ab initio modeling and simulations of multifunctional materials, mechanical behavior, nanostructures, quantum geometry, topological insulators and materials for energy and environment. He was a co-founder of a startup, Breathe Applied Sciences PVT Ltd, which engages in reduction of CO2, the greenhouse gas to methanol, a fuel. He is an Associate Editor of NanoScale and NanoScale Advances.
He is a recipient of DuPont Young Faculty grant award (2003), MRSI medal (2004), B M Birla award for Physics (2005), DAE outstanding research investigator award (2009), IBM Faculty Award (2009), SS Bhatnagar prize in Physical Sciences (2010), the Infosys Prize in Engineering and Computer Science (2015) and GD Birla award for scientific research (2016). He was recognized as a distinguished alumnus by IIT-Bombay in 2017 and received the MRSI Distinguished Materials Scientist of the Year award (2024) of the Materials Research Society of India. He is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, the Indian National Science Academy, Indian National Academy of Engineering and Maharashtra Academy of Sciences.
