Associate Professor & HoD,
Department of Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science (MEMS)
Dr. Ajay was born in Kanpur, a large industrial city located
at central-western part of Uttar Pradesh, India. He received
the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.-Physics & Mathematics) and
Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Physics with specialization in
Electronics from Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University,
formerly Kanpur University, Uttar Pradesh, India. Then, he
worked as ‘Lecturer of Physics’ in engineering colleges
affiliated to Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow.
In 2008, Dr. Ajay moved to Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay (IITB) (www.iitb.ac.in), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to
pursue his doctoral research. He joined ‘Nanomaterials
Research Laboratory’ led by Prof M. Aslam at Department of
Physics, IIT Bombay and received Ph.D. degree in area of
Nanomaterials. His thesis work was mainly dedicated to
controlled growth of nanostructures and tailoring of surface
defects. Dr. Ajay’s PhD thesis is entitled as “Control over
electrical and photoelectrical properties of ZnO nanowire
films by defect manipulation and surface functionalization.”
After PhD, he joined as SCIENTIST-I’ at ‘Institute of
Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) Singapore
(https://www.a-star.edu.sg/imre), IMRE is a public funded
research institute of the Science and Engineering Research
Council (SERC), Agency for Science, Technology and Research
(A*STAR). During stay at IMRE, he worked on metal oxide
functional coatings to develop smart windows &
electrochromic glasses for green buildings. He received
DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow Award in year 2016 from Department
of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. Then, he joined the
Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science
at IIT Indore as INSPIRE Faculty in July 2016 and as Assistant
Professor in September-2017. He is the recipient of SERB-Early
Career Research Award (2017) from Government of India.
At present, Dr. Ajay is Head (HoD) of the Department of
Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, IIT Indore
since March 2023. He also joined as Associate Professor at IIT
Indore in November 2022. Dr. Kushwaha is life-member of the
Materials Research Society of India (MRSI), The Indian
Institute of Metals (IIM), Indian Physics Association (IPA),
Electron Microscope Society of India (EMSI) and Luminescence
Society of India (LSI) and member of Royal Society of
Chemistry (RSC). He has published more than 70 research
articles, International Patent (Technology is licensed) and
several book chapters. His major research interests are
‘Control Growth of Nanomaterials & Thin Films’, Materials
Electrochemistry’, Clean Energy: Green Hydrogen & Solar
Cell’, ‘Electronic Devices’,etc. Dr. Kushwaha regularly
serving as reviewer for various journals in area of
Nanomaterials, Thin Films, Energy, Applied Electrochemistry
etc.
Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science,
Indian Institute of Technology Indore,
Khandwa Road, Simrol, Indore-453552, INDIA
