Ashok Misra is currently NASI (National Academy of Sciences) Distinguished Professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He is a former Director of IIT-Bombay and past Chairman, India Intellectual Ventures. He taught at IIT-Delhi for more than two decades. Ashok obtained his B.Tech. from IIT-Kanpur, M.S. from Tufts University and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. He has over 180 publications and eight patents and another seven in process. He is a Director on the Boards of Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd.; Jubilant Pharma Ltd.; Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd.; and Higher Education Financing Agency. He has also held several responsibilities with Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, including Chairman of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council and Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT-Roorkee. Ashok is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India and also served as its President.

Ram Ramaswamy is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry, IIT-Delhi. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad and past President, Indian Academy of Sciences. He taught for more than three decades at the School of Physical Sciences and the School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Ram studied at Madras University and IIT-Kanpur before completing his PhD at Princeton University. His research interests have included theoretical chemistry, statistical physics, molecular dynamics and computational and systems biology. He is the author of over 200 peer reviewed publications and 30 edited books and conference proceedings. Ram is an elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; and the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. He has also served as President of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Manisha Priyam is an Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Policy, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi. She has a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in International Development and works in the areas of policy reforms in education and urban social protection. She is the author of The Contested Politics of Education Reforms in India: Aligning Opportunities with Interests (Oxford University Press, 2015) and several journal articles.

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