Puru Jena

Biography:

Dr. Puru Jena, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University, received his Ph. D. from the University of California, Riverside. He also served as Program Director at the Materials Science Division of the National Science Foundation during 1986-87 and as Jefferson Science Fellow and Senior Science Advisor at the US Department of State during 2007-08. Dr. Jena’s research covers a wide range of topics in nano-structured materials, condensed matter Physics, and materials Science. He is the author of more than 650 papers including 14 edited books. According to Google scholar, he has an H index of 90 and his papers have been cited 34,000 times. He has given over 500 invited talks in 33 countries, including over 250 invited talks at international conferences and has organized 60 international conferences.Some of Dr.Jena’s many honors include: Prof. A. K. Chandra Memorial award of the Indian Chemical Society, Fellow of the American Physical Society; Outstanding Scientist of Virginia; Presidential Medallion, University Award of Excellence, and Outstanding Scholar of Virginia Commonwealth University; and Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia. He has served as a member of numerous scientific panels at the National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Army Research Office, Virginia Governor’s task force on green energy technologies and co-chaired the Presidential Commission on bilateral scientific collaboration between USA and Russia.