Chairman and Founder of CSTEP
Padma Vibhushan Dr V.S. Arunachalam is the Founder and Chairman of CSTEP. His distinguished career spanned across Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), National Aeronautical Laboratory, and Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory. Dr Arunachalam worked as the Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development (Ministry of Defence, Government of India). He was also the Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and served as the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, Government of India, from 1982 to 1992. He was conferred the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1980), Padma Bhushan (1985), and Padma Vibhushan (1990) for his contribution to engineering science and technology. In addition to being the first Indian Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), Dr Arunachalam serves as a member of the advisory and editorial boards of several universities and foundations, including the Materials Research Society Bulletin. Dr Arunachalam is a Distinguished Service Professor (Engineering and Public Policy) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
In 2015, he was awarded DRDO's Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the field of scientific research and technology.