Dr. Mangala Sunder Krishnan is a Professor of Chemistry in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He has also held the position of National Web Courses Coordinator for the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, the largest open and free academic content development initiative in India for engineering education. He is an active promoter of web based and multimedia based educational content development and is the creator of several hundred animations in physical chemistry, all of which are freely available to teachers and students worldwide. A native of Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu, India, he received his early education at St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, and graduated with a B.Sc. from Madurai University in 1977. He obtained his M.Sc. in applied chemistry from P. S. G. College of Technology, Coimbatore, in 1979, and served as a Trainee in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and later as a Scientific Officer ‘C’ in the Chemistry Division for nearly two years before proceeding for his Ph.D. in McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1988 in theoretical chemistry and pursued postdoctoral studies in several fields of theoretical chemistry at the University of British Columbia (1987-1989), University of Montreal (1989-1993) and Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (1993-1995) before joining IIT Madras as Assistant Professor in 1996. He has been a Professor of theoretical chemistry since 2006 and has guided several Ph.D., M.Tech. and M.Sc. students in theoretical chemistry. He is a University Gold Medalist in both B.Sc. and M.Sc. In addition, he is the recipient of one of the Best Graduate Student-Teacher (Sterry Hunt) awards given by McGill University for three years in succession (1984-1986). He is a Member of a number of review committees set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Communications, and Ministry of Agriculture, all related to e-learning and education through ICT. He is currently a Member of the Executive Board of the National Council for Educational Research and Training, a body responsible for school education planning in India and the Executive Board of the National Institute of Open Schooling.
Mangala Sunder Krishnan’s Interview – Discussion on Technology Enhanced Learning