B. N. Suresh

Byrana Nagappa Suresh (born 12 November 1943) is an Indian aerospace scientist. He is presently the Chancellor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, IIST at Thiruvanthapuram and Honorary Distinguished Professor at ISRO HQ. He was President Indian National Academy of Engineering, INAE at Delhi, which is a premier engineering Academy in the Country for four years during 2015 to 2018. He served as the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram during the period 2003–2007. He is known for his contribution to the development of Indian launch vehicles, Space Capsule Recovery Experiments (SRE) and also for R& D management. Suresh also served as the founding director of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram. He retired from IIST in November 2010. He was Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor at ISRO HQ for 5 years since November 2010 and also as distinguished professor at IIT, Mumbai and MIT, Manipal for 3 years. He was a member of the board of governors (BOG) for IIT, Madras for 7years till july 2018. He is also chairman of the governing council for MVJ College of Engineering at Bangalore. He is the vice chair for the Design Division of Aeronautical Society of India. He is one of the associate editors of the book "From Fishing Hamlet To Red Planet" and a co-author of "," both tracing the history of Indian Space Research Organisation.
Early life and education.
Suresh had a very humble early life, with his father determined to make him an engineer. His father B. Nagappa was an agriculturist in Hosakere, Andagar, a small village near Koppa town situated near the holy town of Sringeri in Karnataka, India. He attended his entire schooling in Andagar and Koppa and studied in Kannada medium. After his bachelor's degree in science in 1963 and engineering in 1967 from Mysore University, he took his master's degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1969. He did his doctorate in control systems from Salford University, United Kingdom, in 1978.
He is a fellow of several professional bodies like Indian National Academy of Engineering, FNAE (INAE),Indian National Academy of Sciences, FNA, (INSA), Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Indian Society of System Engineering for Science and Engineering (ISSE) and full member for International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) at Paris. He is also Fellow and past President for System Society of India (SSI).
He has made significant contributions in the international area too. To name a few, he was head of the Indian delegation for the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at Vienna, Austria, during 2004–2007. He was selected as chairman of the United Nations Scientific and Technical Committee for the year 2006 from the Asia Pacific Countries. This was a unique distinction, since from the inception of UN Committee in the last 42 years a technical expert from a developing country was selected for this coveted post. He was Chairman for the selection of members in S&T area for International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) for five years. He was also co-chair for programme committee for the conduct of International Astronautical Congress in 2007.
He has delivered several prestigious guest lectures like, Ramanujam memorial, Vikram Sarabhai memorial, Dr. Srinivasan memorial, APJ Abdul kalam memorial lecture, Dr Subir Kar memorial lecture and many more in prominent Institutions and national conferences. He has given invited lectures at several International Institutions like, European Space Policy Institute, Paris, Space Institute at Strasbourg, United Nations conferences at Vienna, NASA conference on Project Management at Houston, US, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Angeles, and many more. He has written a book titled "Integrated Design for Space Transportation System" in association with his colleague Dr. K Sivan in November 2015 highlighting the complexities of rocket science, Published by international publisher M/s Springers. This book has been awarded Engineering Science Book Award by International Academy of Astronautics for year 2019.
He has published around 42 papers in reputed international and national journals, conferences and guided more than 450 technical reports on various technology developments at VSSC during his stay of 38 years. The areas encompass a variety of subjects ranging from vehicle control system design, navigation and guidance, actuation systems, sensors, simulation, the test systems, vehicle & mission design aspects and also on management topics.
Awards.
1. Dr.Biren Roy Space Science and/or Design Award, 1993,by the Aeronautical Society of India.
2. ASI Award 1996, for Rocket & Related Technologies, by Astronautical Society of India, 1996.
3. “AGNI” Award for excellence in Self Reliance by Defence Research & Development Laboratory , Ministry Of Defence in 1999.
4. Distinguished Alumni Award’ From IIT Madras, Dec 2004.
5. “Ramanujam Memorial Award” PSG Coimbatore at National System Conference, 2005. 
6. “Technical Excellence award’ by Lions International, Trivandrum , Jan 2006. 
7. Selected as Chairman for S&T Committee of UN-Committee for Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS) by the Asian Countries for the year 2006 by the Countries of Asia Pacific Region.
8. “Outstanding Achievement Award” by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Government of India, in June 2007.
9. “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Indian National Academy of Engineering, (INAE) Delhi, in Dec 2007, for contributions in Science and Technology.
10. “National Systems Gold Medal” for lifetime contributions for large Systems by System Society of India in Dec 2007.
11. “Aryabhata Award” for life time contributions in space technology by Astronautical society of India,for 2009.
12. “Big Kannadiga Award” by FM 93.7 Radio for Science in 2014 for contributions in Science and Technology.
13. “Karnataka State Rajyotsava Award” for 2014 for outstanding contributions in Science & Technology, the top award from Government of Karnataka.
14. "Lifetime achievement Award” by Malenadu Vipra Vedike, Bengaluru (2014)
15. “MR Kurup Endowment Award” by Centre for Indian Consumers Research, Trivandrum, for outstanding contributions in space education and research in 2015. 
16. “Lifetime achievement Award” by Karnataka Science and Engineering Academy for excellent contributions to technology and education in 2015.
17. "Sir M Visweswariah Science Award", for his outstanding contributions to Space science, research and Education by the Karnataka Branch of "Vijnana Bharathi",(Science India), 2016, in Karnataka Science Congress.
18. “Life time Achievement Award” by Department of Space for his outstanding contributions for the space programme, particularly for launch Vehicles.
19. National Honour of ‘ Padmasree’ by President of India in 2002 in recognition of meritorious services in the areas Science and Technology.
20. National Honour of “Padmabhushan” by President of India in 2013 for meritorious contributions in Science and Technologies.
21. “Global Pioneer Award” by International Council of System Engineering (INCOSE) at Washington, DC, USA in July 2018 for his pioneering contributions to space system engineering.
22. “Engineering Sciences Book Award”, by the International Academy of Astronautics for the outstanding contribution to astronautics by Publication of ‘Integrated Design for Space Transportation System’ Springers, at International Astronautical Congress, at Washington DC in October 2019.
23. Honorary Doctorate from Gitam University in 2019 for his outstanding contributions for Science and Technology
24. "IEEE Simon Ramo Award" from IEEE Organisation for exceptional achievement in systems engineering and System Science and will be awarded in May 2020 at Vancouver , canada
References.
6. IIST Website : https://www.iist.ac.in/aboutus/chancellor
External links.
https://www.incose.org/events-and-news/incose-and-se-news/2018/08/06/incose-recognizes-dr-b-n-suresh-(isro)-with-pioneer-award