M. Cristina Marchetti

Affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Cristina Marchetti has worked on a broad range of problems in condensed matter physics and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, including supercooled fluids, superconductors and driven disordered systems. Currently, she is interested in the emergent behavior of ``active matter’’, with realizations ranging from the organization of cells in morphogenesis to the assembly of active colloids. Marchetti was educated in Italy at the University of Pavia, earned her Ph.D. at the University of Florida, and joined the faculty at UC Santa Barbara in 2018, after thirty years on the faculty at Syracuse University. She is currently co-lead editor of the Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics and of Physical Review X. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the US National Academy of Sciences. In 2019 she was awarded the inaugural Leo P. Kadanoff prize by the American Physical Society.

Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay.

Guruswamy Kumaraswamy’s work focuses on controlling structure and investigating structure-property relations in soft matter systems. These systems range from polymers to surfactants, lipids and colloids. He collaborates extensively with industry in the area of polymers, healthcare, personal care, waste valorization, etc.  He received a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1994, followed by an MS in 1996 and PhD in 2000 in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He spent a year as a VW Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces. From 2001 to 2019, he was a scientist in the Polymer Science and Engineering Division at the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory in Pune. Recognitions for his work include the CSIR Young Scientist Award, the NCL Scientist of the Year Award, and election to the Fellowship of the American Physical Society and the INAE.

Madan Rao

Affiliation: Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, NCBS - TIFR, Bangalore.

Madan Rao received his Ph.D from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1989 and post-doctoral training at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. Subsequently, he held positions at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai and Raman Research Institute, Bangalore.  His work spans the broad area of nonequilibrium statistical physics and soft matter.  He has contributed to the field of Active Matter from its inception, in particular its applications to cellular and tissue biophysics. His current research interests include how nonequilibrium processes facilitate information processing, computation and control within cells and tissues. He is a recipient of several awards and honours, including the B. M. Birla Science prize, Swarna Jayanti fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize of CSIR. He was also elected as a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences as well as Indian National Science Academy.