Our Director
Dr. Prakash Kumar is a leading geophysicist and the Director of CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI). With over 25 years of research excellence, Dr. Kumar is recognized globally for his pioneering contributions to active and passive seismology, specifically in the high-resolution imaging of the Earth's crust and lithosphere. He has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the Indian plate's deep structure. His seminal contributions include but not limited to: Lithospheric Imaging, the discovery of X-Discontinuity in the Indian shield, AI/ML, and Quantum computing in seismic data. His research established the first definitive evidence for the anomalous thinness and high velocity of the Indian plate. He is an author of about 90 papers in world-leading journals, including Nature, Science, Nature Geoscience, PNAS, and GRL, and has co-authored a comprehensive book in the field. An alumnus of ISM Dhanbad (Now, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad) (M.Sc. Tech, 1997) and Osmania University (Ph.D., 2002), Dr. Kumar has cultivated a vast international research network. He has served as a visiting researcher at several of the world's premier Earth Science institutions, including GFZ (Germany), ERI (Tokyo), IPGP (Paris), and IPE (Moscow). He has mentored seven PhD scholars to completion, with six currently under his supervision. Beyond his doctoral students, he mentors two women scientists as postdoctoral fellows and actively trains a new generation of researchers from various national institutes/universities. In recognition of his exceptional research contributions, Dr. Kumar has received numerous prestigious awards, including National Geoscience Award (Min of Mines, Govt. of India), First T. M. Mahadevan Endowment Lecture Award, Anni Talwani Memorial Prize, Krishnan Medal from the Indian Geophysical Union, and CSIR-Young Scientist Award. He has also been honored with fellowships from esteemed organizations such as the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), the Geological Society of India, the Telangana Academy of Sciences, and international fellowship programs, such as the DAAD and JSPS Fellowships.