Dr. Arun Kumar Sarma

Dr. Arun Kumar Sarma has been serving as the Director General of the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) since 30th September 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from IASST and Gauhati University (1999), and completed his first post-doctoral research at the Institute of Space & Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan. He began his career as a Scientist at CPP-IPR, a Government of India extension centre, and later served as a faculty member in the Department of Applied Physics at BIT Mesra, Ranchi (2003–2007).

From 2007 to 2011, he was associated with Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), where he also served as Dean of the PG Programme for three years. He then joined VIT University, Chennai, where he worked as a Professor of Physics and Dean of Sponsored Research from 2011 to 2019.

Dr. Sarma is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including the BOYSCAST Fellowship (DST, Govt. of India, 2004–05), AAAPT Research & Training Fellowship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and CoE Fellowshipfrom Japan’s Ministry of Education, among others. He has participated in bilateral exchange programmes and served as an INSA Visiting Fellow.

His primary research interests lie in Plasma Science and Technology, with a focus on thin film coatings for metals, semiconductors, and textiles. He holds patents, has published extensively in reputed international journals, and successfully transferred a technology to the automobile industry.

Dr. Sarma has completed numerous government-funded research projects and has supervised several Ph.D. scholars. He also maintains strong academic collaborations with universities and research institutions in Austria, France, Germany, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, and the UK.