Nallathambi Kalaiseelvi became the first woman Director General of the country's top scientific organization CSIR

Senior scientist Nallathambi Kalaiseelvi has become the first woman Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). CSIR is a consortium of 38 research institutes across the country. According to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry on Saturday, she will succeed Shekhar Mande, who retired in April. After Mande's retirement, Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, was given additional charge of CSIR. Kalaiseelvi, who is known for her work in the field of lithium-ion batteries, is currently the director of CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. Kalaiseelvi will also hold the charge of Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. His appointment is for a period of two years.

Kalaiseelvi started her job at CSIR and built a good reputation at the institute and became the first woman to head CSIR-CECRI in February 2019. He started his career in research as an entry-level scientist at the same institute.

Hailing from the small town of Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, Kalaiseelvi did her schooling in Tamil medium. He says that it helped him to understand the concepts of science in college. Kalaiseelvi's research work for more than 25 years has focused mainly on the development of electrochemical power systems, especially electrodes. She is currently working on the development of sodium-ion/lithium-sulfur batteries and supercapacitors. Kalaiseelvi has also made important contributions to the 'National Mission for Electric Mobility'. He has over 125 research papers and six patents to his name.