Prof Gautam R. Desiraju elected as President of the International Union of Crystallography

The 59-year-old chemist who has played a major role in the development of crystal engineering for nearly three decades, said, “I am pleased and honoured to be elected President of the International Union of Crystallography. The IUCr is unique among scientific unions, in the success of its publishing activities, the educational slant in many of its endeavors and in its ability to cater to the priorities of scientists in both developed and developing nations. Crystallography is a subject that constantly succeeds in re-inventing itself using the advances in technology with each passing generation. I am committed to nurturing its continuing health and expansion, and will seek to encourage such academic activities within the Union that foster this positive growth. The IUCr is a truly democratic body. This is why it has been successful for so long.”. Professor Desiraju has received prestigious awards such as the Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis and the Third World Academy of Sciences award in Chemistry and is among the most highly cited Indian chemists. He is also the co-author of “Crystal Engineering: A Textbook", one of the latest bestselling titles by World Scientific. More information on the election can be found at http://www.iucr.org/home/leading-article/2011/2011-09-02. Crystal Engineering: A Textbook is the first textbook in this area and will be interest to undergraduate and graduate students in crystallography as well as academics and industry players. This book retails at US$49 for the paperback and US$99 for the hardcover. More information about the book can be found at http://www.worldscibooks.com/chemistry/8060.html. About Professor Gautam Desiraju: Prof. Desiraju works in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He has played a major role in developing knowledge about crystal engineering at an international level. In his many keynote and plenary lectures in international meetings worldwide, he has spearheaded an interest in this subject since 1990. He is well recognized as an acknowledged leader and founder of this field. He had a major role in starting the journal CrystEngComm of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was one of the founding editors (1999-2005). He has also been involved in the parallel journal Crystal Growth & Design of the American Chemical Society from its inception in 2000 and now serves on its Editorial Advisory Board. He was an editor of Acta Crystallographica between 1995 and 2008. He has served on programme committees of international conferences and in the selection of plenary and keynote lecturers. Recently, he was elected as the President of the International Union of Crystallography for a three year term. He is the first Indian to be so honored. His appointment as a consulting editor of Acc. Chem. Res. (2005-2010) and as an editorial advisory board member of Angewandte Chemie (2008 onwards) is a recognition of his role in identifying the best that modern chemistry research can offer today.