Rajeshwar, Krishnan
Krishnan Rajeshwar
Dr. Krishnan Rajeshwar is a distinguished professor in the College of Science and Vice President of the Electrochemical Society (ECS). His research focuses on semiconductor Electrochemistry and photocatalysis. In addition to teaching and researching, Dr. Rajeshwar is also very active in initiatives related to diversity. He works with a colleague who runs a National Science Foundation (NSF) minority program called Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP). As the former Associate Dean of the College of Science, Rajeshwar also coordinates the allocation of scholarships to different departments in his school, including the McNair scholarship. He also received numerous awards, including the Wilfred T. Doherty Award, the American Chemical Society, and the Energy Technology Division Research Award of the Electrochemical Society.
Rajeshwar, K. and Ibanez, J.G., 1997. Environmental electrochemistry: Fundamentals and applications in pollution sensors and abatement. Elsevier.
Wei, C., Lin, W.Y., Zainal, Z., Williams, N.E., Zhu, K., Kruzic, A.P., Smith, R.L. and Rajeshwar, K., 1994. Bactericidal activity of TiO2 photocatalyst in aqueous media: toward a solar-assisted water disinfection system. Environmental science & technology, 28(5), pp.934-938.
Rajeshwar, K., de Tacconi, NR and Chenthamarakshan, C.R., 2001. Semiconductor-based composite materials: preparation, properties, and performance. Chemistry of Materials, 13(9), pp.2765-2782.
Rajeshwar, K., McConnell, R. and Licht, S., 2008. Solar hydrogen generation (pp. 41-63). New York: Springer.
Endrődi, B., Bencsik, G., Darvas, F., Jones, R., Rajeshwar, K. and Janáky, C., 2017. Continuous-flow electroreduction of carbon dioxide. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 62, pp.133-154.
Krishnan Rajeshwar was born on April 15, 1949, to APK Aiyer, an entrepreneur, and Ponnamal Rajeshwar, a homemaker. He grew up with his siblings and parents in Trivandrum, India. As a child, Dr. Rajeshwar remembers how proud his father was of his younger brother, who was a physicist. His father admired Dr. Rajesahwar’s uncle, who was a respected scientist. This admiration influenced the young Dr. Rajeshwar, and he felt that he, too, could become a respected member of the scientific community. Realizing this dream at an early age allowed Dr. Rajeshwar to focus his educational progress on a career in chemistry within the environmental field.
Dr. Rajeshwar completed his undergraduate degree at the University College in India. During his senior year, he recalls the influence of an outstanding professor who first sparked Dr. Rajeshwar’s curiosity about chemistry and “encouraged [him] to pursue it as a career.” Dr. Rajeshwar decided to follow this career path and completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1969. He continued his education at the Indian Institute of Technology, earning his master’s degree in chemistry in 1971. After graduation, Dr. Rajeshwar applied to a doctoral program at the Indian Institute for Science in Bangalore, India, where he graduated with a doctorate in solid state chemistry in 1975.
Three months before completing his doctorate, a steel works company in India recruited Dr. Rajeshwar and eventually hired him to work as a formulation chemist. Dr. Rajeshwar immediately transitioned to his new job after completing his doctorate. After working for a year, he moved to North America to continue his education. Even though he enjoyed his job, he returned to academia because his heart “was really in research.”
Dr. Rajeshwar applied for and received a postdoctoral fellowship at a university in Canada. His postdoctoral work was a great opportunity as it allowed him to work with a faculty member whose research focused on solid-state chemistry, an area in which he continued to be interested. Shortly after completing his postdoc fellowship, a Colorado State University (CSU) - Fort Collins faculty member contacted him and told him that a postdoctoral opening was available at his university in a project that examined oil shale as an alternative energy source. Dr. Rajeshwar accepted the offer, and in 1976, he joined CSU as a postdoctoral fellow and later as a research associate. Unfortunately, this was a non-tenure track position, and Dr. Rajeshwar left CSU in 1983.
He decided to apply for other academic positions, and the search brought him to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). He liked the university’s atmosphere and became an assistant professor at UTA’s College of Science in 1983. During this period in his career, he began working on the environmental aspects of chemistry. Dr. Rajeshwar researches renewable energy, photoelectrochemistry, solar energy conversion, semiconductor electrochemistry, materials chemistry, and environmental chemistry. Today, Dr. Rajeshwar is a distinguished university professor in chemistry and biochemistry. He is also the Associate Dean of the College of Science. These responsibilities are in addition to his editorial role for an electrochemical society magazine, Interface.
Dr. Rajeshwar is the founding director of the Center for Renewable Energy Science & Technology (CREST) at UTA. From 2016 to 2017, he was president of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) and has served as an elected officer. Dr. Rajeshwar has served as editor of Interface, the Society’s authoritative yet accessible quarterly publication for solid state and electrochemical science and technology. He has served on the editorial boards of several electrochemical journals.
Dr. Rajeshwar is an Electrochemical Society fellow, and in 2009, he received the ECS Energy Technology Division Research Award. He has written and edited numerous books, special journal issues, and conference proceedings on energy conversion, including over 350 refereed publications.
Experience has taught Dr. Rajeshwar that the scientific field tends to be diverse. Although he finds that very few students in the United States are interested in science and engineering, he is encouraged by the knowledge that his courses draw in numerous international students. He has enjoyed working with some of those students on their doctoral and postdoctoral projects. He says that some of his former students now teach at universities and work at companies worldwide. Dr. Rajeshwar finds his work fulfilling, noting, “This is a hobby that I get paid for. I enjoy teaching, interacting with students, and the feedback I get from them. I love it when students say, ‘You make chemistry fun,’ or years later when they say that I influenced their careers. Seeing them evolve, [watching] them mature professionally …that’s the best reward.” He also enjoys traveling and learning about different cultures, “not just scientific aspects of research.” However, he admits that raising the money to conduct his research is the least enjoyable part of his job: “It’s a necessary evil.”
Dr. Rajeshwar is also very active in initiatives related to diversity. He works with a colleague who runs a National Science Foundation (NSF) minority program called Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP). He describes the classes and opportunities at the College of Science to undergraduate students and various universities. As the former Associate Dean of the College of Science, Dr. Rajeshwar also coordinates the allocation of scholarships to different departments in his school, including the McNair scholarship. Additionally, he is the unofficial mentor for a few students at the University of San Diego. In this capacity, he writes letters for them, talks to them, and encourages them to pursue careers in chemistry.
Fortunately, Dr. Rajeshwar has encountered very few difficulties in this career. He recalls having trouble achieving a good academic position at the beginning of his career. He believes this can be explained in part because he did not receive his doctorate in chemistry from an institution in the United States: “The pedigree is extremely important. It essentially forced me to start all over again to prove my [validity].” This setback did not prevent Dr. Rajeshwar from pursuing his goal; he comments on resilience, saying, “…that is part of the job. You have to have a thick skin in academia. You have to face criticism and move on…it’s part of the challenge” (2016).
Dr. Rajeshwar maintains a positive outlook as he encourages more minority students considering professions in the environmental field to believe in themselves and persevere. He says environmental jobs are plentiful, but obstacles exist for students of color trying to obtain them. “The opportunities are boundless. The problem we’re facing is trying to identify qualified minority applicants, and the few that are available are grabbed up by private companies or academia. We need to do more to open up possibilities among underrepresented groups and show them the grants and scholarships – we need to get more [minorities] people coming through the pipeline. It might take a few more years, but it will allow them to be the ones to make an impact” (2016).
Rajeshwar, Krishnan. n.d. Home [https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnan-rajeshwar-aa18517/]. LinkedIn. Retrieved June 23, 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnan-rajeshwar-aa18517/.
The Electrochemical Society. 2023. Krishnan Rajeshwar. Retrieved June 23, 2023 from https://www.electrochem.org/rajeshwar.
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.