Energetic Materials Laboratory
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee
Outstanding Young Faculty - 2024
Institute Research Fellow (2024-2027)
Dr. Dheeraj Kumar was born in Delhi, India. He completed his graduation from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, in 2007. Dr. Dheeraj Kumar obtained his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi. At IIT Delhi, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Anil J. Elias in the area of Main group and Organometallic Chemistry. After completing his Ph.D. in 2015, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Jean’ne M. Shreeve at the University of Idaho, USA, for two years. Afterward, he undertook another postdoctoral assignment with Prof. Michael Gozin at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He is a recipient of “INSPIRE Faculty Award” by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.
In December 2018, he joined IIT Roorkee as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Dheeraj Kumar has established a state-of-the-art energetic materials laboratory at IIT Roorkee, supported by substantial funding from various agencies such as DST, SERB, DRDO and IIT Roorkee. Recently, he was awarded the “Outstanding Young Faculty Award” by Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He is currently an associate professor at the Department of Chemistry at IIT Roorkee. His group focuses on the development of green, nitrogen-rich high energy density materials. He has published more than fifty publications in international journals of repute.
Education
Ph.D. (July 2009 – January 2015)
M. Sc. Chemistry (2007 – 2009)
B. Sc. (Hons) Chemistry (2004 – 2007)
Education
With Prof. Anil J. Elias, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India
Work Experience
Associate Professor (August 2024 –Present)
Assistant Professor (Dec 2018 –July 2024)
DST INSPIRE Faculty Fellow (Jan 2018 – Dec 2018)
Postdoctoral researcher (June 2017 – Dec 2017)
Postdoctoral researcher (May 2015 – May 2017)
Education
Department of Chemistry, IIT Roorkee, India
Department of Chemistry, IIT Roorkee, India
Department of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur, India
With Prof. Michael Gozin, School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
With Prof. Jean’ne M. Shreeve, Department of Chemistry, University of Idaho, US
Awards and Recognitions
Awarded Outstanding Young Faculty Award by Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in July 2024.
Awarded Institute Research Fellowship (2024-2027).
Invited by Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in 2024.
Highlighted as Emerging Investigator, Chemical Communications, RSC 2023.
Awarded INSPIRE Faculty Award by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India in July 2017 (January 2017 batch).
Recipient of Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) by CSIR, Government of India from Aug 2011 to July 2014.
Recipient of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) by CSIR, Government of India from Aug 2009 to July 2011.
Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET), CSIR-JRF in Chemical Science conducted by CSIR-UGC, India in 2009.
Awarded Best Oral Presentation award in the symposium on "Mastering in molecules and materials, M3" organized by Department of chemistry, NIT Kurukshetra, October, 16-17, 2014.
Delivered the Young Scientist's Lecture in the symposium (MTIC-XIII), organized by the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, December, 7-10, 2009.
Awarded Best poster award at symposium, New Directions in Chemical Science (NDCS-2012), Department of chemistry, IIT Delhi, December 7-9.
Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in Chemistry, conducted by IIT, India in 2008 and 2009.
Awarded Certificate of Appreciation by Department of Chemistry, IIT Delhi for publishing article in High Impact Factor Journals during academic year 2010-2011 and 2014-15.
Qualified Joint Admission Test to MSc (JAM), to get admission in IITs, 2007.
Shri Bhikha Mal Memorial Prize, awarded for "maintaining a good and steady standard in studies and for having good sense of personal values" in St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, at B.Sc. level for the year 2006-2007.
Memberships
Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI)
Life Member
Materials Research Society of India (MRSI)
Life Member
High Energy Materials Society of India (HEMSI)
Life Member
Society for Materials Chemistry, India
Life Member
June 2019 - Present
Life Member
September 2020 - Present
Life Member
September 2020 - Present
Life Member
November 2024 - Present
Life Member
Invited talks and Lectures
Delivered an invited talk entitled "Novel Heat Resistant Energetic Materials using Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions," at the Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, China, on 11th July 2024.
Invited talk entitled, “Multipurpose Energetic Materials Based on 3,5-Dinitropyrazole Derivatives” at the “World Materials Conference (WMC 2024)” in Guangzhou, China, July 8-10, 2024.
Delivered an invited talk entitled "Zwitterionic Energetic Materials: Synthesis, Structural Diversity and Energetic Properties" at the Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, on 7th July 2024.
Invited lecture entitled “Green High Energy Density Materials – Design Aspects” in the “Continuing Education Programme (CEP) on Explosive Technology” organized by Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, June 10-14, 2024.
Invited talk entitled, “Multipurpose Energetic Materials Based on 3,5-Dinitropyrazole Derivatives” in the 14th International “High Energy Materials Conference & Exhibits (HEMCE-2024)” organized by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, February, 1-3, 2024.
Invited lecture entitled “High Energy Density Materials for Defense and Space Applications” in the FDP on “Emerging Trends in Chemistry for Multidisciplinary Applications (ETCMA 2024)” organized by Department of Chemistry, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) Chennai, October 4, 2024.
Invited talk entitled, “Nitrogen-Rich Green Energetic Materials with Fine-tuned Properties” in the International conference on “Green Energy & Sustainable Environmental Practices (GESEP-2023)” organized by Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, January, 30-31, 2023.
Invited lecture entitled, “Green High Energy Density Materials with Fine-tuned Properties” in the “Continuing Education Programme (CEP) on Explosive Technology” organized by Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, May, 22-26, 2023.
Invited talk entitled, “Azole Based Energetic Materials using Metal Catalyzed Coupling Reactions” in the 13th International “High Energy Materials Conference & Exhibits (HEMCE-2022)” organized by Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, May, 26-28, 2022.
Invited talk entitled, “Azole Based Green Energetic Materials with Fine-tuned Properties” in the International conference on “Modern Trends in Inorganic Chemistry (MTIC-XIX)” organized by Department of Chemistry, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, December, 15-17, 2022.
Invited talk entitled, “Mixed Azoles Based Green High Energy Density Materials with Fine-tuned Properties” in the 3rd International Workshop on Advanced Energetic Materials (IWAEM) organized by Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing, China, October, 18-19, 2019.
Administrative roles at IITR
Faculty In-charge, NMR Instrument (2021-present)
Faculty In-charge, Departmental Library (2021-2024)
Time-table In-charge (2023-2025)
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) (2021- present)
Member, Library Advisory Committee (LAC) (2021-2024)
Member, Safety Committee (2020-2023)
Member, Write-off Committee (2024-present)
Member, Departmental Administrative Committee (DAC) (2022-2024)
Member, Departmental Faculty Search Committee (DFSC) (2019-2020 and 2022-2024)
Member, Departmental Purchase Committee (DPC) (2019-2021 and 2024-present)
Member, Departmental Academic Program Committee (DAPC) (2019-2021 and 2024-present)
Departmental Coordinator for the annual technical fest COGNIZANCE (2019-20)