Professor Chandrakumar is a Physical Chemist/Chemical Physicist specialising in Magnetic Resonance (MR) Spectroscopy and Imaging, including NMR, DNP, EPR/ESR, and NQR. He has contributed extensively to MR methodology development by way of instrumentation and novel, internationally patented MR experiments, as well as applications to biological systems, molecules and materials.
Uniquely, he has brought to bear specialised NMR approaches of molecular bonding topology mapping to the field of spatially resolved NMR. His focus has centred on the design and application of optimal, efficient NMR experiments straddling the worlds of High-Resolution NMR and spatially resolved NMR. Special mention is to be made of his invention of experiments, such as that for fast NMR self-diffusion measurement: ts, multiple quantum NMR Imaging of soft matter, indirect Carbon (13C) Imaging and volume localized MRS of plants, polymer blends, eggs, etc, as well as for optimal diagonal suppressed homonuclear Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopy of rare spins, and also of abundant spins.
Professor Chandrakumar an internationally reputed Magnetic Resonance Researcher who has contributed significant original research publications, international patents, and monographs. He has established a number of frontline MR Research Labs both at CSIR-CLRI and at IIT Madras, besides having been Visiting Professor/Visiting Scientist on invitation at a number of reputed Institutions/Universities in France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK and the US. He has mentored generations of scholars who currently hold faculty and research positions at various Indian and International institutions, industries and universities.
His work has been recognized with the conferment of several prestigious Awards and Fellowships, including the SS Bhatnagar Award (Chemical Sciences), the Millennium Medal of the Indian Science Congress, the Fellowship of the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc), the Fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA), the CRSI Silver Medal, and the J C Bose National Fellowship, to name a few, besides a number of Young Scientist Awards during his early years as a researcher.
