Aravind Kumar Chandiran did his PhD from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and a postdoctorate from University of California, Berkeley. Currently he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, and leading the Hyundai hydrogen valley innovation hub @ IIT Madras. His group is working on various aspects of solar energy storage and conversion including green hydrogen, photoelectrochemistry, metal-air batteries, and lithium-ion battery operational safety. His work covers all the way from atomic level tuning of materials and device physics to prototyping of products. His team works quite closely with both the government agencies and industries to solve energy related problems. Some of their flagship research outcomes include, (i) the development of kWh scale, low cost and safe mechanically rechargeable zinc-air batteries, (ii) indigenously developed battery safety analysis station that can simulate electrical, mechanical and thermal abuse, (iii) a grid independent building at IIT Madras using various energy storage devices including lithium-ion batteries and green hydrogen, and (iv) developed one of the brightest white light emitters. Their work on energy domain was both nationally and internationally acclaimed and fetched multiple awards/honours: IESA Researcher of the Year (India), Rising Stars in Energy & Fuels by American Chemical Society (USA), Emerging Investigator by Chemical Communications, Sustainable Energy & Fuels – Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), INSA Medal for Young Scientist (India), NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (India) and SERB Technology Translation Award (India).