Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Ph.D., D.Sc., is Evan Pugh University Professor and Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University. He has held visiting appointments at Universidad de Buenos Aires, University of Glasgow, University of Waikato, University of Otago, Imperial College London, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, National Taipei University of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and Indian Institute of Technology Varanasi. He has published 25 books, 33 book chapters, 900 journal papers, and 200 full papers in conference proceedings. Elected a fellow of AAAS, APS, IEEE, SPIE, Optica, RSC, RSA, and IoP for contributions to electrical engineering, optics, electromagnetics, physical chemistry, and applied arts, he is currently devoting his time to thin-film solar cells, forensic science, and biologically inspired design. He received the 2010 SPIE Technical Achievement Award, the 2016 Walston Chubb Award in Innovation, and the 2022 Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award. He was named as a Distinguished Alumnus by The University of Utah in 2007 and an Alumnus of the Century in Making Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, in 2019. He has been named a Distinguished Lecturer by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, for 2022-2024.

Department of State Profile

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy

Akhlesh Lakhtakia serves as an expert consultant on U.S.-India higher-education partnerships with the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. In this role, he is engaging with U.S. and Indian higher-educational institutions to explain various modalities for bilateral higher-education cooperation and identifying possibilities for partnerships, particularly in critical and merging technologies and other STEM fields. He is also supporting launch of the bilateral U.S.-India Education and Skills Working Group.