Ravi Kumar is a Professor of Ceramics and Head of the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at IIT Madras, India. Prof. Ravi Kumar’s research interests include the development of novel non-metallic & inorganic materials whose properties can be tuned on an atomistic scale which includes thermal management, catalysis and energy. Over the last six years, his research has diversified into developing ceramics for environmental and energy applications such as photocatalytic materials for water remediation, dielectric materials for capacitor-based energy storage, and electrocatalytic and solar materials for hydrogen production. He has been a visiting professor at various institutions abroad and is currently executing bilateral projects with various international institutions as well as with industries. He is a recipient of the Young Faculty Recognition Award (YFRA- 2012) and Institute Research and Development Award (IRDA- 2015) from IIT Madras. Prof. Ravi Kumar also serves on the editorial board of Surface Innovations, Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, Frontiers in Materials: For Ceramics & Glass and Journal of Innovative Materials in Extreme Conditions. At the Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics in IIT Madras, we have been focusing on producing and characterizing structural and functional ceramics from precursors.