Prof. Dr. Arun Prakash Kulshreshtha took over as the Director of the NAM S&T Centre in July 2002. He was born in Agra, India in 1941. After having graduated in Physics from Agra University in 1959 he joined Banaras Hindu University as a research scholar in Radio Engineering. Subsequently, he completed his doctorate in 1965 from Moscow State University in Physical & Mathematical Sciences (Semiconductor Physics). Early part of the professional carrier of Dr Kulshreshtha encompassed his affiliation as a scientist at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi; Assistant Professor and Head of Solid State Physics Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi; Senior Research Associate at NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre, Huntsville in USA; Associate Professor at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara; Visiting Professor at Lancaster University, UK; Scientific Manager at Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL) of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), New Delhi; and In-Charge, Quality Control of Remote Sensing Satellites at ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He served as Counsellor (Science & Technology) at the Embassy of India, Moscow during 1984-88, when he conceived and formulated an Integrated Long Term Program of Cooperation in Science & Technology (ILTP) with the then Soviet Union, which has been the biggest ever bilateral scientific program of not only India, but also of the Soviet Union. During 1993-2001 he headed the International Division in the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Government of India. Prof. Kulshreshtha was instrumental in initiating bilateral, multilateral and regional cooperation with a large number of countries. He extensively contributed to the establishment of the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARC-I) at Hyderabad, which is a model organization for technology transfer and development of high performance materials and processes for niche market, and Bharat Immunologicals & Biologicals Corporation Ltd. (BIBCOL) at Bulandshahr, a public sector organisation for the production of cell culture based oral polio vaccine. He was the Chairman of the SAARC S&T Committee, National Focal Point for India's cooperation with UNESCO in S&T and Co-Chairperson of several bilateral inter-governmental S&T Joint Committees. He was the principal negotiator for India-EU S&T Agreement and signatory to its draft. He was totally involved in various facets of development of the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum right from its conceptualisation. Prof. Kulshreshtha headed the Indian national program for the development of space quality silicon solar cells, which have been flown in solar panels put on Indian satellites. He has published about 50 research papers in international journals and knows several languages, including Hindi, English and Russian, over which he has excellent command.