Dr. (Mrs) N. Kalaiselvi assumed charge as Secretary, DSIR and Director General, CSIR, New Delhi on August 8, 2022. Dr. Kalaiselvi is the first women Director General of CSIR. Prior to taking over as Secretary, DSIR and DG, CSIR, she was working as Director, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi.

Dr.(Mrs.)N. Kalaiselvi (born: February 5, 1967) obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Government Arts College, Tirunelveli affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. She obtained her Post Graduate Degree in Chemistry from Government Arts College Coimbatore and did her Ph.D. at Annamalai University, Chidambaram.

Dr. Kalaiselvi’s research work of more than 25 years is primarily focused on electrochemical power systems and in particular, development of electrode materials, custom designed synthesis methods, optimization of reaction parameters and electrochemical evaluation of in-house prepared electrode materials for their suitability in energy storage device assembly. Her research interests include lithium and beyond lithium batteries, supercapacitors and waste-to-wealth driven electrodes and electrolytes for energy storage and electrocatalytic applications.

A glimpse of her R&D activities includes:

• Modified electrode materials for high energy and high power lithium battery applications
• Novel/tailor-made electrodes for aqueous and non-aqueous lithium battery
• Development of polymer based electrolytes, characterization and deployment of polymer films as electrolytes
• Ionic liquid based electrodes and electrolytes
• Exploration of bio ionic liquids crystalline electrolytes for extended electrochemical potential windows.

Apart from executing numerous extramural research, collaborative and sponsored projects funded by DST, MNRE and CSIR, Dr. Kalaiselvi has served as a Nodal Scientist for MULTIFUN [Multifunctional Electrodes and Electrolytes for Futuristic Technologies – a Twelfth five-year plan project, sponsored by CSIR to the tune of Rs. 68.54 Crore] with CSIR-CECRI as the Nodal lab and 6 CSIR Institutes as participating labs during 2012-2017. The sectoral monitoring committee Chaired by Prof. Baldevraj graded this project as EXCELLENT.

She was involved in the development of practically viable Sodium-ion/Lithium-sulfur batteries and supercapacitors and continues her research in these fields. As a nominee of CSIR-CECRI, she has participated in the meetings conducted at various levels by MNRE and TIFAC (2015 onwards) for the implementation of e-mobility in India with indigenous technological support from CSIR and in particular from CSIR-CECRI in a major way. She was instrumental and coordinated the preparation of the Technical Report on NMEM (National Mission for Electric Mobility) in collaboration with TIFAC identified academic, research and industrial partners. She was a part of MNRE initiated Mobility Mission Concept Note too. Dr. Kalaiselvi was the Theme Director of Energy and Energy Devices (E2D) of CSIR, wherein CSIR-CECRI is the Nodal laboratory.

Dr. Kalaiselvi has more than 135 research papers and 6 patents to her credit. Under her guidance, 12 research scholars have received Ph.D. Degrees and 2 researchers are currently pursuing their Ph.D. She is a recipient of many prestigious awards including MRSI medal, CSIR Raman Research Fellowship, INSA-NRF Exchange award, Brain Pool Fellowship of Korea, the Most Inspiring Women Scientist Award and C.V Raman Mahila Vijnana Puraskara at 12^th National Women’s Science Congress held at Mysore.