U. Aswathanarayana Biography 
U. Aswathanarayana is one of the top geologists of India. At present he is the Honorary Director of the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management. He has worked as a geology professor both in India and abroad including University of Western Ontario, Canada, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena and Oxford University. He has served as the Dean and Director of Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Sagar, India. He has also served as Consultant to UNDP, World Bank, Louis Berger Inc and SIDA. He received Excellence in Geophysical Education Award (2005), International Award of the American Geophysical Union, Certificate of Recognition of the International Association of Geo Chemistry (2007) and Eminent Citizen Award in the area of Water Sciences of the Sivananda Trust (2007). He has also received fellowships from UNIDO (1989) and United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (1989).
Aswathanarayana was born in a poor family in Vallur, Andhra Pradesh and his childhood days were spent in poverty. He did his schooling from Municipal High School, Ongole. He was a brilliant student in studies and scored extremely well in mathematics exam too. Yet due to poverty, it was not easy for his family to afford his studies. Prof. C. Mahadevan of Andhra University, his mentor turned his attention to a new but difficult subject, nuclear geology. He did doctoral research in radioactivity studies using the equipment that he built himself and it was the first doctoral thesis on nuclear geology in India. For post doctorate he worked on isotopes. Later he became a professor abroad and returned to India years later.
Once he returned to India, he instituted the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management and he became its founder director. The Centre was formally instituted on May 6, 2001. Aswathanarayana served as General Secretary of Geological Society of India (1976–1979), Chairman of Working Group on Isotope Geochemistry of IAGC (1979–1983) and many other top positions.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 18, 2014
