Dr. Shankar V. Nakhe, Distinguished Scientist, assumed the charge as Director, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore on 1 Jun. 2021. Prior to this, he has handled responsibilities at RRCAT as Director-Laser Group and Director-Materials science Group. He has been working at RRCAT since 1987.

He graduated from Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli in 1985 with first rank in Electrical Engineering (under Shivaji University). Post that, he worked with Meltron Semiconductors Ltd. for one year. He joined RRCAT after graduating from the 30th batch of BARC training school in 1987. He subsequently obtained M.S. (Engg.Sc.) from Indian Institute of Science, ( IISc) Bengaluru.

At RRCAT he has worked on design, development and utilization of various laser and electronic systems. His main areas of work are high voltage pulse power supplies, electronic instrumentation, and control electronics for various laser systems. Many laser and photonics systems developed under his leadership are being used at various institutes. He played a key role in the development of the fiber Bragg grating inscription facility at RRCAT. This unique facility developed at RRCAT is being used for the development of specialized sensors for niche application areas of temperature and strain measurement. He played a pivotal role in the transfer of technology of point-of-care biomedical instruments developed at RRCAT. He took a leadership role in setting up the incubation centre at RRCAT.

Dr. Nakhe served as the General Secretary of Indian Laser Association and later as its President. He has been conferred with many awards,which include DAE ESET awards and best paper awards. He is the author/ co-author of about 60 peer reviewed journal papers, articles in professional magazines, and about 130 conference papers.