Rourkela, Sep 25: In a remarkable achievement for Indian academia, 35 scientists from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela have been featured in the prestigious Stanford–Elsevier list of the Top 2% Most Cited Scientists Globally. The recognition spans two categories—Career-Long Impact and Single-Year Impact for 2024—highlighting both sustained excellence and recent contributions to global research.

Global Recognition for Research Excellence

The Stanford–Elsevier ranking, based on Scopus data and released in August 2025, evaluates scientists across 22 fields and 174 subfields using citation metrics, c-scores, and percentile rankings. From NIT Rourkela, 33 faculty members and 2 PhD scholars earned their place among the elite, with 17 faculty members recognized for Career-Long Impact and 29 for Single-Year Impact. Notably, 13 faculty members appeared on both lists.

Spotlight on Faculty and Scholars

Among the distinguished names are Prof. Anup K. Panda, Prof. Bankim Chandra Ray, Prof. Kunal Pal, and Prof. Surajit Das, who have consistently contributed high-impact research. Two PhD scholars—Mr. Akash Balakrishnan and Mr. Srimanta Patra—also made the Single-Year Impact list, reflecting the institute’s strong mentorship and research culture.

Leadership Speaks

Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Director of NIT Rourkela, lauded the achievement: “This recognition reflects our commitment to advancing research and generating transformative knowledge. Our scientists continue to set benchmarks in their fields, and we remain dedicated to fostering an environment of innovation and excellence.”

A) List of 29 faculty members from NIT Rourkela in 2% of the World’s Top Cited Scientists list for Single-Year Research Impact (2024) category:

Prof. Alok Satapathy
Prof. Anup K. Panda

Prof. Arnab Ghosh
Prof. Bankim Chandra Ray
Prof. Bala Subramanian Paramasivan
Prof. Bikash Sahoo
Prof. Dayal R. Parhi
Prof. Debasis Chaira
Prof. Debi Prasad Tripathy
Prof. Dillip Kumar Pradhan
Prof. Harekrushna Sahoo
Prof. Kalipada Maity
Prof. Kunal Pal
Prof. Mohd Khalid Gul
Prof. Monalisa Mishra
Prof. Narayan Sethi
Prof. Pravat Kumar Ray
Prof. Ritwik Sarkar
Prof. Samir Kumar Patra
Prof. Sandhya Rani Biswas
Prof. Santanu Kumar Behera
Prof. Siba S. Mahapatra

Prof. S. Murugan
Prof. Snehashish Chakraverty
Prof. Subhash C. Mahapatra
Prof. Subrata Kumar Panda
Prof. Sudip Dasgupta
Prof. Sujit Kumar Bhutia
Prof. Surajit Das

List of NIT Rourkela faculty members in 2% of the World’s Top Cited Scientists list in the Career-Long Research Impact (2024) category:

Prof. Anup Kumar Panda
Prof. Bankim Chandra Ray
Prof. Bikash Sahoo
Prof. Dayal R. Parhi
Prof. Debasish Sarkar
Prof. Kanungo Barada Mohanty
Prof. Krishna Pramanik
Prof. Kunal Pal
Prof. Ritwik Sarkar
Prof. Sandhyarani Biswas
Prof. Shantanu K. Behera
Prof. Siba Sankar Mahapatra
Prof. S.Murugan
Prof. Snehashish Chakraverty
Prof. Subrata Kumar Panda
Prof. Sujit Kumar Bhutia
Prof. Surajit Das

iii) Two PhD scholars who made it to the Single-Year Research Impact (2024) list:
Mr. Akash Balakrishnan (Under the Supervision of Prof. Mahendra Chinthala from the Department of Chemical Engineering)

Mr. Srimanta Patra (Under the Supervision of Prof. Sujit K. Bhutia from the Department of Life Science)