Krishna Kamini Rohatgi-Mukherjee obtained her DPhil from University of Oxford, UK. She was Professor at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Her work on photoreaction between anthracene and CC14 led to concept of photo-induced electron transfer mechanism. She carried out studies on photo physical properties of molecules in electronically excited singlet and triplet states; singlet oxygen and photodynamic action, photo electrochemistry, photochemical conversion and storage of solar energy, photo physics and photochemistry of porphyrins, and photo-induced electron transfer in organized media, such as a polymers, micelles and liposomes. She was conferred with Sir CV Raman Award by Indian Science Congress Association (1991). She was President, Chemistry Section, Indian Science Congress and International Congress on Photobiology, Honorary Member (President, 1985-88), Association International de Photobiology. Rohatgi-Mukherjee’s early work on dye-aggregation and consequent hypochromism due to excitonic interaction won her international peer recognition.

Aparna Gupta obtained her PhD from Banaras Hindu University. She was Professor at the Department of Animal Biology, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad. Her research areas were zoology, developmental Biology and endocrinology. She worked in the field of insect physiology, particularly pests and their control. Her main work was on an economically important group of insects. It included a large number of stored grain and agricultural pests. Her studies using biochemical and molecular tools unraveled the developmental and hormonal regulation of various genes, their proteins and the specific physiological processes in insects. Her group identified several candidate genes and their corresponding proteins, useful for delivering/ targeting molecules and growth regulators, which disrupt insect development and reproduction. She was a Fulbright Scholar, Indo-German Exchange Fellow, INSA-Czech Academy Exchange Fellow, INSA-DFG International Exchange Fellow, Hamburg University, Germany, NSA-JSPS Bilateral Exchange Fellow, Miyazaki University, Japan.