Govindjee: Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

Name : Govindjee (**One name only)

**I use only one name; Govindjee is my given name; my family name is " Asthana", but I do not use it. My wife uses "Rajni Govindjee" as her name, and our children use "Anita Govindjee" and "Sanjay Govindjee" as their names. My departmental friends call me "Gov".

Affiliations:

Center of Biophysics and Computational Biology, Department of Plant Biology, and Department of Biochemistry.

Academic Degrees* and Positions Held:
- 1948: *First Class High School Certificate, Colonolganj High School, Allahabad, India
- 1950: *First Class Intermediate Certificate, Distinction in Physics, Kayastha Pathshala Inter. College, Allahabad
- 1952: *First Class B.Sc. Degree (Chemistry; Botany; and Zoology), University of Allahabad, Allahabad
- 1954: *First Class M.Sc. Degree (Botany; specialization: Plant Physiology), First Position, University of Allahabad
- 1954-56: Lecturer in Botany, University of Allahabad
- 1956-59: Graduate Fellow in Physico Chemical Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, Urbana, IL
- 1959-60: Research Assistant in Botany, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1960: *Ph.D. Degree (Biophysics; specialization: Photosynthesis) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Advisors: Professors Robert Emerson; Eugene Rabinowitch; and Jan B. Thomas)
- 1960-61: United States Public Health Service Biophysics Post doctoral Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1961 -65: Assistant Professor of Botany, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1962: Visiting Scientist, Research Institute of Advanced Studies, Martin-Marietta Labs., Baltimore, MD (Director: Bessel Kok)
- 1963; 1979: Visiting Scientist, Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA (Director: C. Stacey French)
- 1965 -69: Associate Professor of Botany and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1969 -99: Professor of Biophysics and Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1999 -Present: Professor Emeritus of Biophysics and Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1973-74: Associate Head of Botany, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign
- 1974-75: Acting Head of Botany, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign
- 1977-78: Chairman of Biophysics Division, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2000, Spring: Visiting Professor of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
- 2002, Summer: Visiting Professor, Institute of Physical Biology, University of S. Bohemia, Nové Hrady, Czech Republic
- 2003-2008, Jan. & Feb.: Visiting Professor of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Scholarships/Fellowships/Awards/Invitations:
- 1952-1953: SriVilas Scholarship for receiving the highest grade in Botany during B.Sc. examination, University of Allahabad, Allahabad
- 1954: First on the Merit list, Department of Botany, University of Allahabad
- 1956-1959: Graduate Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
- 1956-1960: Fulbright Scholar from India
- 1983: Plenary speaker at the 6th International Photosynthesis Congress at Brussels, Belgium
- 1992: Invited "personal essay" in "Plant Physiology" text by F.B. Salisbury and C.W. Ross, Wadsworth Pub. Co., pp. 222- 224.
- 1995: "Notable 20th century scientists", E.J. McMurray, editor, Gale Research, Inc..
- 1996-1997: Fulbright Senior Lecturer Award to India (University of Indore, Indore); also invited to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, as a Dr. Nuggihalli Narayana Memorial Lecturer
- 1996-1997: Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow
- 2003-2004: Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Research Award
Honors:
- 1976: Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, U.S.A.)
- 1978: Distinguished Lecturer Award of the School of Life Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1979: Fellow and Life Member National Academy of Science (India)
- 1981-1982: President, American Society for Photobiology
- 2004: Honorary President, International Photosynthesis Congress, Montreal, Canada
- 2006: Lifetime Achievement Award in Basic Biology, Rebeiz Foundation
- 2007: The Communication Award of the International Society of Photosynthesis Research (ISPR)
Membership on the Following International and National Boards, Editorial Boards, and Committees:
- Has served on several Editorial Boards : Comments on Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (U.S.A.) ; National Academy of Science Letters (India) ; Plant Biochemical and Physiological Journal (India); Photosynthesis Research (Editor-in chief; Netherlands).
- Has served on USDA-India Program on Photosynthesis as a Cooperating Scientist
- Currently serving as Historical Corner Editor of Photosynthesis Research.
- Currently serving as the Series Editor of Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration Series, Kluwer Academic, The Netherlands: Fifteen published volumes in Govindjee's Series "Advances in Photosynthesis" (click here for complete Series)
- Former Member, Executive Committee of the International Society for Photosynthesis Research (ISPR); and of the "publication committee" of ISPR.
- Former Member, Standing Advisory Committee (Overseas) (SAC(O)) of the Department of Biotechnolgy, Government of India, New Delhi, India.

Professional Membership:
- Sigma Xi
- American Society of Plant Biology
- Biophysical Society of America
- American Society for Photobiology
- International Society for Photosynthesis Research

Special Editorial Work:
- Special issue of 'Biophysical Journal' (1972) (guest editor)
- Bioenergetics of Photosynthesis, a monograph for Cell Biology series, Academic Press, N.Y. (1975) (editor)
- Special issue of 'Photochemistry and Photobiology' (1978) (guest editor)
- A 2-volume series on "Photosynthesis", a monograph for Cell Biology Series, Academic Press, N.Y. (1982) (editor) (translated into Russian in 1987, Mir Publishers, Moscow)
- Light Emission by Plants and Bacteria, a monograph for Cell Biology Series, Academic Press, Orlando, FL (1986) (chief editor)
- Excitation Energy and Electron Transfer in Photosynthesis, Martinus Nijhoff (now, Kluwer Academic Publishers), The Netherlands (1987) (chief editor)
- Molecular Biology of Photosynthesis, Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands (1989) (chief editor)
- How Plants and Cyanobacteria Make Oxygen: 25 Years of Period Four Oscillations (1993), special issue of 'Photosynthesis Research' (1993) (co-editor with G. Renger)
- Photosynthetic Unit: Antenna and Reaction Center (1996), special issue of 'Photosynthesis Research' (coeditor with J. Amesz and R. Knox), released in April/May, 1996
- Co-editor (with H. Gest, J.T. Beatty, and J.F. Allen): "Celebrating the Millennium: Historical Highlights of Photosynthesis Research", Photosynthesis Research, volume 73 (2002); volume 76 (2003) and volume 80 (2004)
- Co-edited with George Papageorgiou: A book on "Chlorophyll a Fluorescence" in the "Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration" Series, Volume 19 (2004)
- Coedited (with J.T. Beatty, H. Gest and J.F. Allen) "Discoveries in Photosynthesis" in the "Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration" Series, Volume 20 (2005)

Teaching:
- Govindjee has taught at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels from a class of 700 students to as few as 6. Topics of lectures included: biophysics; photobiology; plant physiology; plant ecology and organismic biology; photosynthesis; and bioenergetics of photosynthesis. He was ranked as an outstanding/excellent teacher by both his undergraduate and graduate students.
- Govindjee has also delivered public lectures on the basics of photosynthesis, and on the history of photosynthesis.
- Planned: Govindjee is interested in teaching "Photosynthesis Through the Internet" to all ages from 5 to 105. This is a long term project. He welcomes suggestions from the readers of this web page.
- Planned: Govindjee is further interested in (1) revising his book "Photosynthesis" (John Wiley, 1969) and making it available on the Internet; and (2) doing research in the area of "History of Oxygenic Photosynthesis Research". Again, he welcomes suggestions from the readers of this web page.

Postdoctorals:
- Patrick Breen; Jean-Marie Briantais; Christa Critchley; Mrinmoyee Das; Ashish Ghosh; Adam Gilmore; Ashok Kumar; G.Sarojini; Manfredo Seufferheld, and J.J.S.vanRensen

Visiting Professors:
- Elizabeth Gross; Shmuel Malkin; Barbara Prezlin; Beazy Sweeney; and Karel Vacek

Visiting Scientists:
- Drs. I. Baianu; Ralph Gasanov; F. El-Shintinawy; T. Kambara; I. Moya; and T. Ogawa; and Mr. Jobie Spencer

Graduate Students (click here for complete list):
- For details, click on "Past Graduate Students"on the home page. Pictures of those who attended my retirement party on October 14, 1999, can be seen by clicking under "Announcements" on the home page. The first graduate student who worked with me was Carl N. Cederstrand (co-advisor: Eugene Rabinowitch). Alphabetically, all other graduate students are: Maarib D.L. Bakri (Bazzaz); Glenn Bedell; Danny Blubaugh; Jiancheng Cao; Fred Cho; Ray Chollet (worked with Bill Ogren); Roger Chylla (worked with John Whitmarsh); Bill Coleman; Julian Eaton-Rye; Jim Fenton; Paul Jursinic; Rita Khanna (Bhattacharya); Anne Krey; Ted Mar; Prasanna Mohanty; John Munday; George Papageorgiou; Ralph Schooley; Hyunsuk Shim (co-advisor: Peter Debrunner); Paul Spilotro; Alan Stemler; David van der Meulen; Wim Vermaas (completed PhD with Jack van Rensen); Daniel Wong; Tom Wydrzynski; Jin Xiong; Chun-He Xu; Louisa Yang (Ni); and Barbara Zilinskas.

[This list does not include those faculty and their postdocs who have been or are (or were) at the University of Illinois at Urbana.]

Send mail to Govindjee (gov@life.uiuc.edu)

Last page update: 05 October 2007