Few words about Amitav Rath
Experienced Chief Executive with a demonstrated history of working in energy, environment, innovation and development. Skilled in Policy Analysis, Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship. Graduated from Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur and University of California, Berkeley.
Amitav Rath
Technical Director for Research
Amitav Rath: Bridging Policy and Applied Climate Science for Over 40 Years
Amitav has an interdisciplinary background that combines research and policy on applied climate science and engineering. He has spent his 40 years long professional career crossing the bridge between policy decision-making and scientific applications on climate change, air pollution and environmental assessment.
Leadership in the 1970s: Director of the Management Development Institute, New Delhi
During the 70´s he was Director of the Management Development Institute in New Delhi, the main national institute for management of scientific training, consulting and research. Responsible for catering and shaping capacity building, technology transfer and training programs to millions of Government officials and the private sector in India.
Academic Excellence: IIT Kharagpur Alumnus and Professor, with Advanced Degrees
He received his Bachelor’s degree in Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, where he has, since 2010 also been Professor of Interdisciplinary studies in Energy and Climate Change. He holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Operations Research at the University of California, Berkley.
Global Leadership: Director of Analysis at OIKO, Advising Governments and International Organizations on Climate
Over the last decade he has acted as Director for Analysis with OIKO, leading the area of work to advise governments and international organizations on technology transfer, climate change, renewable energy and sustainable development in over forty countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He is a confident advisor to CIDA, IDRC, WB, ADB, IADB, OAS, UNDP, UNIDO, the UN Multilateral Fund for the Montreal Protocol, UNEP, the Commonwealth Secretariat, DfID, GIZ, Sida, the International Energy Agency.
A Decade of Impact: Director of IDRC, Driving Innovation and Solutions for Global Development Challenges
He later spent more than a decade as Director of the International Development Research Center (IDRC), leading The Canadian development agency investing in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve the lives of people in the developing world. He was responsible for formulating grants, funding, and awards to researchers and institutions to find solutions for global development challenges strengthening decision-making and scaling-up effective actions to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable countries.
Academic Contributions: Research Fellow and Professor Extraordinaire at IERI, with Global Lectureships.
He lectures on the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (IERI), Tshwane University, Pretoria, South Africa, where he is a Research Fellow and Professor Extraordinaire since 2008. An Associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg and visiting professor at several universities, Carleton University, Ottawa and University of Lund, Sweden; and the University of West Indies, Jamaica.
Education
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
B Tech (Honours)
University of California, Berkeley
Masters and Ph D
Technology and innovation
Energy access for development
“Energy deeply influences people’s lives and is an engine for social development and economic growth. Over the centuries, energy has helped transform societies and has underpinned human development. Energy contributes to fulfilling the most basic human needs, including nutrition, warmth, and light. Furthermore, there is ample evidence that access to reliable, efficient, affordable, and safe energy carriers can directly affect productivity, income, and health, and can enhance gender equity, education, and access to other infrastructure services. However, energy use patterns, in terms of both quality and quantity, are highly inequitably distributed on all sides of the development divide–North and South, rich and poor, men and women, rural and urban. This inequity in energy access and use compromises human welfare and has adverse impacts on the environment.
The uncertain quest: science, technology, and development
“The uncertain quest: science, technology, and development Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Discover About FAO News Multimedia Main topics Statistics Members Publications English العربية Español Français Русский 中文 AGRIS - International System for Agricultural Science and Technology About AGRIS Contribute Acceptable use policy facebook linkedin twitter weibo Close Advanced Search The uncertain quest: science, technology, and development 1994 Salomon, J.-J. (ed.) | Sagasti, FR (ed.) | Sachs-Jeantet, C. (ed.) Summary (En) Show more [+] Less [-] AGROVOC Keywords changement technologique development policies recherche research scientifique scientists technological changes technologie technology technology transfer tecnologia transfert de technologie Bibliographic information Publisher Tokyo (Japan) United Nations Univ. Press Other Subjects investigacion;”
An identification approach to subsurface hydrological systems
“A method for the optimal determination of the transmissivity function in a model of a horizontal two‐dimensional saturated aquifer, using time histories of the heads at a number of observation points, is developed. In this method the transmissivity function is assumed to be represented by a continuous spline surface over the entire domain of the aquifer and is given in terms of unknown nodal values disposed over a rectangular grid. These nodal values are then determined by requirements of optimality, i.e., by minimization of an error functional denoting the deviations of the observed and predicted heads at several strategically distributed observation wells. The method is complemented by using a hierarchical identification approach which consists of gradually increasing the number of nodal values employed in the analytical representation of the transmissivity function.”
System identification in nonlinear structural seismic dynamics
“This paper deals with the development of efficient identification methods for the determination of parameters associated with the nonlinear response of structural systems subject to seismic conditions. The equation of motion of the system is given by M u ̈+ h (/. u, u, a)= p (t), where the external force vector p and the mass matrix M are assumed to be known. Also given is an observation vector w, consisting of some or all of the components of u, the vector of the nodal displacements. The vector function h, denoting the restoring forces of the mechanical system, is parametrically given in terms of a constant vector a. Three different methods are presented for the determination of the parameters governing the vector function h. The first one is a direct approach requiring the unknown coefficients to appear linearly in the model equation. ”