Bhavesh Patel studied at Bhavan’s College, Dakor to earn his degree Bachelor of Commerce (1974), I. V. Patel College of Commerce, Nadiad to earn degree Masters of Commerce (1976) both from Gujarat University. He earned his Ph. D. in finance in 1990 from Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat.

Bhavesh Patel is in academia for more than three decades now. In the initial academic career he taught at the Bachelor of Business Administration Program at B. J. Commerce College, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat before joining finance department of XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1985. After 15 years at XLRI, Jamshedpur he shifted to USA, where he worked for a brief time in industry for designing the financial reporting system and then taught at California State University, Stanislaus for a semester in 2001 before joining Myers University, Cleveland, Ohio. In April 2009 he returned to India to join as a Director of School of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Bhavesh Patel has taught several courses in corporate finance, investment and management accounting at undergraduate as well as graduate level; in a traditional format and in online environment; and to young and adult students. He has designed an integrated business management game and also some decision support systems for classroom teaching and executive training. He has a wide experience of business consulting and executive training in India and abroad.

He has published four books (one in USA) and the fifth one is in progress. He has also published self instructional materials on Project Management for five universities. He has several publications (research papers, articles, chapters in edited books, book reviews etc.) to his credit in India and abroad. He is also a reviewer of papers for many conferences and journals and has been a doctoral thesis examiner for Universities in India and abroad.

Bhavesh Patel has been organizing annual international conferences in America and Europe since 2003 under the aegis of International Academy of Business and Economics (www.iabe.org). He is associated with eight refereed journals of America and UK either in the capacity of a Managing Editor or Editor.

Prof. P K Banik, Director
School of Petroleum Technology

Professor P K Banik is the Director of School of Petroleum Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar.

Born in 1953, he had his early education in Assam and obtained 1st class B.Sc.Hons (Physics) in 1972. Thereafter, he went to Moscow (Russia) on a Govt. of India scholarship to study Mining Engineering. He obtained integrated Masters degree in Mining Engineering from Patrice Lumumba Peoples Friendship University, Moscow in 1980 and Ph.D. in Engineering from Moscow Mining Institute in 1984. He had been to Nottingham University, UK for training in Mine Planning in 1991.

He started his professional career in 1984 as a Faculty Member at Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (ISM), a premier institute in Mining, Petroleum and Geo-sciences in India. He worked in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-Kh) in 1994 as Associate Professor. He then returned back to ISM in 1994 as Professor of Continuing Education & Head, Executive Development Centre and served the Institute till 2005. The Govt. of India appointed him as the Director of the National Institute of Technology, Silchar (NIT-Silchar) in 2005, where he served the Institute for 3 years as Director of the Institute.

He has successfully guided several Ph.D. and M.Tech scholars and published more than 30 research papers in National and International journals. He has carried out more than 25 R & D and Consultancy projects. As a team work, he has contributed in developing Training Modules and Training Materials for Coal India Ltd. and Tata Group of Collieries. He has also carried out several World Bank Projects for Coal India Ltd. He was the leader for implementation of Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) at NIT-Silchar under a World Bank project of MHRD, Govt. of India.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India), Member of Indian Society for Training & Development, Indian Society for Technical Education and The Mining, Geological & Metallurgical Institution of India. He is the 1st Mining Engineer to receive CAREER AWARD from University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

He has experience of working in Siberian coal mines. He was also a coal mining consultant in Tajikistan. Professor Banik has traveled widely including UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and other countries.

Prof. Naresh Jotwani, Director
School of Solar Energy
School of Nuclear Energy

Dr Naresh Jotwani has taught subjects related to Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering at universities in India, Singapore, and the US for a total of over twenty five years. Prior to joining ISEG as Director, he served as Professor and Dean (R&D) at DA-IICT, Gandhinagar.

From 1996 to 2002, Dr Jotwani served as Founder Principal, G H Patel College of Engineering & Technology (GCET), Vallabh Vidyanagar. During this period, he also served as Dean, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, at Sardar Patel University. Earlier, he worked in computer industry for about five years, in India and Singapore, with brief stints in the US. Dr Jotwani has carried out several consultancy assignments and written three books and several research publications.

Dr Jotwani’s current research interests are in the fields of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal energy. He is also working on a book on Computer System Organization, expected to be published in early 2009.