Prof. Devang Khakhar has assumed office as the new Director of IIT Bombay from January 01, 2009. Prof. Khakhar succeeds Prof. Ashok Misra who was held the office from May 2000 - October 2008. Prof. Khakhar did his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi in 1981 and his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1986. He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay in January 1987, and has been with the institute since then.

Prof. Khakhar’s research interests include: dynamics of particulate systems, polymerization of rigid molecules and fluid mixing. He has published and presented over 150 papers, including papers in Nature and Science. For his research achievements Prof Khakhar has been accorded several prestigious awards, which include the Bhatnagar Prize (1997) and the Swarnajayanti Fellowship (1998). He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Khakhar is also a recipient of IIT Bombay's “Excellence in Teaching Award” and the “Mathur Award for Research Excellence”. He has served as Professor-in-Charge of IIT Bombay’s Continuing Education Program from 2001-02, as Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 2002-04, and has been the Dean of Faculty Affairs since 2005.