Presently, he is President, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Delhi, a premier Engineering Academy of the Country. He is Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor at ISRO HQ, Bangalore. He is also a member of Board of Governors, IIT Madras and Chairman, Research Board for Aeronautical Development Establishment, DRDO.

After his degree in Science   and Engineering from Mysore University he took his Post Graduate degree from IIT Madras. He got his Doctorate under Commonwealth Scholarship in Control Systems from Salford University, UK. He joined Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum in 1969  and   discharged several responsibilities  before taking over as  Director, Vikrm Sarabhai Space  Centre  in 2003 and served  four and half years till end November 2007. He took over as  Founder Director  for  the newly established Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Trivandrum in 2007 and served for three and half  years till Nov 2010. He was instrumental in establishing this world class Institution. He was Member, Space Commission for four years. He was also distinguished Professor at IIT, Bombay and MIT Manipal.

He is a fellow  of several  professional bodies like Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Astronautical Society of India(ASI), Aeronautical  Society Of India (AeSI) Indian Society of systems for Science and Engineering(ISSE) and  International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) at Paris. He is also Fellow and past President for System Society of India(SSI).

In the international area he was Head of Indian delegation for the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space   at Vienna, Austria during 2004-07. He was  selected as Chairman of the prestigious United Nations Scientific and Technical Committee for the year 2006 from the Asia Pacific Countries. This was a unique distinction, since from the inception of UN Committee a technical expert from a developing Country was selected for this coveted post. He was Vice-President for S&T Committee for International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)and Chairman for the selection of members in S&T area for IAA for five years. He was also Co-Chair for programme Committee for the conduct of International Astronautical Congress in 2007.

He has delivered several prestigious guest lectures like, Ramanujam memorial, Vikram Sarabhai memorial, Dr. Srinivasan memorial and many more in prominent Institutions and national conferences. He has given invited   lectures at several International Institutions like, European Space Policy Institute, Paris, Space Institute at Strasbourg, United Nations conferences at Vienna, NASA conference on Project Management at Houston, USA and many more.

He  has won several awards & honours and prominent among them are “Dr. Biren Roy Space Science design Award”   from Aeronautical Society of India, “Agni Award” from DRDO for achieving the self reliance,  “ASI  Award”  for contribution to space technologies, by Astronautical Society of India. “Distinguished Alumni Award” from IIT Madras,“Ramanujam Award” by PSG Institute of Technology  for System Engineering, “Technical Excellence Award” by Lions International , “Outstanding Achievement Award” by  Department of Space, Govt  of India, “Lifetime Contribution  Award” in engineering by Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) for his significant contributions for space technologies , “National Systems Gold Medal” for lifetime contributions to large systems from System Society of India , “Aryabhata Award”   the highest award by  Astronautical Society for his invaluable contributions for aerospace developments,  “Big Kannadiga Award” by FM 93.7  Radio for  Science in 2014, “Karnataka  State Rajyotsava Award” for 2014 for Science & Technology, the top award  from Government of Karnataka and  “MR Kurup Endowment Award”  by Centre for Indian Consumers Research, Trivandrum, for outstanding contributions in space education and research in 2015.

In recognition of his meritorious contributions for Science and Technology, Govt. of India conferred on him “Padmasree” during the year 2002 and   “Padma Bhushan” during the year 2013.