1990 - Ph.D - Chemistry Scientist @ Hazen Research & Co-Founder, Appli3D, LLC, USA
Dr. Thomas Kodenkandath received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from IIT Madras in 1990. He has an illustrious career in science and technology and is also an award-winning cartoonist.
Dr. Kodenkandath is a scientist at Hazen Research, USA and is one of the founders of Appli3D, LLC, a start-up dedicated to advance 3D- printing-based manufacturing. He was a Program Manager at ITN Energy and Ascent Solar, Scientist at American Superconductors, Advanced Materials Research Centre, Imperial College and was a Fellow of UNESCO as a “Promising Young Scientist form Developing Countries”.
Dr. Kodenkandath has made significant contributions in R&D that resulted in more than 15 patents, 75 publications, many invited lectures and a large number of citations. His career highlight is a paper published in J. American Chemical Society (JACS) in 2009 on the discovery of an unprecedented class of materials, with a new structure, which is considered as pioneering in the field of rational design and synthesis of materials with predicable composition, structure and properties. The proudest moment of his industrial R&D career was when TIME magazine selected the flexible solar cells that he helped develop at Ascent Solar as one of the best inventions of 2011.
It is, however, his excellence in cartooning under the name “Thommy” that sets Dr. Kodenkandath apart. He is the first non-resident Indian recipient of the Kerala State Lalithakala Academy Award for Editorial Cartooning in 2012, and was a winner of the international poster competition conducted by UNESCO to celebrate 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. In 2008, he was the only scientist to win the Science Idol cartooning competition conducted by Union of Concerned Scientists (USA). Currently, his cartoons regularly appear in India-West and Malayalam Pathram (USA), Gulf News (UAE) and Mathrubhoomi (Kerala). His credentials as a cartoonist earned him an Honorary Associateship of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC). While at IIT-M, his cartoons appeared regularly in Campus Times and Spectator; he won the Mardi Gras Prize twice as well as the Kalakrithi Award of Anna University for cartooning.
Dr. Kodenkandath represented IIT-M at three inter-IIT meets in Field Hockey. He was the captain of the Cauvery team that won the inter-hostel 4-a-side hockey tournament, making it the first PG hostel to earn that honour.
In recognition of his excellence as a materials scientist and distinction as an editorial cartoonist, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer this award upon Dr. Kodenkandath (aka Thommy).
