~IIT Gandhinagar Associate Professor Dr Mithun Radhakrishna receives National Award to Teachers 2026 from President Droupadi Murmu for excellence in teaching, research and mentoring.
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Sep 04 (VNI): Dr Mithun Radhakrishna, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), has been awarded the National Award to Teachers 2026 by President of India Droupadi Murmu on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on September 5, 2026.
Dr Radhakrishna is among 21 teachers and faculty members from higher education institutions across India selected for the prestigious national recognition. The award recognises exceptional contributions to teaching and learning, outreach, research, innovation and other areas of academic excellence.
The recognition acknowledges Dr Radhakrishna’s contributions to innovative teaching, interdisciplinary education, research-led learning and student mentoring. At IIT Gandhinagar, he has combined teaching, research, computation and real-world applications, including introducing interdisciplinary courses such as Molecular Simulations and Financial Modeling and integrating research projects into classroom learning.
Dr Radhakrishna said the award brought a mixture of surprise, gratitude and happiness, adding that teaching has always been deeply personal to him. He credited several teachers and mentors for shaping his approach, including his high-school teachers at Sadvidya School in Mysore and his PhD advisor Professor Sanat Kumar at Columbia University.
His interest in teaching developed during his BTech years, when he would study with friends and help them understand difficult concepts. This experience, he said, made him realise that he genuinely enjoyed explaining ideas and helping others reach an understanding. His subsequent research experience, including work with Professor Anil Kumar at IIT Bombay through a JNCASR fellowship, strengthened his interest in academia, where he could combine teaching and research.
At IIT Gandhinagar, his teaching philosophy focuses on developing independent thinkers rather than simply guiding students towards predetermined answers. He connects theoretical concepts with computation, experiments, research papers and real-world problems, encouraging students to understand not only how something works but also why.
He considers the long-term impact on students among the most meaningful outcomes of teaching. Former students have shared with him how courses and discussions influenced their decisions to pursue research, computational work or new career paths. He also considers seeing his first PhD student become a faculty member at IIT Kharagpur one of the most rewarding milestones of his academic journey.
With the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence, Dr Radhakrishna believes the role of teachers is becoming even more important. He said educators must move beyond being transmitters of information and instead help students ask better questions, critically evaluate answers, connect ideas, develop judgement and work independently.
Looking ahead, he aims to explore the integration of AI into education without compromising independent thinking, while continuing his research in computational molecular science and mentoring students in original research. The National Award to Teachers 2026 marks an important milestone in his journey while reinforcing IIT Gandhinagar’s focus on research-led education, interdisciplinary learning and close faculty-student engagement. VNI NEWS, IIT Gandhinagar, Mithun Radhakrishna, National Award to Teachers 2026, Teachers Day 2026, Droupadi Murmu, IITGN, Chemical Engineering, Teachers Day, Droupadi Murmu, Higher Education, Research, Innovation, Faculty Excellence, Gujarat, VNINews, VNINews.com