Dr. Rudra Pratap is the Founding Vice Chancellor of Plaksha University. He served as the Deputy Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Founding Chairperson of the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), and a Professor in the Centre, as well as in Mechanical Engineering at IISc, Bangalore.Before joining IISc in 1996, he taught at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University. Dr. Pratap’s research areas include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), sensor technology, computational mechanics, and mechanobiology. He led India's first research lab in the field of microelectromechanical systems, the CranesSci MEMS Lab, at IISc, Bangalore. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science.He has published approximately 250 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is also an author of 17 patents. Dr. Pratap holds a B.Tech (Hons) degree from IIT Kharagpur, an M.S from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.He is passionate about technical education and reforms in education for the 21st century.