Rate My Professor Prosenjit Daw

Dr. Prosenjit Daw is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Berhampur (IISER Berhampur), having been promoted in March 2025 after serving as Assistant Professor since September 2019. His primary research specialization is organometallic chemistry, focusing on the design of cooperative transition metal catalysts for efficient hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions. These efforts target sustainable processes such as the conversion of alcohols to carboxylic acids, amines from amides, and biomass-derived chemicals to value-added products, alongside green hydrogen production from small molecules like ammonia borane. With a Google Scholar profile boasting 2,735 citations, Daw's contributions have notably influenced advancements in homogeneous catalysis for renewable energy and sustainable chemistry.

Daw's academic journey began with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta (2003–2006). He then advanced to the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for his M.Sc. (2007–2009) and Ph.D. (2009–2015), where, under Prof. Jitendra K. Bera, he developed N-heterocyclic carbene-based organometallics for organic transformations, supported by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship from CSIR. Subsequently, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (2015–2019) with Prof. David Milstein, he held the Planning and Budgeting Committee Fellowship (2015–2018) and a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018–2019). Among his key publications, the review article "Homogeneous Catalysis for Sustainable Energy: Hydrogen and Methanol Economies, Fuels from Biomass, and Related Topics" (Chemical Reviews, 2022, co-authored with Amit Kumar and David Milstein) stands out with over 618 citations. Other significant works include "Catalytic Conversion of Alcohols to Carboxylic Acid Salts and Hydrogen with Alkaline Water" (ACS Catalysis, 2017) and recent contributions such as "Dehydrogenation of Ammonia Borane Employing an Air-Stable Ruthenium Catalyst" (Dalton Transactions, 2026) and "A Catalytic Approach for the Dehydrogenative Upgradation of Glycerol to Lactic Acid" (RSC Advances, 2024). Daw's excellence is further recognized through qualifications in GATE (2009, All India Rank 28), JAM (2007, AIR 2), and NET-Chemistry (2009), as well as the Merit-cum-Means scholarship at IIT Kanpur.