Trace Metals Selenium, Chromium and Vanadium

Bimal Krishna Banik has had a remarkable career, filled with significant achievements in teaching, research, mentoring, and professional service. He completed his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta. Then, he pursued post-doctoral research at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, and Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey. Prof. Banik was a tenured full professor in chemistry and First President's Endowed Professor in Science and Engineering at the University of Texas - Pan American. He was the Vice President of Research and Education Development at the Community Health Systems of Texas. Currently, Prof. Banik is a full professor at the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Notably, he has been selected as a fellow of five international scientific soci- eties and has been designated as a distinguished researcher/distinguished scientist.

Prof. Banik is engaged in studies on synthetic chemistry and medicinal research on cancers, antibiotics, natural products, hormones, and catalysis. His extensive and impactful contributions are reflected through the $7.25 million grant from US National Institutes of Health (NIH), US National Cancer Institute (NCI), and US private foundations as the principal investigator. Prof. Banik is the author of more than 740 publications including books, book chapters, name reactions, perspectives, reviews, and papers with more than 10,000 citations. In addition, he has 520 presentation abstracts to his credit. Many of his international presentations at various conferences have been designated as keynote and plenary lectures. Notably, he has authored and edited 23 books, which have been published by Elsevier, Springer, Springer Nature, CRC Taylor & Francis, De Gruyter, ICS, PMU, and Nova.

Prof. Banik's leadership roles in organizing international and national conferences highlight his influence on scientific communities. He chaired 20 symposiums at the American Chemical Society national meetings and over two dozen conferences at the international level, including one at the Nobel Prize celebration meeting in Germany. In his capacity as the chair, he was able to introduce approximately 300 speakers. He has been deeply involved in the publication process of other authors. For example, Prof. Banik has been a reviewer of 93 journals, editorial board member of 28 journals, editor-in-chief of 12 journals, founder of eight journals, and guest editor of 10 research journals. Due to his leading role in journals administration, Prof. Banik has recruited approximately 200 associate editors and editorial board members for these journals. Importantly, he has served as a reviewer of National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health-National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI), National Research Council of the National Academies (NRC), American Chemical Society (ACS), US research corporations and international grant applications. Prof. Banik has evaluated approximately 2,500 research grants and manuscripts. He was the chair of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's drug discovery symposiums and director of their analytical chemistry laboratory. He served as a chair or member of more than 100 committees; reviewer of promotion and tenure of faculties in US and international universities; chair of the Faculty Research Council of the University of Texas - Pan American (UTPA), and an examiner of doctoral thesis.

Prof. Banik has been involved in teaching science to medical and engineering students on a regular basis for the past many years. He has taught more than 3,000 students in the United States and Saudi Arabia. His brilliant teaching skills were reflected and proven in several thousand students', peers', and administrators' outstanding evaluations as well as by independent comments posted on the "Rate My Professor" website by the US students. Numerous distinguished leaders in US universities constantly rated Prof. Banik as a "truly exceptional teacher" and "excellent teacher" by rating him as excellent and good for the past many years. He has established two science societies that have 1,400 students at the University of Texas. Many research students from his group have received Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.Pharm, M.D. Ph.D., M.S., and P.A. degrees from the US universities. Some of his students are working as university/hospital faculty members, clinicians, directors, and principal scientists in pharmaceutical/chemical companies around the world. Prof. Banik has mentored 20 postdoctoral fellows, eight research scientists, and approximately 300 students in research. Importantly, he has mentored 28 faculty members.

Prof. Banik was honored with several prestigious awards. He is consistently ranked among the top 2% researchers in the world. He received the Indian Chemical Society's Lifetime Achievement Award; Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Honor Medal from the UK Parliament; US National Society of Collegiate Scholars' Best Advisor Award for students; Professor P.K. Bose Endowment Medal; Dr. M.N. Ghosh Gold Medal; University of Texas Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award; ACS Member Service Award; and Best Researcher, Teacher and Mentor Awards by the UTPA. He is recognized by Burdwan University and Itachuna College as a distinguished eminent alumni and also by ACS News, Elsevier, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), US NCI, US Research Foundation, University of Texas Board of Regents, Times of India, Stevens Institute of Technology, ACS SEED, NCI, NIH and by Indian and US newspapers, and Down to the Earth magazine. Prof. Banik has received 200 invitations to deliver international lectures. He is also being invited to write books by publishers of repute in the world.

Sangeeta Bajpai is a faculty of Chemistry, working with Amity University, Lucknow, India for the last 17 years. She has 30 years of academic research experience. She was awarded a doctorate degree in chemistry from Lucknow University in 1998. Her academic journey includes more than 50 research publications in various journals of National and international repute, various authored and edited books, book chapters in books published by leading publishers (Elsevier, Bentham and DeGruyter). She has participated in various international and national conferences as an invited speaker. As the principal investigator, she completed two major research projects (Fast Track Young Scientist and Women Scientist). They were duly funded by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. She has been a lifetime member of reputed organizations, Indian Science Congress, Association of Chemistry Teachers, and editorial board member of reputed scientific journals. Under her supervision, two students have been awarded their Ph.D. degrees. Many more students are pursuing their research work under her guidance. Her research areas of interest include organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, green chemistry and macrocyclic chemistry. She has been engaged in the studies of the chemistry of organotellurium compounds, mainly to explore newer bonding perspectives in its complexes via spectral and X-ray diffraction studies.

Monika Kamboj, a faculty of chemistry, working with Amity University, Lucknow, India for the last 15 years. She was awarded a doctorate in chemistry from the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra in 2012. Her academic journey includes more than 40 research publications in various journals of national and international repute and authored book chapters in books published by leading publishers. She has participated in various international and national conferences as an oral paper presenter, poster presenter, and as a part of the faculty development program. She was awarded the Dr. R.K. Aggarwal Award 2016 for best poster presentation by the Indian Council of Chemists, India. She also received third prize in the oral presentation at the International Conference on Chemical Sciences: National and Global Prospective 2018, held in Lucknow. She has to her credit the prestigious Indian Academics Summer Research Fellowship 2024. She has lifetime memberships with reputed organizations, the Indian Science Congress, the Association of Chemistry Teachers and Indian Society for Photochemical and Radiation Sciences. She is also an editorial board member and a reviewer in reputed scientific journals. Under her supervision, one student has been awarded his Ph.D. degree. Her area of interest is coordination chemistry, green chemistry, and macrocyclic chemistry. Her research interest includes the chemistry of macrocyclic metal complexes, their characterization, and biological aspects.

Garima Pandey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Modinagar, Ghaziabad. She received her doctorate in coordination chemistry in 2008. Dr. Garima has a rich teaching experience of more than 15 years with core areas being coordination chemistry, nanotechnology, environmental chemistry, and education. Dr. Pandey has more than 30 publications in various national and international journals of repute and has attended more than 20 national and international conferences, workshops, symposiums, and faculty development programs. All the way through her career, she has taken up a number of challenging assignments serving in the capacities of a teacher, counselor, mentor, anti-ragging committee member, and girls hostel warden. As a core member of Women Grievance Cell, she is always working toward promoting a healthy working environment for the female staff, students, and faculty, building a gender-sensitized environment at the institute, organizing workshops and awareness programs toward building a gender-neutral workplace. She has always earned appreciation for her active involvement in student welfare, community development, and women empowerment programs.