Prior to joining the Department of Sciences and Humanities at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Jais in UP, as a faculty, Dr Shailendra Tripathi was working with one of the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Dehradun, the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum as a Senior Principal Scientist. Simultaneously, he also served as a Professor of Chemical Sciences at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, an institution of national importance governed by the Ghaziabad-based Human Resource Development Centre of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
A strong disciple of Bharat Ratna, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Dr Shailendra Tripathi received his Bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Gorakhpur. Later, specializing in Inorganic Chemistry, he obtained his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Banaras Hindu University.
He began his research cum academic career in his own alma mater as a Research Associate in Banaras and then moved to Hisar in Haryana to join the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at C C S Haryana Agricultural University. At Hisar, he worked to understand the impact of agrochemicals on soil health. He then moved to New Delhi to work with the CSIR- National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR). Apart from disseminating scientific and technological information to society, Dr Tripathi, at NIScPR, established communication among the scientific community through research journals in materials sciences and chemical technology.
His passion for catalysis science prompted him to join the most vibrant laboratory under the umbrella of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun. His research career which spanned more than two decades at CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum mainly focused on the development of catalyst(s) for numerous facets of petroleum refining and petrochemicals including catalysis for sustainability. He has worked on various Government funded projects such as the Development of Catalysts for Ultradeep Hydro desulphurization of Gas Oil, the Development of Gas to Liquid Technology for Fischer-Tropsch Fuels, Hydrogen Production by Thermo-catalytic Decomposition of Methane for Fuel Cell Applications, the Development of Nano Catalysts for Conversion of Methane to Lower Olefins, Bulk Chemicals – LCGO to Petrochemicals, Production of Gasoline Range Aromatics and Hydrogen-enriched Fuel Gas from Non-edible/Waste Cooking Oil over Engineered Hierarchical Nano Zeolites, Development of Catalysts for Dehydrogenation of Propane to Propylene and Catalytic Depolymerization of Waste Plastics to Fuels and Chemicals.
A life member of the Catalysis Society of India and the Indian Society of Analytical Scientists, his work related to using XRD methods to characterise materials was recognized and appreciated by the International Centre of Diffraction Data, Pennsylvania USA. Dr Tripathi has attended more than 25 conferences and workshops and guided 05 students for their PhD and/or M Tech programmes. He has more than 50 research publications and 03 patents to his credit.