the fundamental understanding of dynamics of gas phase over condensed systems. He showed that the elementary reaction, H+ + H2O → H3O+ in the gas phase and in liquid water happens differently on ice surfaces, namely one channel follows, H+ + H2O (ice) → H2+ + OH.(ice), when H+ collides ice at ultra low kinetic energies. In other words, while H+ makes hydronium ion in liquid water, it results in dihydrogen cation on ice. He showed that molecular transport of even slightly different molecules is largely different within ice. To discover and understand such processes, especially at the very top of ice, he built the very first ultra low energy (1-10 eV) ion scattering spectrometer, a new tool in extremely surface sensitive spectroscopy, working at cryogenic temperatures as in space. In this experiment, mass and energy selected ions undergo collisions at ultra-thin molecular surfaces prepared on single crystals and the product ions are studied by a mass spectrometer. The surfaces are simultaneously characterized by a range of techniques such as reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Using this infrastructure the group has shown that methane hydrate can exist in ultrahigh vacuum and at ultra-cold conditions as in interstellar space. The current research group is a mix of diverse expertise. The group members are largely chemists along with some chemical engineers, physicists, computer science graduates, biologists and instrumentation engineers. The group has almost all the tools required for advanced materials science within itself. Other facilities are available in the institute. There are also intense collaborations with scientists across the world. He has taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses at IITM for over 25 years and trained over 250 students at various levels to conduct research, including 45 completed and 30 ongoing PhDs, 110 MSc/MTech theses, 40 postdocs and several visiting students from India and abroad. Honors and awards 2022 - VinFuture Prize 2022 - Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water 2020 - Padma Shri 2020 - Nikkei Asia Prize 2020 2018 - The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Prize in Chemistry 2015 - J. C. Bose National Fellowship 2008 - Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology 2003 - B. M. Birla Science Prize, Young Scientist Award of the Chemical Research Society of India Incubation Five companies have been incubated. 1. InnoNano Research Pvt. Ltd. (a start-up company at IIT Madras). Not operational currently. 2. Innodi Water