Alumnus of IIT Madras develops breakthrough technology for Kodak
As part of the first-ever Forbes 50 Over 50: Vision List, Dr. Nair was named to the list in 2021, making her the first woman to do so
New Delhi: Dr. Mridula Nair, a research fellow at Eastman Kodak Company and distinguished alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), has faced a variety of challenges and triumphs throughout her professional life over the past four decades. She is currently a research fellow at Eastman Kodak Company.
To this aim, she goes on to describe how, as an Indian-origin woman in her twenties, she encountered gender-bias issues when she began her professional career at a male-dominated firm in the 1980s.
But, despite these difficulties, she has produced remarkable work in the fields of science and technological innovation. She was the inventor of the Evaporative Limited Coalescence (ELC) process, a Kodak innovation that has found widespread use.
The chemical manufacturing industry, chemically produced toners, tailored particles, optical display films, and smart materials are among the fields in which she has been awarded 140 US patents.
She also earned the Kodak Century Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Scientific and Technical Innovation for breaking the 100-patent threshold in 2014, which was presented to her in recognition of her achievement.
As part of the first-ever Forbes 50 Over 50: Vision List, which recognizes remarkable women who are influencing the future of science, technology, and the arts, Dr. Nair was named to the list in 2021, making her the first woman to do so.
Currently, she is a vocal advocate for female literacy in India, with the goal of empowering women to become financially independent and contribute their ideas to problem-solving from a variety of perspectives.