Dr. rer. nat. Ravi Kumar obtained his doctorate in natural sciences from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (currently known as Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems), Stuttgart, Germany in 2004 with a “Sehr gut” grade (very good) with a fellowship from the Max Planck Institute. Subsequently, he continued in the same institute as a postdoctoral researcher and guest scientist. He worked on the high temperature deformation behavior of polymer precursor derived ceramics during his stay. After 6 years of stay at the Max Planck Institute, he moved to the Institute for Shock Physics in Pullman, USA and worked on the dynamic response of bulk metallic glasses for a brief period. He returned back to India in 2007 and joined the Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Engg., at IIT Madras as an Asst. Professor. Since 2012, he worked in the same department as Associate Professor and heads the Central XRD Laboratory. He is currently professor of ceramics in the Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at IIT Madras since 2018. As head of the Central XRD Laboratory he consults a large number of industries both in India and abroad. His professional experience includes working for ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, Dept of Space, Govt of India. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed international papers and delivered several prestigious invited lectures in India, Europe and US.