Dr. (Mrs) Mini Shaji Thomas, Professor JMI & Former Director, NIT Trichy
Brief Profile: Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas is currently Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, JMI, and was the Director of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT, Trichy) from 2016-2021.  
Dr. Thomas was the founder Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), and was the Central Public Information officer (CPIO) of JMI from 2008- 2014 and the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 2005-2008. Dr. Thomas was a faculty member at Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi (now DTU), and at the REC (now NIT), Calicut, Kerala before joining Jamia. She graduated from University of Kerala (Gold Medalist), completed her M. Tech from IIT Madras (Gold Medalist, Siemen’s prize) & PhD from IIT Delhi, India, all in Electrical Engineering.
At NIT Trichy, Dr. Thomas and her team, with the inputs from all stakeholders, developed the Strategic Plan for the Institute, which aims to propel the Institute to be among the top Technical Institutes in the world.  Inching towards this goal, the position of the Institute improved to 9th from 12th in ‘Engineering’, and to 24th from 34th in ‘overall’ position, in the NIRF India rankings in 2021.  With her keen interest, able guidance and leadership, NIT Trichy has set up the first of its kind Centre for Excellence (CoE) in manufacturing in 2018, at an investment of Rs. 190 Crores, in collaboration with Siemens Industry Software, and six more CoEs. The research publications, projects and consultancy at the Institute improved substantially with consistent encouragement and recognition of excellence in multiple ways. Patent filing and publication saw a surge with an IPR policy in place. The new offices of the Alumni Relations, International Relations, public relations and media are taking NIT Trichy to greater collaborations and visibility*.  
Dr. Thomas is currently on the Board of Directors of the IUSSTF- Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and was the President of Shastri-Indo Canadian Institute (SICI) 2020-21, a binational organization supported by MHRD, GoI, that promotes understanding between India and Canada through academic activities and exchanges.   
Dr. Thomas has done extensive research work in the area of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Substation & Distribution Automation and Smart Grid. She has published over 150 research papers in International Journals and Conferences of repute, supervised 16 Ph. Ds, has successfully completed many research projects worth 4 Crores. She is the author of the text book 'Power System SCADA and Smart Grids' by CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, USA.  
Dr. Thomas has set up the first of its kind SCADA laboratory and Substation Automation (SA) Laboratory at JMI, and as the founder coordinator, started a unique, first full-time, M Tech program in the Faculty of Engineering & Technology, JMI, in 2003 in Electrical Power System Management. For these contributions, Dr. Thomas won the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) Meritorious Achievement Award 2015. She is a 'Distinguished Lecturer' of IEEE Power & Energy Society.
 She is a certified trainer for ‘Capacity building of Women managers in higher education’, by UGC and has conducted many training sessions for Women empowerment.
Dr. Thomas is very active in Professional societies, like IEEE, has traveled extensively around the globe, delivered lectures in prestigious universities and has interacted with technical experts from all over the world.

Wiki Page:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Shaji_Thomas
*YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyzL2Yl-PMQ