Professor Vinay Chamola, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at BITS Pilani, has been selected for the National Teachers Award 2026, recognising his contribution to teaching, innovation, experiential learning and student development.
Prof. Chamola is a globally recognised researcher with over 25,500 citations and a h-index of 76 on Google Scholar. He brings contemporary research directly into the classroom.
At BITS Pilani, he has developed courses in IoT and drone technology and established a hands-on IoT Tinkering Lab, giving students the opportunity to move beyond theoretical learning and build solutions themselves.
His teaching philosophy is closely linked to the problems he seeks to solve through his research. “If I had to identify the problem I am most keen to solve, it would be this: making advanced technology safe, autonomous and affordable enough to create meaningful impact for ordinary people, rather than remaining confined to well-funded laboratories,” he says.
His research on autonomous drones is one example. Professor says, "They are going to play an increasingly important role in areas such as defence, surveillance and disaster response. What draws me to this field is the possibility of using autonomous systems in situations where human access may be difficult, dangerous or time-critical — locating survivors after a flood, for instance, or monitoring a stretch of terrain that human patrols may not be able to cover safely or quickly enough."
His research focuses on making drones more autonomous through approaches such as energy-efficient obstacle avoidance and autonomous charging, so they can operate for longer durations, more safely, and with less human supervision.
{{/usCountry}}His research focuses on making drones more autonomous through approaches such as energy-efficient obstacle avoidance and autonomous charging, so they can operate for longer durations, more safely, and with less human supervision.
{{/usCountry}}His team is also developing low-cost, programmable and open-source educational drones for schools and tinkering labs. The aim is to introduce students, including those in smaller towns, to programming, robotics and drone technology at an early age.
“If a student in a small-town school can build and fly a drone they have programmed themselves, that, to me, is an important step towards democratising advanced technology,” he says.
Professor Chamola also encourages students to take their ideas beyond the classroom and turn academic projects into real-world ventures. Through PIEDS (Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Society), the business incubator at BITS Pilani, he actively mentors startups and helps students translate ideas into practical solutions.
He refers to Nagwati as a good example of this journey. What started as a student course project on queuing systems has evolved into a technology company deploying solutions at fuel stations across India. Its technology seeks to reduce congestion, improve operational efficiency and enhance the fuelling experience for customers.
Apart from his contribution to education, Chamola leads an interdisciplinary course on the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, integrating questions of values, purpose, compassion and wellbeing into the student experience. The course has demonstrated positive outcomes for student wellbeing, reflecting his belief that education should develop the individual as a whole.
The National Teachers Award 2026 will be conferred to 82 educators on September 5, 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. President Droupadi Murmu will confer the awards.