Krishnan K. Sankaran studied metallurgical engineering at the Regional Engineering College, Durgapur, IIT Madras, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1978. In 2012 he was elected as Honorary Member of the Indian Institute of Metals for his distinguished services and significant contributions to the metallurgical profession and research. He retired in 2014 after working for 36 years in the aerospace industry. He recently published a book titled Metallurgy and Design of Alloys with Hierarchical Microstructures (Elsevier, June 2017). He now devotes his time to learning Carnatic music, Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures, and to traveling.
My elder brother, Sri K. K. Venkatraman was a Captain in the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He actively participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan War. After the war, he joined Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari (the southern tip of India), and administered their residential schools for the tribal children in the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh (erstwhile NEFA), bordering China.
