Purnima Jalihal
Dr Purnima Jalihal is a senior scientist who heads the Energy and Fresh Water group in the National Institute of Ocean Technology, India. She has led device developments for harnessing ocean energy from waves, marine currents and ocean thermal gradient (OTEC) and has played a major role in developing the ocean thermal desalination technology. She has a PhD in Civil Engineering from Duke University , USA. She was awarded the Vishwakarma Medal in 2006 by the Indian National Science Academy and the Uehara Prize for 2019 by the International OTEC community for Contribution to the development of OTEC. She is on many committees of Indian Government organizations, related to water and renewable energy and is the EU led Clean Energy Mission Innovation Champion for India, 2020. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of the Ocean Energy Systems (OES) Technology Collaboration Program (TCP) under the International Energy Agency (IEA).