Prof. H. Shekar Shetty was born in November 1944.   He has consistently good academic record and did his M. Sc. in Botany and Ph.D. degree in Mycology and Plant Pathology from the University of Mysore, in 1974 under the guidance of Late Prof. K. M. Safeeulla. He was a Post Doctoral Fellow during 1976-79 at the Danish Government Institute of Seed Pathology, Denmark with Late Prof. Paul Neergaard and Prof. S. B. Mathur and a Visiting Professor at the Department of Applied Botany, Hamburg University, Germany with Prof. Helmut Pierson during 1987.

         Prof. Shetty served as Lecturer/Research Officer (1970-84), Reader (1984-87) and Professor from 1987 at the University of Mysore. He superannuated on November 30th 2004and his service continued as Principal Investigator and Officer-In-Charge ICAR-AICPMIP-DMRL Project from 1st December 2004 to 31st March 2007. He has more than 35 years of Teaching/Research and Administrative experience in the University Education and Science and Technology development. 
         With his capabilities, Prof. Shetty has been able to mobilize funds of more than 15 crore Rupees from National and International funding agencies such as UGC, CSIR, ICAR, DST, DBT, EEC, Novo Nordisk and DANIDA, Denmark, which has enabled to equip the Department with the latest instruments and sophisticated infrastructure for National and International Teaching and Research. 
At the University of Mysore he has established

• The Department of Studies in Applied Botany Seed Pathology and Biotechnology along with Late Prof. K. M. Safeeulla at the University of Mysore during 1982, and the first Chairman of this new department in 1984, which is now well known both Nationally and Internationally for its quality teaching and research.
• ICAR-Downy Mildew Research Laboratory under All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project and is currently incharge of the project after superannuation on 30th November 2004 and will continue upto March 31st 2007.
• UGC- Special Assistance Programme – DRS with thrust area on Seed Science and Technology
• UGC-COSIST programme for Plant Microbe Interaction
• DST-FIST programme to augment Teaching and Research in Applied Botany and Biotechnology
• DBT-HRD support for MSc., Biotechnology programme
• DANIDA ENRECA programme and DANIDA Asian Centre for Seed Pathology.

         Prof. Shetty is leading the research work on Biology and Control of Plant Diseases, especially the downy mildew diseases and seed pathology including Post Harvest Biology and Biotechnology aspects.  Prof. Shetty has guided 31 research students for Ph.D and five more students are currently working under his guidance.

         Prof. Shetty has a rich administrative experience as Chairman of a PG Department, Dean Faculty of Science and Technology, Member of the Academic Council, Senate and was nominated as senior professor to the University Syndicate. 

     At the National Level, Prof. Shetty is the Programme Co-ordinator UGC SAP and COSIST Programme, DST- FIST, Technical Project Leader Pearl millet ICAR, AICPMIP, ICAR-NATP and ICRISAT, Hyderabad.

      International Collaborative programme with DANIDA ENRECA, European Economic Community funds for Science and Technology, Aurburn University, USA, USDA, RVAU, Denmark, Can tho University, Vietnam and Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary.

       Member of the Crop Science Panel-ICAR, Member and Group Leader - Monitoring / Evaluation of Transgenic Crop Plants, DBT - Govt. of India, Programme Advisory Committee - DST - Govt. of India.

          Prof. Shetty has received recognition by elected as a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc.,) in 1998, Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS) in 1999 and Fellow of National Academy of Sciences (FNASc) in the year 2002.  He was elected as the President of Indian Botanical Society for the academic year 2002-2003. He has won the prestigious Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science and Technology in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sciences for 1997.  He has received the awards from US Department of Agriculture for downy mildew disease management and Mysore University Golden Jubilee Award for Excellent Research Publications.He was also honored with Chaudhary Devi Lal Best co-ordinated research project award by ICAR, 2004. He has also been conferred with the Prestigious International Seed Health Award by the Danish Seed Health Center in 2006.

         He has 267 research publications to his credit, publishing both in National and International journals and 93 publications in proceedings of conferences/symposia. Besides, he has also authored/edited nine books. He has organized and attended more than 120 National and International Seminar/Conferences/Workshops on the Invitation basis. He was also a Visiting Scientist in many University and Academic Institutes of Denmark, Germany, France, UK, Sweden, USA, Mexico, Canada and Vietnam under International Co-operative programmes.

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