Dr. Bitan Pratihar obtained his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from NIT Durgapur (2017) and M.Tech from the Department of Chemical Engineering at NIT Rourkela (2019). He completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur in 2026. He is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Haldia Institute of Technology. His research interests include the design and development of functional materials for energy and environmental applications, application of AI/ML in chemical engineering, etc. He has published 11 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, 4 conference papers, and 1 book chapter. He received Institute Medal for Branch Topper in Chemical Engineering during M. Tech from NIT Rourkela (2020), Poster Prize Award at MTIC-XXI, IIT Kharagpur (2024), third prize in oral presentation at CheRID-2024, IIT Kharagpur (2024). He has also served as a Teaching Assistant for NPTEL online certification courses on 15 occasions.