From IIT Madras student to IIT director abroad: Meet Preeti Aghalayam, first woman to lead an IIT- Moneycontrol.com

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Preeti Aghalayam went from an IIT Madras student to becoming the first woman to lead an IIT, heading the institute's Zanzibar campus in Tanzania.

September 28, 2026 / 11:47 IST

Preeti Aghalayam's association with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras has spanned more than three decades, taking her from its chemical engineering classrooms to a leadership role at its first international campus. In July 2023, she was appointed director-in-charge of IIT Madras Zanzibar in Tanzania, becoming the first woman to lead an IIT.

Her appointment marked a significant point in a career that has moved between engineering education, research and academic leadership. Aghalayam had first entered IIT Madras as a student in 1991, when she enrolled in the chemical engineering programme. She graduated in 1995 before travelling to the United States for higher studies and eventually returning to India as an academic.

At IIT Madras Zanzibar, Aghalayam took on the challenge of helping establish an IIT outside India. The campus welcomed its first students from Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, India and Nepal, and began academic classes in October 2023. Its initial programmes included Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Aghalayam's interest in science developed early in life. She grew up in an academic household where discussions around science and education were part of everyday life. Her father was a chemistry professor, while her mother pursued a PhD alongside her other responsibilities. Watching her mother continue her academic work while Aghalayam was in high school gave her an early example of persistence and the demands of higher education.

That environment eventually led her towards engineering. After completing her undergraduate education at IIT Madras in 1995, she continued her studies in the US. She earned a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester in 1995 and completed her PhD at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2000.

Her academic journey also included a stint at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She later returned to India and began her faculty career at IIT Bombay before moving back to IIT Madras in 2010.

Aghalayam spent 25 years at IIT Madras as a faculty member, teaching and pursuing research in chemical engineering. Her work has covered areas such as underground coal gasification, reducing nitrogen oxide emissions from automobiles, reactor modelling and simplifying large reaction mechanisms.

Her academic contributions have also brought recognition from professional and scientific organisations, including the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers. Her career at IIT Madras gave her experience not only in teaching and research but also in working with students and developing academic programmes.

That experience became particularly relevant when she moved into the leadership role at IIT Madras Zanzibar. The campus represented a new direction for IIT Madras, requiring academic systems and programmes to be developed in an international setting. The first cohort brought together students from multiple countries, adding an international dimension to the institute's teaching environment.

Aghalayam is now Dean of the Office of Global Engagement at IIT Madras. She continues to be associated with IIT Madras Zanzibar as a former director-in-charge and faculty member.

Her career has therefore remained closely connected to the institution where she began as an engineering student. From studying chemical engineering in Chennai to pursuing advanced research in the US, teaching at IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, and helping establish an IIT campus in Tanzania, her professional journey has covered several stages of higher education.

The IIT Madras classroom where Aghalayam began her engineering education in 1991 eventually became the starting point for a much wider academic journey. More than three decades later, that journey placed her at the helm of an IIT campus outside India and made her the first woman to lead an IIT.

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