Director
Professor (Dr.) Savitha G. Kini is Director, in Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT) and Professor in Dept of Electrical & Electronics Engineering. She has taken over as the Director, SMIT on September 22, 2025. Dr. Savitha earned her B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore, in 1990. She pursued her M.Tech. in Lighting Science and Engineering at MIT, Manipal under Mangalore University in 1997, and completed her Ph.D. from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 2008.
Her academic journey started at MIT Manipal as a Lecturer in 1991 and has since served the institute in numerous academic and administrative roles. She became a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in the year 2009 and went on to serve as the Head of the Department from February 2014 to January 2019.
During her tenure as Professor and HoD, she played a pivotal role in the development of the department. She was instrumental in setting up several Undergraduate and Postgraduate laboratories, significantly enhancing the department’s infrastructure and academic and research capabilities. She also led the department through its first-ever NBA accreditation process based on Outcome-Based Education (OBE), successfully steering the team towards meeting national academic standards.
Additionally, under her leadership, the department signed a MoU with Selco Foundation, Bengaluru, enabling the execution of several impactful projects in collaboration with the foundation. Her efforts in strengthening academia–industry partnerships and promoting experiential learning have left a lasting mark on the department. She proactively continued and expanded the unique consultancy service in photometric testing, serving as a key member of the photometric testing consultancy team. Through this initiative, she has provided expert services to several renowned lighting industries. Notably, as part of these consultancy engagements, she and her team carried out lighting design and verification services for the Kandla Port Trust contributing to real-world applications of lighting technology.
She has authored over 30 research papers, including original and review articles in reputed journals such as IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, and Lighting Research and Technology. She has presented more than 30 papers at national and international conferences. As a peer reviewer, she contributes to leading journals including Lighting Research & Technology (SAGE), Solar Energy, Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, Polymer Testing, Measurement (Elsevier), and IEEE Access. She has successfully guided four Ph.D. thesis and currently mentors three doctoral scholars.
