Sarita Rajesh Zele

Dr. Sarita Rajesh Zele, aged 58 years, is an engineering expert with 25 years of experience in industry, academia, and research. She graduated with a B. Tech and M. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay and earned her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Zele began her industrial career at Motorola and later worked at Photronics in Austin, Texas. Since 2008, she has focused on solar photovoltaics, holding various roles in solar cell and module manufacturing companies in the US, including Soitec, Solar City (now Tesla), and Crystal Solar. In 2016, she moved to India to serve as the CTO of NCPRE (National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education) at IIT Bombay, a prominent solar energy research centre supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Her main responsibility at NCPRE was to enhance collaboration between the solar industry and IIT Bombay. Currently, Dr. Zele is a Professor at MIT WPU in Pune, where she leads several research projects focused on sustainability and resource conservation, including serving as the Principal Investigator for the Solar Waste Recycling project funded by the Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission (RGSTC).