Prof. (Dr.) Manikrao Madhavrao Salunkhe, Vice Chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune has taken over as the New President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) on 1^st July, 2019.   An eminent and highly acclaimed Professor in Organic Chemistry, Prof. Salunkhe is the 98^th President of AIU.   He worked as a Director, Institute of Science, Mumbai, Vice-Chancellor of Shivaji University, Kolhapur, First Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Rajasthan, and also the Vice-Chancellor of Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik.  

Bio-organic Chemistry is the research interests of Dr. Salunkhe in which he has made important contributions.  He has more than 150 research publications plus one patent to his credit, most of them being in international journals of high impact factors.  He has post-doctoral research experience of having worked at Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), Institute for Organic Chemie, University of Vienna (Austria), and North Western University (USA).   His academic distinctions include honours like the Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2002), Member of American Chemical Society, Maharashtra Academy of Science. For his meritorious contributions, he has received Best Teacher Award of the Government of Maharashtra, among others.