Patna: Nearly two dozen faculty members from three Bihar institutions — Indian Institute of Technology-Patna (IIT-P), National Institute of Technology-Patna (NIT-P) and Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) — have featured on the 2026 list of the world’s top 2% scientists compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier.The recognition highlights research contributions across engineering, physics, pharmacy, geology, biotechnology, mathematics and computer science.At IIT-P, the recognised faculty members include former director T N Singh, dean (administration) and physics professor Awalendra Kumar Thakur, and head of the physics department Navin Kumar Nischal. The other seven are Surajit Kumar Paul (mechanical engineering), Richa Chaudhary (humanities and social sciences), Pratibhamoy Das (mathematics), Sriparna Saha (computer science and engineering), Anirban Bhattacharya (mechanical engineering) and Maheshkumar H Kolekar and Ranjan Kumar Behera (electrical engineering).At CUSB, three faculty members from pharmacy and pharmacology — dean and School of Health Sciences head Subrata Kumar Bhattamisara, Vivek Dave and Arun Kumar — made the list. The other four are geology head Prafull Kumar Singh, physics faculty member Rohit Ranjan Shahi, and biotechnology professors Rakesh Kumar and Nitish Kumar.CUSB vice-chancellor Kameshwar Nath Singh and registrar Narendra Kumar Rana congratulated the researchers, saying their inclusion reflected their commitment to knowledge, innovation and research excellence. IIT-P, under director Amit Patra, also congratulated its faculty members.The Stanford-Elsevier database uses Scopus publication and citation data, including a composite citation score (c-score) and other bibliometric indicators, to assess scientific impact. It covers 22 broad fields and 174 subfields, assessing both career-long contributions and single-year impact.NIT-P’s Sanjeev Sinha said the recognition was significant, but sustaining research momentum would require stronger infrastructure, funding, industry collaboration and opportunities for young scholars.
