Professor Surya Pratap Mehrotra was born on 26th April 1947 in Kashipur (Dist. Udham Singh Nagar) Uttaranchal. He did his B.Tech (1968) M.Tech. (1970) and Ph.D (1973) in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur. He was a professor in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering and Dean of Faculty Affairs, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, before taking the present assignment.

Professor Mehrotra started his professional career in 1973 as a lecturer at IIT, Kanpur where he was later elevated as Assistant Professor in 1975 and Professor in 1984. He has extensively traveled abroad on Academic assignments. He was a visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada during 1979-81, and Visiting Scientist during 1983-1985. He was at the Pennsylvania State University at University Park during 1987 as a part of the Indo-US Science of Technology Initiative. He has visited several other Universities like University of California at Berkeley Washington State University, University of Pulman, Carnegie Mellan University, Columbia University, M.I.T., Purdue University, University of Pittusbuh in U.S.A, McGill, Montreal,McMaster University at Hamilton,  and Toronto University in Canada, Imperial College and Sheffield University, in U.K. and University of Stuttgart, Germany. He has been to Lulea Sweden; Masstrich, Netherlands; Florence-Italy; Cape Town, South Africa, Montreal, Canada for participating in various International Conferences. As a member of a high power delegation of Govt. of India on Information Technology & Communication and Nano Technology he visited Sofia, Bulgaria and interacted with experts from Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. As a special invitee, he recently visited Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, South Korea.

Professor Mehrotra is a renowned Process Metallurgist and one of the pioneers in this country to take up Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of Mineral and Metallurgical Processes. He has a wide spectrum of research interests ranging from Mineral Processing to Materials Science. Some of his pioneering research contributions include; Mathematical modeling of froth flotation kinetics; Synthesis and optimal design of flotation circuits; Settling behavior of particles in jigs; Studies on hydrodynamics in Pachuca tanks used for leaching of Uranium, Zinc and Gold ores; Mixing phenomena in gas agitated liquid baths; studies on magneto hydro-dynamics in Hall-Heroult cells used in production of aluminum; Near net shape casting of metal and composite sheets using single roll continuous sheet caster; Kinetics of gas solid reactions in fluidized bed reactors; Prediction of thermal behavior to estimate freezing in the sub-hearth of an iron blast furnace, and Prediction of surface energies in metal ceramic systems. The uniqueness of his research is that most of his modeling and simulation investigations have been accompanied by judiciously designed, rigorous experimental studies for data generation needed for validation of mathematical models.

As an outstanding teacher, Professor Mehrotra has designed and developed several new courses both at the graduate and undergraduate levels at IIT Kanpur and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. These include Mathematical Modeling of Metallurgical and Mineral Processes; Process Control in Metallurgy; Metallurgical Kinetics; Unit Operations and Processes in Extractive Metallurgy; Science and Technology of Non-Ferrous Metal Extraction; Process Plant Design for Metallurgical Operations. He has guided 3 Ph.Ds, over 35 M.Techs and a large number of B.Tech. Projects and supervised more than 15 major sponsored and consultancy projects.

Professor Mehrotra has been very enthusiastic in organising Continuing Education activities as well. He has developed and offered several courses / programmes, specifically designed for engineers / scientists working in industries, R&D organisations and academic institutions. Courses like Mathematical Modeling of Metallurgical Processes, Continuous Casting of Steel, Science and Technology of Mineral Processing and Transport Phenomena in Metallurgy have been repeatedly offered on request from industries.

While at IIT Kanpur, Professor Mehrotra has been involved in planning of education and directing research, and held several important administrative positions. He was the Dean of Faculty Affairs (1998-2001), Co-ordinator of Quality Improvement Programme and Convenor, Continuing Education Programme (1988-90). He headed Metallurgical Engineering Department during 1990-93 and was Head of Advanced Centre of Materials Science during 1992-93. He has also been a member of Board of Governors of IIT Kanpur (1996-97).

At present he is member of Board of Governor / Curriculum Development Board of several National Academic Institutions, including Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur;  National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology, Mandigovindgarh. He is also the member of Research Councils / Research Advisory Committees of several R&D Laboratories. These include Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Design & Development Centre, Nagpur; Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata, Central Mining Research Institute; Dhanbad; Central Fuel Research Institute, Dhanbad, and Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar. He has also been a member of the Programme Advisory Committee in Engineering Research Council, DST, New Delhi. He is presently a member of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee for Hazardous Waste Management.

 Professor Mehrotra has over 100 research publications in reputed National/ International Journals, and he has edited several books and monographs. He has organised and participated in a number of conferences / seminars at national as well as international levels and delivered key note lectures and chaired technical sessions. He has received several awards and recognitions including: National Metallurgists' Day - Best Metallurgist Award, Ministry of Steel and Mines, Govt. of India, Maharashtra Govt. Award for Outstanding Research contributions, Indian Society of Technical Education; Distinguished Metallurgist Award, The Institute of Engineers; Mineral Beneficiation Award,  Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers; and SAIL Gold Medal  Indian Institute of Metals. He is also the elected fellow of several academies and professional societies. These include: Life Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of Indian Institute of Metals, Fellow of Institute of Engineers and Fellow of Institute of Environmental Pollution & Eco-toxicology.  

Professor Mehrotra is a member of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) of AMIE, USA, life member of Indian Institute of Metals, Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers, Institution of Engineers, Indian Society for Technical Education, Metal Research Society of India. He has also served as President (2000-02) and Vice President (1996-2000) of Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers.