Dr.Kalyani Vijayan obtained her Master’s degree in Physics from Madras University and subsequent Ph.D degree in X-ray Crystallography from the Physics Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in the year 1969. After a brief stint (1969-71) at Professor Dorothy Hodgkin’s laboratory in Oxford, England, where she worked on cephalosporin, she joined the Materials Science Division, National Aerospace Laboratory, (NAL), Bangalore in 1971 and has stayed on there in various capacities.

At NAL, Dr.Kalyani utilized her formal training in structural crystallography to examine the crystal as well as macro structural characteristics and related properties of crystalline polymeric materials. She has studied the effect of environmental exposures on the properties of various polyamides. In particular, extensive work has been done on the aramid Kevlar. The unambiguous role of the parameter, time, in a nonkinetic study, on the crystal structural characteristics of polymers has been deciphered for the first time. Quantitative prediction of deterioration has also been achieved. In addition to the various experimental studies, in recent years, she has developed a package entitled `AERO POLYMERS’ encompassing crystallographic, mechanical and miscellaneous data on polymers used in aerospace and a property based selection module.

Dr.Kalyani Vijayan’s major research interests include study of liquid crystalline materials, fatigue behaviour of polycrystalline aluminium, recrystallization behaviour of ytterbium at ambient conditions, graphitizability of carbons, crystal structures of small molecules etc.

Dr.Kalyani has been an individual, advisory consultant to the Liquid Crystal Laboratory, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. During the period 1976-77, she had a second term at Oxford, England in Professor Hodgkin’s laboratory. She has visited various laboratories in England under the INSA Royal Society Exchange programme for which she was selected.

Dr.Kalyani is married to Professor M.Vijayan, presently an Honorary Professor and Distinguished BioTechnologist at the Molecular BioPhysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Their daughter Devayani Dorothy, an electrical engineer and MBA is married to Eldo Scaria who is also an MBA following a science degree.