CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune has initiated a Name Lecture in Computational Chemistry in the honour of the distinguished chemist, Professor Sourav Pal.  The first lecture of the "Sourav Pal Lecture Series in Computational Chemistry" will be delivered by Professor Shiv Khanna, Department of Physics, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA on the 1st of November 2017 at the CSIR-NCL Campus at Pune. Professor Pal is presently the Director and Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata. He was affiliated with CSIR-NCL, Pune for over three decades where he served as its ninth Director from 2010 to 2015 and also as the Head, Physical and Materials Chemistry Division.

Prof. Pal is recognised as a world leader in the areas of electronic structure with pioneering contributions in the Response Theory and Chemical Reactivity. Prof. Pal, a fellow of all the major national science academies, has been recognized with several awards and honours for his contribution, including the prestigious Shanti. Swarup Bhatnagar award in Chemical Sciences (2000) and the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Silver Medal (2009) amongst others.

National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune is a premier laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, and is the largest laboratory devoted to the area of chemical and related sciences in India. It has a staff strength of over 1,500 people, with around 400 scientific and technical professionals and 450 research students.

Professor Shiv Khanna, would deliver the first lecture of the "Sourav Pal Lecture Series" is recognized for his work on superatoms” clusters and nanoscale materials.