Mr. Surappa, who completed his engineering education at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has held the post of Director of the Indian Institute of Technology — Ropar, for six years between June 20, 2009, and June 20, 2015.
From June 2015, he served as honorary professor, Department of Materials Engineering, IISC Bengaluru.
He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and has 150 research publications and four patents to his credit.
As a doctorate in Metallurgical Engineering, he enjoys rich teaching experience of more than 30 years, of which 24 years were spent at the Indian Institute of Science, which is No. 1 in the country as per the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) rankings