Author Profile

Professor C Kameswara Rao initially taught at the Department of Botany, Andhra University, Waltair, and served the Bangalore University from 1967 to 1998. He received the B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the Andhra University, and a D.Sc., (honoris causa) from the Medicina Alternativa Institute, Open international University for Complementary Medicines, Colombo. He was a Professor of Botany and the Chairman of the Department of Botany, and the Department of Sericulture at the Bangalore University. Currently, he is an Honorary Professor at the Postgraduate Department of Applied Botany and Biotechnology, SSMRV College, Bangalore.

On a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship and a Royal Society and Nuffield Foundation Bursary, Professor Kameswara Rao worked on the computer applications in plant systematics, at the Natural History Museum, London, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the UK, besides some other institutions.

Professor Kameswara Rao was the President of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy for 1999. He is a member of the Indian Subcontinent Plant Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission, IUCN. He is a member of the Programme Advisory Committee of the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of India. He is the Executive Secretary of the Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education (visit the website www.fbae.org).

Professor Kameswara Rao’s research interests are, applications of computers and phytochemistry in plant systematics, and databases of medicinal plants. Recently, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the World Peace Foundation, Beijing, an affiliate of the UN, for his research work on Indian medicinal plants.