Dr. Rajiv Nigam, Retd. Deputy Director and Head of Geological Oceanography and Marine Archaeology, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa is currently working there as a Consultant. An alumnous of Lucknow University, Lucknow he obtained his M. Phil, Ph. D. and D. Sc. degrees from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and NORAD Diploma in Marine Micropaleontology from Oslo University, Norway. He joined the NIO as Scientist in 1978 and superannuated from there in 2016. He not only made significant contributions in the field of Marine Geology (Micropaleontology) but also established the first 'Laboratory for Culture Studies on Foraminifera' in India at NIO. He guided 12 Ph. D. theses and published over 135 papers in research journals of National and International repute. Recipient of the ‘CSIRYoung Scientist Award’, ‘Krishnan Gold Medal’, ‘National Mineral Award’, ‘M. R. Sahni Lecture Award’ and ‘Prof. S. N. Bhalla Gold Medal’ of the Palaeontological Society of India and ‘H. N. Siddiquie Lecture Award’ of the Indian Geophysical Union. He has authored a book on Indian Monsoon, which received a cash prize award of Rs 50000/- by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.