Prof. Dr. S. Kannaiyan is the former Vice - Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He is a renowned world famous scientist in Agricultural Microbiology and Biotechnology. Prof. Kannaiyan did his B.Sc. (Agriculture) with first class and distinctions in Plant Pathology and Agronomy and M.Sc. (Agriculture) in Agrl. Microbiology with first class and first rank from Annamalai University by securing Dr. M.P. Damodaran's and Dean's Awards. He also obtained his Ph.D in 1976 in Agrl. Microbiology and his Ph. D thesis was rated as the best and outstanding one for the year 1978. He was a FAO/UNDP Fellow and worked in Charles Kettering Research Laboratory, Yellow spring, Ohio, USA. He was working as visiting scientist at University of California, Davis, USA in USDA Senior Scientific Panel Programme. He was a British Council Visiting Fellow in the Univ. of Nottingham, UK and Visiting Scientist to the King's College, University of London, UK. Prof. Kannaiyan started his career in the Dept. of Agriculture, Govt. of Tamil Nadu as a Research Assistant. Prof. Kannaiyan later joined as Assoc. Prof. in the Dept of Agrl. Microbiology at Tamil Nadu Agrl. University, Coimbatore in 1980. During his service at TNAU, he was instrumental in bringing huge grants through both nationally and internationally funded schemes. So far, Prof. Kannaiyan has obtained 24 schemes for which he is the Principal Investigator.  Prof. Kannaiyan is the recipient of several awards. He is a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi and the Indian Society of Biochemists and Biotechnologists. His field of specialization are Biotechnology, Algal and Azolla Biotechnology, Biofertilizers, Nodulation in Cereals, Agrl. Education etc. He has organized many National and International Conferences. Prof. Kannaiyan has developed a strong research group and recently has got a NATP-Team of excellence project on Biofertilizers for rice based cropping system was sanctioned in recognition of his outstanding contribution to rice Microbiology. He has published more than 400 research papers in reputed National and International Journals in the areas of Cyanobacteria, Azolla Biofertilizer, stem nodulating Sesbania rostrata and Rice Pathology. He has published 18 scientific books pertaining to Biofertilizers and Agriculture and written 7 books in Tamil on technology transfer.