Prof. (Dr) Manoj Kumar apart from being an administrator par excellence, is a brilliant researcher with exciting ideas and quality publications. He received his B.E (Electronics & Communication Engg.) in the year 1990, M.Tech. (Electronics & Communication Engg.) in the year 2001 and Ph.D from Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar in the year 2007. He is CMI Level 5 Certified in Leadership Management from Chartered Management Institute, UK. He was selected for UK study tour by AICTE & British Council under the UKIERI project in 2019. He holds the distinction of being a Master Trainer in ‘Leadership Management Program’, duly recognized by AICTE & British Council. He has supervised 09 Ph.D candidates, published 150 plus research articles in leading journals and conference Proceedings, authored 09 textbooks, and has 04 patents to his credit. He has also been serving as Dean’s Visiting Scholar, University of Memphis School of Public Health, USA since Aug 1, 2024. He is the President of Jalandhar Management Association (JMA) under the aegis of All India Management Association (AIMA). In addition, he holds the position of Honorary Colonel / Colonel Commandant in the National Cadet Corps at DAV University since May 2026.
He is a Founding Fellow – ‘Punjab Forum for Science & Technology Communications’, Fellow - ‘The Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers’ and ‘The Institutions of Engineers India’ and Honorary Member – ‘Advisory Council, Association of Indian Principals (2024-26)’. He is a Life Member – ‘The Indian Science Congress Association’, ‘Computer Society of India’, ‘Indian Society of Technical Education’ and ‘Punjab Academy of Sciences’.
He is the recipient of the ‘Silver Medal’ in M.Tech. (Electronics & Comm. & Engg.) from Punjab Technical University, ‘Outstanding Vice-Chancellor of India’ award by Indian Education Network during India Education Summit (2025), ‘Collegedunia Excellence Award 2024’ for Education Pioneer of the Year 2024 during Collegedunia Connect: An Education Summit (2024), ‘Education Excellence Award’ by Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC), Set up by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India (2024), ‘Excellence Awards in Education 2024’ presented by Reliance Animation Academy, ‘Award for service to society’ by Punjab Forum for Science & Technology Communications in recognition of exemplary dedication to foster positive change and societal well-being (2023), awarded by District Administration, Jalandhar with a Medallion and a Certificate of Merit on the Independence Day 2018 for outstanding contribution to education and various government programs, and prestigious ‘LMA – Dayanand Munjal Award for ‘Manager of the year 2017’, the most prestigious annual award instituted by Ludhiana Management Association (under AIMA) since 1984 & sponsored by Hero Cycles Limited, Ludhiana, for outstanding innovative and leadership achievements. He also received ‘Jewel of India’ award by ‘Indian Solidarity Council’ for the year 2006, ‘Best PI Coordinator’ award from Secretary, D.O.E, Govt. of India under IMPACT/SSS project sponsored by D.O.E, GOI; World Bank and Swiss Development Co-operation, Switzerland. He is a Reviewer for Elsevier Science’s International Journal-Optical Fibre Technology, Springer, ICFAI Journals, and World Scientific & Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS) for international conferences.
Under his stewardship, DAV University was honoured with ‘Best Institution for Sports Laboratories and Research Facilities’ at the ‘National Sports and Physical Education Awards 2026’ (2026), was honoured with ‘Education Excellence Award’ for ‘Leading University in Research & Innovation’ by ‘Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC)’, Set up by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India (2025), was honoured with ‘Education Excellence Award’ for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Industry- Academic Collaboration’ by ‘Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC)’, Set up by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India (2025). Under his leadership , DAV University was also honoured with ‘Industry-Academia Collaboration for Creating Employability and Entrepreneurship of the Year at LEAP 2025’ by ‘London School of Digital Business’ (2025), was ranked amongst Top 100 Higher-Ed Pioneering Digital Transformation by Digii100 (2023), was awarded by Assocham for ‘Strengthening Social Fabric with Values & Ethics based Education along with Life-skills’ (2023), and was awarded by Assocham for ‘Driving Innovation and Inspiring Minds through Industry-Academia Alliance’ (2022).
Under his leadership, DAVIET was conferred with ‘Outstanding Institution Award (Engineering Colleges)’ by National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh (NITTTR) (2018), was conferred with 'Award for Education Excellence' by The Indus Foundation during Indo-Global Education Summit & Expo 2017, ranked 17th in the category of Outstanding Engineering Colleges of Excellence in India as per CSR-GHRDC Survey-2022 conducted by Global Human Resource Development Centre, was ranked 66th in the dream list of Top Private Engineering Colleges by ‘India Today Survey, 2021’, has been conferred with the status of 'Host Institution (HI) / Business Incubator (BI)' by MSME, New Delhi, under the scheme "Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators" in 2018. The objective of the scheme was to provide early-stage funding to nurture innovative business ideas that could be commercialized in a year. The scheme provides financial assistance up to Rs.15 lakh for each incubate /idea subject to overall ceiling of Rs.62.5 lakh for each business incubator, and accredited with grade ‘A’ by NAAC in October, 2017; and recognized by UGC under section 2(f) under his stewardship.
Prof. Manoj Kumar has done outstanding research in the diverse fields of optical and wireless communication. His major areas of interest are broadband optical wireless communication systems and networks, dispersion compensation, fibre nonlinearities, optical soliton transmission, WDM systems and networks, Radio-over-fibre (RoF) and wireless sensor networks, and computer communication.
Wipro Mission 10X in its endeavor of identifying the top 25 academic leaders of the country organized 03 level Academic Leadership Workshops PAN India. He also holds the distinction of being one of the top 25 academic leaders across India, identified and recognized by Wipro Mission 10X. He, an indefatigable man, has, through his vision, hard work, and leadership ability, lifted all the organizations, wherever he has worked, through impressive strategic planning abilities and team management skills.
He has introduced novel teaching pedagogies to improve teaching quality, focused on research and publications, collaborations with industries for improved industry engagement, qualitative placements, movement of students into higher education programs, and entrepreneurship.