Parag A. Deshpande is a professor of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur. He received his doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore in 2011, graduating as the recipient of the best thesis of the year award in the department of chemical engineering, for his thesis on development of novel catalytic materials for clean energy and environmental applications. Following his doctoral research, he joined Northwestern University for his postdoctoral research where he applied DFT methods for understanding the mechanisms of enzymatic reactions with an aim of developing biomimetic catalysts. He joined IIT Kharagpur in 2012 as a faculty member, and was associated with it till 2023. He is a recipient of university gold medal for undergraduate studies, Bristol-Myers Squibb fellowship for doctoral studies, 2015 and 2019 DAAD fellowship, and Fulbright-Nehru professional and academic excellence fellowship 2020-21. He advises a research group at IIT Jodhpur which specialises in computational analysis of chemical and biochemical systems, employing quantum chemical calculations to understand the underlying materials science, catalysis and biophysical-biochemical behaviour with specific interest in carbon capture and NOx reduction catalysis