Ajay K. Bose Hon. M.Eng ’63 Left a Lasting Impact Through Teaching, Research and Mentoring

It is said that each of us has the potential to impact more lives than we can ever know. This is certainly true for Dr. Ajay K. Bose Hon. M.Eng ’63 (1925-2010), whose legacy lives on through his research, through the work of the students he mentored, and through the talented students who are supported by a scholarship created in his memory.

Bose emigrated from India in 1950, earned his doctorate at MIT and worked as a fellow at Harvard and Penn before joining Upjohn, a pharmaceutical company that is now part of Pfizer. He joined Stevens in 1959, remaining on the faculty until his retirement in 2007. In his six decades of research, Bose secured seven patents, published 350 scientific papers, wrote two books and contributed chapters to several more. In 1968, the Bose Reaction, a process for synthesizing penicillin-related antibiotics, was named for him. He lectured widely and received many accolades, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering from the American Chemical Society.

Bose believed in developing the next generation of innovators. In 1972, he created, and for nearly 40 years oversaw, the Undergraduate Projects in Technology and Medicine program at Stevens. His collaborations with Dr. Birendra Pramanik, a former student, resulted in a novel approach to peptide biochemistry. Their work is used by scientists in academic and industrial laboratories worldwide. In 2015, Dr. Pramanik honored his mentor’s memory by establishing the Dr. Ajay Bose Memorial Term and Endowed Scholarship at Stevens.