The Atlantic Council today named Bharath Gopalaswamy as the new Director of its South Asia Center, effective immediately. Dr. Bharath Gopalaswamy, an Indian American space technologies expert who had worked with ISRO,  is the new director of top American think-tank Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center.

Gopalaswamy, who joined the Council in October 2013 as Deputy Director of the South Asia Center, had been serving as its Acting Director since January 2015 and replaces Pakistan’s Shuja Nawaz, who was the founding director of the South Asia Center. During his time at the Council, Gopalaswamy has managed the Center’s strategic security work involving South Asia and its neighbors and has overseen the expansion of the Council’s India programming.

“Bharath brings an unusual mixture of technical expertise from his engineering background, entrepreneurial skill learned on the job, and the rare capability to deftly navigate both South Asian and Western cultures,” said Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council President and CEO. “His hiring marks a significant deepening of the Council’s engagement across South Asia, and in particular in India.”

“His hiring marks a significant deepening of the Council’s engagement across South Asia, and in particular in India,” he said.

The South Asia Center since 2009 has served as the Atlantic Council’s focal point for work on greater South Asia as well as relations between these countries, neighboring regions, Europe, and the United States.

The Center seeks to foster partnerships with key institutions in the region to establish itself as a forum for dialogue between decision-makers in South Asia, the U.S. and Europe.

Before joining the Council, Gopalaswamy managed the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he oversaw developing projects on South Asian security issues. He has held research appointments with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and with Cornell University’s Judith Reppy Institute of Peace and Conflict studies.

Gopalaswamy holds a PhD in mechanical engineering with a specialization in numerical acoustics from Trinity College, Dublin. In addition to his studies abroad, he has previously worked at the Indian Space Research Organization’s High Altitude Test Facilities and the EADS Astrium GmbH division in Germany. His public policy research on nuclear and space policy leverages this background.

The Center encompasses initiatives including the Iran Task Force, the Emerging Leaders of Pakistan program, and the newly launched Afghanistan Rising: Sustaining Success in Afghanistan.