Principal Desk

From the Principal Desk,

At MITCAT we strongly believe that education is a collaborative effort that involves professional administrators, committed teachers and motivated students.

Dr. M. Kannan did his UG BSc.(Hort.) education during 1983 at HC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore, MSc.(Hort.) in 1985 and did Ph.D (Hort.) under Part-time from 1989 to 1994 with high academic performance.

He started his career as Asst.Professor (Hort.) in April 24th 1986 at HRS, Yercaud. Later he continued his service at the Dept. of Vegetables Crops, HC&RI, TNAU, Coimbatore (1989-92), HRS, Kodaikanal (1992-95) and again at the Dept. of Vegetables Crops, HC&RI, Coimbatore from 1995 to 2004. He was elevated to Asst.Professor (Senior Scale) in 1994 and to Asso.Professor (Hort.) during 1998. He was promoted as Professor (Hort.) in April 2004 and since then he served as Project Officer, Tamil Nadu Precision Farming Project (TNPFP) implemented by Tamil Nadu Government at Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri Districts and till June 2007 he continued to work in this project. During the Project period, he also acted as Prof. & Head, RRS, Paiyur for a period of six months in 2006 during May to October. From July 2007, he served as Professor (Hort.) at the Office of the Dean. HC&RI, Coimbatore as “Educational Co-ordinator” for the B.Tech (Hort.) programme. From August 2009 to October 2014 he served as Professor (Hort.) under the ICAR-AICRP on Floriculture at the Dept. of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture. From November 2014 to May 2018 he continued to serve in the same Dept. as Professor and Head. Later, Under deputation, he served as the Dean, Adhiparasakthi Horticultural College, Kalavai for 13 months from May 2018 to May 2019. From June 2019 onwards he continued his service as Deputy Director of Research at the Directorate of Research, TNAU, Coimbatore looking after the administrative activities besides guiding two Ph.D (Hort.) students of Floriculture.

During his career span, he involved in UG teaching for nearly 18 years and 15 years in PG/Ph.D teaching. He obtained “Best UG Teacher Award” during 2002 from MASU, TNAU towards his contribution to teaching. Similarly in Research, he was working under ICAR-AICRP on Tubercrops and ICAR-AICRP on Floriculture for more than 14 years during his career. He obtained “Best Scientist Award” during 2000 for his contribution in tubercrops research. During 2015, he obtained “Lotus Puraskar Award” towards his contribution in Floriculture Research from Indian Society of Ornamental Horticulture, New Delhi. He has guided about 30 MSc. (Hort.) and 20 Ph.D (Hort.) students during his career. He underwent short term training under World Bank sponsored AHRDP for 3 months at North Carolina  State University, Raleigh, NC State, USA on “Micropropagation in Horticultural Crops”.

He has to his credit more than 10 published books with (ISBN), several technical bulletins, students manuals and book chapters related to Horticulture and specifically to floriculture. Dr. M. Kannan has published about 175 research papers and more than 150 popular articles. He is one of the scientist associated with the release of more than 12 Horticultural Crop Varieties and more than fifteen technologies from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. He is the recipient of 10 awards and is a member of various professional and academic societies like Indian Society of Ornamental Horticulture, Horticultural Society of India, Indian Society of Root Crops etc. He has coordinated in organizing several training programmes on floriculture and landscaping, tuber crops cultivation and precision production technologies in horticultural crops. He was the Project Officer for the Tamil Nadu Precision Farming Project (2004-2007) implemented in Dharmapuri & Krishnagiri districts which have sensitized several horticultural farmers of Tamil Nadu on Hi-tech production of horticultural crops using drip and fertigation technology. He was also associated with organizing three mega flowershows at TNAU Botanic Gardens during 2010, 2011 & 2012.