VISAKHAPATNAM: For Dr Manoj P Rayaroth, a childhood dream of becoming a scientist eventually led to a career that combines research and teaching.
“I did not want to become a teacher when I was a child. I always dreamt of becoming a scientist and pursuing research, but somehow I ended up in teaching as well,” said the 37‑year‑old Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at GITAM (Deemed to be) University, Visakhapatnam.
Born in Thalavil village in Kerala’s Kannur district to parents who worked as daily‑wage labourers, Manoj has pursued research on water pollutants and emerging contaminants in the Arctic. The SciRank Global Registry 2025 places him among the world’s top five per cent of scientists based on research metrics, with 2,900 citations and an h‑index of 25.
Manoj completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Sir Syed College, Taliparamba, before joining Mahatma Gandhi University for research. He earned his PhD in Chemistry in 2017, specialising in advanced oxidation processes for degrading organic pollutants in water, under Professor C.T. Aravindakumar. During his PhD, he conducted research at Duke University in the US through the Obama‑Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative.
He later joined Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea, as a visiting researcher, working on nanomaterials and environmental remediation. He spent two years at POSTECH as part of his postdoctoral research, followed by appointments at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, Gdansk University of Technology in Poland and the University of Orléans in France.
In 2023, Manoj spent six months at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, US, studying oil pollution. He has published about 50 research papers on pollutant identification and degradation, covering advanced oxidation processes, mass spectrometry, emerging pollutants, aromatic hydrocarbons, cavitation and carbon absorption.
After joining GITAM in 2024, Manoj began working on emerging contaminants. He supervises two PhD scholars and guides students across Chemistry, Environmental Science, Microbiology and Biotechnology. He is also leading a Ministry of Education‑funded SPARC project with the University of Montreal on microplastics and persistent organic pollutants along the Vizag coast. An industry‑supported project focuses on solvent‑based carbon absorption and pollutant removal using sunlight and heat.
His research took him to the Arctic after being selected for Batch 4 of the Indian Arctic Expedition 2026‑27. He spent a month at India’s Himadri Research Station in Ny‑Ålesund, Svalbard, collecting fjord and glacier meltwater samples. “Sometimes the water flow in the river as a part of glacier melt is more, and sometimes it is less. The changes can be seen within a week,” he said. The project examines how climate change affects the movement of contaminants from Arctic ice into marine waters.
Alongside his research, Manoj received the Seal of Excellence under the Marie Sklodowska‑Curie Actions from the European Commission in 2022 and 2023. He continues his work from Vizag, balancing teaching and international collaborations.