Professor U. Aswathanarayana has many years of research and teaching experience at institutes in many countries (Andhra and Sagar Universities in India, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique, California Institute of Technology, USA ; Oxford University, U.K., and the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He received his B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., and D.Sc. degrees from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India. He specialized in Nuclear Geology, Geochemistry, U. Aswathanarayana has many years of international research and teaching experience in the fields of Geology, Geochemistry, Economic Geology and Natural Resources Management. A pioneer in the high-tech area of Isotope Geology, it was his exposure to the desperate human problems endemic in Africa which inspired him to refocus the applications of geoscience to the field of human welfare. During twenty years in Africa, he devoted himself exclusively to developing ways of utilizing natural resources (water, soils and minerals) to improve the quality of life of the people through job-led economic growth. In Africa, he also trained geoscience personnel and developed geoscience infrastructure. Professor Aswathanarayana is the recipient of the American Geophysical Union's 2007 International Award for serving science and society in less developed countries. His most recent publication, co-edited with Tad S. Murty and Niru Nirupama, is the book 'The Indian Ocean Tsunami', published also by Taylor & Francis.