Prof. Purushottam Khanna (14 July 1942 – 14 August 2004) was founder Director of SIES IIEM. He was also Director of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur from January 1987 to January 1999 and served at CESE, IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee. Dr. Khanna contributed immensely to diverse areas of environment management and extensively supported UNICEF, UNEP, WHO, ESCAP, FES and was a leader of the Indian Delegation to Earth Summit at Rio De Janeiro in June 1992. In 2007 he received Nobel Peace Prize Citation endorsed for his contribution in the areas of climate change. To recognize the contribution of Prof. Khanna in Sustainable Environment Management and to increase societal awareness to eco issues, SIES IIEM started the Annual Prof. Purushottam Khanna Memorial Lecture in 2017 – 2018.