Electrochemical scientist N Kalaiselvi has been appointed the first woman DG of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), the country’s top public sector R&D organisation that controls multiple state-run institutions, for a period of two years. Kalaiselvi hails from Ambasamudram, a small town in TN’s Tirunelveli district. She has risen through the ranks in CSIR and also became the first woman scientist to head CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute as its director in February 2019.