Mini Shaji Thomas, Dean of Faculty of Engg & Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia is listed among ‘The Champions’ along with many women Industry leaders by ‘Business World’, the prominent Business Magazine, which has released the list of 100 most influential women of 2025 Powering growth, Fueling GDP, on International Women’s day 2025.
The list includes 7 categories, starting with ‘The Titans” with President Droupadi Murmu, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and other Illustrious Corporate leaders, Policy Makers, and Social Influencers representing sectors such as Tech, Healthcare, FMCG, Beauty& Personal Care and BSFI this year. The BW Most Influential Women 2025 reflects these women leaders whose work in the past year has made a difference not only to their businesses and their work but also to the industry and the Indian economy”.
Dr Mini Shaji Thomas who is featuring in ‘The Champions’ in the list is currently Dean, Faculty of Engineering & Technology and Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, JMI, and was the Director of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT, Trichy) from 2016-2021. As the Dean of Engineering, she has revamped the curriculum of UG and PG as per NEP 2020, with Minors and Honors, and started 3 new B Tech and 2 M Tech programmes in Emerging Areas in 2024.
Mini Thomas was the founder Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), and was the Central Public Information officer (CPIO) of JMI from 2008- 2014 and the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 2005-2008. Mini Thomas graduated from University of Kerala (Gold Medalist), completed her M. Tech from IIT Madras (Gold Medalist, Siemen’s prize) & PhD from IIT Delhi, India, all in Electrical Engineering. Mini Thomas received the prestigious Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA) 2022 of IIT Madras.
At NIT Trichy, Mini Thomas and her team, developed the Strategic Plan for the Institute, which propelled the Institute to 8th from 12th in ‘Engineering’, and to 24th from 34th in ‘overall’ position, in the NIRF India rankings during her tenure. She set up the first of its kind Centre for Excellence (COE) in manufacturing at NIT Trichy, at an investment of Rs. 190 Crores, in collaboration with Siemens Industry Software, and many other notable achievements.
Dr. Thomas has done extensive research work in the area of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Substation & Distribution Automation and Smart Grid. She has published over 150 research papers in International Journals and Conferences of repute, supervised 17 Ph. Ds, has successfully completed many research projects. She has set up the first of its kind SCADA laboratory and Substation Automation (SA) Laboratory at JMI, with Industry involvement ad started the first M Tech Program of the Faculty.
Dr. Thomas is currently on the Board of Directors of the IUSSTF- Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and was the President of Shastri-Indo Canadian Institute (SICI) 2020-21, She is a ‘Distinguished Lecturer’ of IEEE Power & Energy Society. Dr. Thomas is very active in Professional societies with over a decade of experience on the international boards and committees. Dr. Thomas has traveled extensively around the globe, delivered lectures in prestigious universities and has interacted with technical experts from all over the world.
