Dr. Subhash Mahajan, Ph.D. attended Punjab College and the Indian Institute of Science, majoring in materials science. He then completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.

He worked for the Atomic Energy Research Agency at Harwell. In 1971, a recruitment team from Bell Laboratories enticed Dr. Mahajan to Murray Hill, N.J., where he remained for 12 years, working on twinning and perfecting silicon crystals for the rapidly advancing electronics technology.

After Murray Hill, he took a post as professor of materials science at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. There, he remained for another 14 years before departing for Arizona State University in Tempe, where he served as chair of the department of materials science. In 2010, he and Sushma moved to Davis, where he served as distinguished professor and special adviser to the chancellor of UC Davis.

He was a member of several professional societies during his career, he received countless awards, and he mentored generations of material scientists.