Background
Chatterjee was born in 1922 in Karnataka.
Chatterjee was born in 1922 in Karnataka.
University of Michigan.
She was the first woman engineer from Karnataka. During her tenure at the Indian Institute of Science (Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore, Chatterjee was a professor and later chairperson of the department of Electro-communication Engineering. After finishing her schooling she got admitted into Central College of Bangalore where she earned B.Sc (Honours) and M.Sc degrees in Mathematics.
In both these exams she ranked first in the Mysore University.
She received Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar Award and M.T. Narayana Iyengar Prize and the Walters Memorial Prize respectively for her performances in the B.Sc and M.Sc examinations. In 1943, after her M.Sc, she joined the Indian Institute of Science(Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore as a Research Student in the then Electrical Technology Department in the area of Communication.
In 1946, she was selected as a "bright student" by the Government of Delhi and was given a scholarship to go abroad to pursue higher studies and she decided to the United States. In 1950s it was very difficult for Indian women to go abroad to pursue higher education.
But Chatterjee was determined to do southern
In July 1947, one month before India"s independence, she started her journey to the United States of America and reached there after 30 days. In the United States of America, she was admitted to the University of Michigan and obtained her Master’s degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering. Then following the guidelines of the contract she had with the Government of India, she underwent and eight months" practical training in the Division of Radio Frequency Measurements at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington District of Columbia After the completion of the training she went back to the University of Michigan and resumed her studies.
In early 1953 she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree under the guidance of Professor William G. Dowager
In 1953, after obtaining the Doctor of Philosophy degree, she returned to India and joined the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering at Indian Institute of Science as a faculty member. They soon built a microwave research laboratory.
In the same period, Chatterjee became a professor and was selected for the position of Chairman in the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering. Her main teaching are were electromagnetic theory, electron tube circuits and microwave technology.
She was very active in research too.
In the next few years she mentored 20 Doctor of Philosophy students, wrote over 100 research papers and seven books related to microwave engineering and antennae.