"JOM: Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society" ISSN 1047-4838 v. 58, number 11 (November 2006), p. 92 This first creation of a "cast" metal matrix composite material is considered a landmark in the 11,000-year history of metal casting Rohatgi served as founding director of the Regional Research Laboratories (CSIR) at Trivandrum and Bhopal, and as a professor at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he pioneered incorporating renewable materials such as coir (fiber from the coconut shell), and banana and sisal plant fibers into polymer composites. He was running the research laboratory in Bhopal at the time of the gas leak disaster, but escaped unharmed and his lab was involved in studying the gas leak. He joined the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee as a Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering in 1986, and is currently Wisconsin Distinguished Professor and Director, UWM Center for Composites. Tenured Full Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founder and Director of Research of Laboratories for Foundry, Solidification, and Tribology at UWM, and UWM Center for Composites and UWM Center for Advanced Materials Manufacturer, Appointed professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UWM in 2010 and in Biomedical Engineering (In addition to materials) Developed new courses on solidification, composites, and metal casting. Established the UWM Composites Center, foundry and tribology laboratories, and the Center for Advanced Material Manufacture, which helped develop world leadership in lightweight materials for civilian and military transportation systems. Received over 10 million dollars in research funding for UWM. Supervised research for a very large number of master's and doctorate students and postdoctoral fellows on topics related to materials for transportation systems. Provided consulting services to industries manufacturing lightweight materials for transportation. Founder director (Equivalent to president and chief executive officer in the US) of the National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (Trivandrum) and the Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (Bhopal), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. (Both are equivalent to National Laboratories in the US with large numbers of scientific and administrative staff). Conceived goals, set up, and directed research at two new national research  Laboratories, and worked on regional industrial needs and local resources, solidification, alloy development, and composites.