Bengaluru, Apr 29 (IANS): Eminent farm scientist S. Ayyappan has been appointed Chairman of the Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, an official said on Tuesday.

"The state government has reconstituted the Karnataka Science and Technology Academy (KSTA) with Ayyappan as Chairman and 13 members comprising noted educationists, scientists and administrators for a three-year term," said the official in a statement here.

Ayyappan, 65, is the former Director General of the state-run Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Secretary to Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Chancellor, Central Agricultural University, Manipur.

KSTA was set up as an autonomous institution in July 2005 under the state department of science and technology, with eminent space scientist late U.R. Rao as its first Chairman.

"The Academy has been executing a number of programmes to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and develop scientific temper among the students reading at different levels in an educational pyramid," said the statement.

The institution has been popularising science among the public across the southern state over the last 15 years since its inception.