[6][7] Sarvagya Singh Katiyar, born in 1935, did his undergraduate (BSc) and master's (MSc) studies at Agra University and secured his PhD in 1962 in chemical kinetics under the guidance of N. A. Ramaiah, an S. S. Bhatnagar Award winner,[8] from the National Sugar Institute, Kanpur.
[3] Moving to USA, he did post doctoral research, working with John W. Porter, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was successful in determining the kinetic mechanism of the enzyme fatty acid synthetase complex for the first time.
[3] He returned to India to join the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur where he became the Head of the Chemistry department in 1989 and stayed with the institution till 1994 when he was appointed as the vice chancellor of Kanpur University, present day Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University.
[3] He held the post till his retirement in 2007 for four consecutive terms,[3] the first vice chancellor to do so in the history of the university.
[3] The first biochemistry-biotechnology laboratory was established at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur during his tenure as the head of the department there.