Prof. A.N. Munkopadhyay was born on March 12, 1940 at Katwa, West Bengal. He joined Banaras Hindu University and obtained his B.Sc. (Ag.), M.Sc. (Ag.) and Ph.D. degrees in the years 1960, 1962 and 1967, respectively. He stood first in the M.Sc. (Ag.) examination. Prof. Mukhopadhyay started his professional career as Instructor in Plant Pathology at BHU in 1962 and later joined the Department of Plant Pathology at GBPUA&T, Pantnagar in 1967 as Assistant Professor. He became Associate Professor in 1971. He was invited by the University of New Castle Upon Tyne, UK as a visiting Professor in 1977 under Commonwealth Academic Fellowship. He became Professor and Head, Plant Pathology at Gujarat Agricultural University in 1982 and later joined back the GBPUA&T as Professor and Head, Plant Pathology in 1984. Prof. Mukhopadhyay served as Dean, College of Agriculture at GBPUA&T from 1992 to 1997. In 1997, he was appointed as Vice-Chancellor, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. He took up another assignment as Director General, Tea Research Association in 2000. Currently, Prof. Mukhopadhyay is Honorary Director, Biopesticide Division of Super Agro India Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata. 

He has been actively involved in teaching and research for the last 4 decades. Prof. Mukhopadhyay has been a teacher of rare distinction and motivated innumerable students to choose Plant Pathology as their career. He has guided 15 Ph.D. and 20 M.Sc. scholars. He organized two Summer Institutes during 1993 and 1994 as Director. He has published more than 130 research papers in journals of national and international repute. Prof. Mukhopadhyay has to his credit eight books on Plant Pathology published by internationally renowned publishers like CRC Press Inc., USA and Prentice Hall, USA.
In view of his outstanding contributions, various awards and honours were conferred on him. Prof. Mukhopadhyay is the recipient of the Professor M.J. Narashimhan Academic Award (1972) and Professor M.S. Pavgi Award (1990). He was invited to present his research work and chair sessions at several international meets in countries like USA, UK, Canada, France, Singapore, Hongkong, Italy, Malaysia, Philippines, Switzerland and Thailand. He has held several prestigious positions like Editor-in­Chief, Indian Journal of Mycology and Plant Pathology (1984-86), President of the Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology (1986­87), President of Indian Phytopathological Society (1995) and President of Agriculture Section of the Indian Science Congress (1996). WHO, Geneva and Federation of American Scientists, USA elected him as a Member of the Working Group on Emerging Plant Diseases in 1993 in Geneva. National Academy of Agriculture Sciences honoured him by electing as a Fellow in 1995. The Academy honoured Prof. Mukhopadhyay by electing as a member of the Executive Council for the years 2000-2003 and 2010-2012 also. Prof. Mukhopadhyay is not only an excellent teacher and researcher but also an administrator of the first order. Assam Agricultural University received significant boost after Prof. Mukhopadhyay took over as Vice‑ Chancellor on May 7, 1997. Accolades and honours continue to be showered upon Prof. Mukhopadhyay. The more recent being distinguished Alumini Award of BHU, 2008, Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 of Agricultural and Horticultural Development Society, Dr. N. Prasad Memorial Lecture Award of ISMPP 2009 and coveted Lifetime Achievement Award of GBPUA&T and Uttarakhand CST 2009. Prof. Mukhopadhyay was conferred on the lifetime Achievement Award 2012 of ISMPP for his outstanding contribution during the last 4 decades.