Sustainable Agricultural Development with Climate-Smart Systems: Proceedings of the International Conference SADCSS 2024

Author Biography

Prof. Rabindra Kumar Panda is currently serving as the Director, Centre for Climate Smart Agriculture at the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, India. Earlier, Prof. Panda was a Professor and Head of the School of Infrastructure as well as the Dean (Research and Development) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar. He has a total experience of more than 32 years in the IIT system, which includes 23 years at IIT Kharagpur and 9 years at IIT Bhubaneswar. He has supervised 20 PhD and 72 MTech theses and supervising 6 PhD students at present. He has more than 140 high impact journal publications to his credit. He has patented a low cost “Soil moisture sensor for automated micro-irrigation system”. He was the Associate Editor of The Institution of Engineers (India) Journal, a Springer Publication and a specialist in Water Resources Development and Management. Prof. Panda is currently the Principal Investigator of a BRICS project with partners from China, Brazil and South Africa. He had collaborated with Texas A&M and University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He was also the Principal Investigator of a mega project funded by the World Bank. Prof. Panda is the recipient of several Awards and Fellowships. He is the recipient of the prestigious Indo-U.S. Fellowship funded by the USAID to pursue post¬doctoral research in USA. Prof. Uma Charan Mohanty is a renowned atmospheric scientist with a distinguished academic and research career spanning over 54 years. After serving at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, he continued his contributions at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar as a Visiting Professor and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Climate Smart Agriculture, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar. His work in atmospheric science, particularly in the numerical modelling and prediction of high-impact weather events like cyclones, monsoons, and thunderstorms, has significantly influenced operational forecasting systems, with several of his research outcomes adopted by the India Meteorological Department and Indian Air Force. Prof. Mohanty has authored over 360 journal papers, guided 45 PhD students, and contributed to numerous technical reports, books, and chapters. His accolades include the prestigious Santi Swarup Bhatnagar award, Biju Patnaik Award for life time scientific excellence, Sir Gilbert Walker Gold Medal, 12th Mausam Award and many others. He is a fellow of all four major Indian national science and engineering academies (IASc, NASI, INSA, INAE), as well as the Indian Meteorological Society and Indian Geophysical Union. His service also includes leadership roles in scientific societies and the Odisha Bigyan Academy (president during 2013-15), reflecting his lifelong commitment to advancing meteorology and climate science in India. Prof. Chittaranjan Ray is serving as the Director of Nebraska Water Center and Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska since August 2013. Besides supervising the functions of the Nebraska Water Center, he also supervises the fucntions of the Water Sciences Laboratory, a Core Research Facility that supports the research of faculty members in the University of Nebraska System. Earlier he was the Interim Director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Hawaii. Recently, he leads faculty efforts on mathematical tools and big data concepts to understand water use efficiency and water productivity of irrigated agriculture. Dr. Ray manages the Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) program of the Indo-US Science Technology Forum and the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India through which ten Indian faculty and doctoral student researchers spend between three to 12 months at the University of Nebraska and partner universities to conduct water-quality related research. Dr. Prasanta Kumar Mishra, former Director of ICAR–Indian Institute of Soil & Water Conservation and ex-consultant to ICRISAT, is a distinguished specialist in rainfed agriculture, natural resource management, watershed development, and drought mitigation. He completed his MTech and PhD at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, which included research at KIT, Germany (1986–1988) under a DAAD Fellowship. He has led or contributed to 45 R&D projects in varied roles. He has over 140 publications, 28 books, and four copyrights. Dr. Mishra has collaborated internationally across the USA, Europe, Australia, and Nepal and represented India in the UN-IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (2015–2018). His work has earned multiple prestigious national awards like Jawahar Lal Nehru Award from ICAR. He was the past President of the Indian Society of Soil &Water Conservationists (IASWC) and Secretary of the Indian Society of Dryland Agriculture (ISDA). Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout is the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University. He has been conferred with FAO fellowship and Best Extension Scientist Award. Prof. Rout has had a number of external exposures which included Flag bearer Asia Pacific Association for International Education at Australia, International Rice Research Institute-100 projects Rice Crop Manager-IRRI Philippines, participation in 4th International Rice Congress. Prof. Rout has published 8 books, 5 book chapters, 25 research articles, 26 national and international research papers and 18 popular articles. He has guided more than 15 students in Post-Graduation Level and 5 students in PhD level. Prof. Rout has also successfully completed many national and international assignments.