Field of Study India: Agricultural Sciences

Prashant Mahajan

Prashant Mahajan is a Ph.D. candidate at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Uttar Pradesh. He recently joined the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as a Scientist-C. He has previously been a recipient of the prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF). He completed his BSc in zoology in 2016 from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, and MSc in wildlife sciences from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). His doctoral work focusses on understanding the ecology of mesocarnivores in the Gir Protected Area, Gujarat.

Over the years Prashant’s focus has been on studying the ecology of large mammals in India, with a particular emphasis on wolf, tiger, leopard, elephant, and rhesus macaque. He was a part of the All-India Tiger Estimation Project (AITE) at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). He has presented his work in various national and international conferences and has also communicated his research findings through peer-reviewed and popular articles.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Prashant is trying to integrate insights from the U.S. ecosystem to add to the understanding of the mesocarnivores in India. He is specifically investigating the strength of interactions between large carnivores and mesocarnivores and how this governs the behavioural responses of the latter to the perceived predation risk. By undertaking this research, he aims to expand the understanding of carnivore ecology in India, particularly in relation to their behavioural aspects.

Madhushree Dutta

Madhushree Dutta is a Ph.D. candidate at the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, India. She is dissecting complex gene regulatory networks underlying potato tuberization under high-temperature stress. In her doctoral thesis, she is implementing plant physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology tools to investigate redox regulation in tuber development. Her key areas of research interest include plant stress physiology, climate change biology, and epigenomics. So far, she has published in reputed journals and participated in several science outreach events to communicate science to a broader audience.

Madhushree obtained her master’s degree in botany from the University of Calcutta. Her dissertation was on understanding the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in rice cultivars under arsenic stress. Thereafter, she worked as a project scholar focusing on the utilization of brassica seed meal as a bioherbicide for weed management in wheat. Madhushree devotes time to teaching research aspirants through social media platforms, using smart strategies to make learning more interesting. Madhushree is a recipient of honorary awards including, the Max-Planck Gesellschaft Travel award, Dr. Parimal Kumar Roy Memorial award, and Dr. Ramendra Krishna Sarkar Memorial award for her excellent academic and research projects.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Madhushree is exploring how the PGR5-dependent cyclic electron transport pathway operates under high-temperature stress to protect the photosynthetic apparatus of potatoes, translating into physiological fitness and improved tuber yield to ensure global food security.

Swarnali Dey

Swarnali Dey is a third year Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Botany, University of Calcutta. As a part of her master’s dissertation project, she developed a new seed invigoration technique that she likes to call “iron pulsing,” and thereafter she has been working on it. Her study mainly involves understanding the role of iron supplementation during rice seed germination and deciphering the molecular mechanism of “iron pulsing” induced growth enhancement in rice. She has published over ten research and review articles in reputed journals and presented her work at various national and international conferences.

Swarnali obtained her bachelor’s degree in botany from Bethune College, Kolkata, and her master’s degree from the Department of Botany, University of Calcutta. She had secured second position in her bachelor’s and first position in her master’s programs. She qualified CSIR-UGC NET examination in life sciences and secured an All-India Rank 1. She has been awarded the DST INSPIRE fellowship, DBT JRF, the prestigious CSIR Shyama Prasad Mukherjee fellowship, and the Raman Charpak fellowship (for six months in France) by CEFIPRA.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Swarnali is analyzing the potential of “iron pulsing” in minimizing cadmium accumulation in rice. Besides, she will be trying to understand the iron distribution and homeostasis in rice seeds subjected to “iron pulsing.” She aims to develop a user-friendly and affordable technique to enhance the yield and nutritional quality of rice plants to achieve food security. Swarnali is a travel enthusiast, and also fond of listening to music and cooking.