Agriculture Archives

Sunrit Panda

Sunrit Panda is a researcher and development professional interested in cultivating financially sustainable solutions for large-scale social problems in the Global South. With broad quantitative experience in statistics, machine learning, environmental modeling, and finance, he is using his Fulbright year to contribute to his larger body of academic and social work on carbon sequestration. He is also coordinating brick kiln emissions testing in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab for the Mauzerall Group at Princeton University’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment. In prior roles, Sunrit worked on the credit and investment banking teams of a Singaporean emerging markets impact investment firm as well as on the corporate partnerships team of a finance professional development organization. From teaching AI in village schools to building tubewells, Sunrit also has a long history of service in rural India. A New Jersey native, he holds a bachelor’s degree in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton University.

Sunrit’s Fulbright-Nehru project is investigating the differences in greenhouse gas and particulate emissions between open-field burning of rice straw and Kon-Tiki flame curtain pyrolysis in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal. Open-field burning contributes significantly to winter smog in the Indo-Gangetic plain, while Kon-Tiki pyrolysis offers a low-cost alternative that produces biochar, a carbon-sequestering soil amendment. The study is quantifying CO₂, CO, CH₄, NO₂, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions across two stubble-burning seasons. It is also examining how emission data can inform carbon and methane offset pricing; this can pave the way for economic incentives for smallholder farmers and also support policy development within India’s emerging carbon market framework.

Ramasamy Perumal

Dr. Ramasamy Perumal is the professor of sorghum and pearl millet breeding at Kansas State University. He is associated with the release of several seed and pollinator parents tolerant to drought and chilling stresses, and also with mapping such populations. He completed his PhD in plant breeding and genetics in 1993 from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. Dr. Perumal is the recipient of several awards: the Fulbright Specialist Award (2025); the Rockefeller Foundation postdoctoral fellow award in sorghum biotechnology (1998–2000); and the senior research fellowship of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (1988–1990). He is currently serving as an adjunct faculty in four Universities: Texas A&M University, Texas; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu; SRM University, Tamil Nadu; and SKUAST-Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Perumal was the chief editor of a pearl millet monograph and is currently the editor of The World Millets: Crops for Food, Nutrition and Sustainability (Wiley Publishers). He is also serving as a member of the advisory committee for the compendium of sorghum diseases (third edition, a publication of the American Phytopathological Society). Dr. Perumal has published 124 research articles, 20 book chapters, 73 abstracts/posters, and six extension materials. He is also serving as a potential reviewer for 21 journals and has reviewed over 200 research manuscripts.

Krishna Nemali

Dr. Krishna Nemali has a PhD in horticulture with an emphasis on the physiology, sensors, and automation technology associated with greenhouse crops and their production. After his postdoctoral fellowship from the University of California Davis, he worked as a controlled environment crop scientist at Monsanto Company for nine years. Dr. Nemali joined the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University as an assistant professor in July 2016. He was tenured and promoted to the associate professor rank in July 2022. At Purdue, he is responsible for research, extension, and teaching. He specializes in controlled environment agriculture, which includes producing vegetables and ornamentals grown in greenhouses and vertical farms using hydroponic systems. He also conducts research in the area of digital sensors and IoT (Internet of Things) devices for horticultural crop production. A primary goal of his program at Purdue is to develop new technologies that improve the sustainability (increase productivity, reduce resource waste, minimize environmental impact, and increase profits) of controlled environment agriculture; the program also trains farmers in new technology. Dr. Nemali has published 34 scientific articles in high-impact journals, 19 extension materials, and eight industry articles. He has been invited to speak at multiple national and international conferences and has received several awards. Dr. Nemali is passionate about actively engaging with students and farmers and contributing to science and technology through research. He likes to travel and enjoys spicy food.

Dr. Nemali’s Fulbright-Nehru project is using digital sensors with IoT capability to address agricultural water wastage and nitrate contamination, as well as nitrous oxide emissions from excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The project is being conducted at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. As part of the project, smart sensor technology with decision support and IoT capability developed at Purdue University is being tested on greenhouse-grown floricultural crops to reduce water wastage and increase nitrogen-use efficiency. He is also conducting classes for senior-level undergraduate and postgraduate students on smart sensor technology.

Davis Clark

Mr. Davis Clark, originally from North Carolina, received his Bachelor of Science in environmental science from Appalachian State University. After serving as a sustainable agriculture extension agent Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal, and being evacuated due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, Mr. Clark started his Master’s in Environmental Management at Western Colorado University in June of 2021. Through his experience working with local rural farmers in West Africa with the Peace Corps, and an impactful visit to the rural Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand, Mr. Clark was inspired to work at the grassroots level to improve local food systems in vulnerable regions of the world. His passion for the wilderness, mountaineering, regenerative agriculture, trees, and agroforestry has led him to seek meaningful and impactful work amongst farmers and producers in mountain regions from Southern Appalachia, the Central Rockies of Colorado, and the Himalayas of India.

The co-op conceptualized by Mr. Clark, for his Fulbright-Nehru project, focuses on increasing resilience across the local food system, community of rural farmers, agricultural landscape, and individuals involved. Through the extension of regenerative agriculture practices, agroforestry techniques, water conservation, and adaptive land management the co-op will improve the resiliency of the land, improve soil health, decrease drought vulnerability, and increase the resilience of the local food system. Furthermore, the co-op will focus on increasing connectivity amongst local producers, resource sharing, market access, and local support from the community.

Eric Davidson

Dr. Eric Davidson is professor of the Appalachian Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, where he served as director for six years. His research areas include terrestrial nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions from soils, global biogeochemical cycles, and sustainable agriculture. Dr. Davidson is a past president and fellow of the American Geophysical Union; a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a highly cited researcher in Web of Science. He served as the North American Center director for the International Nitrogen Initiative and as a NASA project scientist for the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia. Dr. Davidson was also a Jefferson Science Fellow. He currently serves as senior editor for AGU Advances. He previously served as an editor for Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Global Change Biology, and Soil Science Society of America Journal. Dr. Davidson received his PhD from the Department of Forestry at North Carolina State University and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in soil microbiology at the University of California at Berkeley and at the NASA Ames Research Center. He worked for 22 years at the Woods Hole Research Center, including a term as president and executive director. He is the author of Science for a Green New Deal: Connecting Climate, Economics, and Social Justice and You Can’t Eat GNP.

Only about half of the nitrogen applied to croplands as fertilizers and manures goes into harvested products; the remainder is mostly lost as air and water pollution. Dr. Davidson’s Fulbright-Nehru project is investigating the potential impacts of the coming green ammonia transformation for fertilizers in India within the broader context of sustainable nitrogen management. In this regard, he is interviewing experts and stakeholders from government ministries, the fertilizer industry, schools of agronomy and environmental sciences, farmer groups, and biotechnology innovators to ascertain their awareness of green ammonia technology and their expectations of positive and negative consequences for agricultural productivity, economics, farmer well-being, and environmental quality.