Majeti Narasimha Vara Prasad is currently Emeritus Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. He has made outstanding contributions to the fields of bioremediation, bioresources, biomass energy sources, bioeconomy and to the broad field of environmental biotechnology, all of which are his main areas of expertise. Dr. Prasad has served the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India in various advisory committees on biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, pollution control and abatement, environmental information systems and bioremediation of contaminated sites. He is an active visiting scientist in several international universities. Larry E. Erickson received doctorate in 1964 in chemical engineering from Kansas State University. He has been a member of the chemical engineering faculty at K-State since 1964. In 1967-68 he conducted research in biochemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and introduced courses in biochemical engineering and bioseparations at K-State. From 1985-2018, he has provided leadership for hazardous substance research at K-State. From 1989-2003, he was director of the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center, a consortium of universities with headquarters at K-State. In order to advance pollution prevention and improve environmental management, he introduced seminars in hazardous waste engineering, air quality, and sustainability. He has worked with more than 70 graduate students, coauthored more than 450 papers, traveled professionally to more than 25 countries, and participated in more than $50 million of funded research projects. In January 2015, he transitioned to emeritus professor of chemical engineering. He has been employed by Mobil Oil Company, ESSO Research and Engineering Co., Humble Oil and Refining Company. He has been a visiting faculty member at MIT, University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Pushchino, Russia, and Institute of Microbiology, Prague, Czech Republic. Dr. Abin Sebastian is working as assistant professor in the Department of Botany, St. Georges College, Aruvithura affiliated to Mahathma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India. He is expertise in ecophysiology of plants and environmental biotechnology. His studies pointed out the role of iron and iron transporters involved in detoxification of cadmium in rice plants. He synthesized magnetic iron nanoparticles that efficiently remove heavy metals from aqueous media, and ameliorate heavy metal stress in plants. He was awarded with outstanding student scholar award during IBC 2017, China, and received fellowship from DAAD, Germany and UGC, India for conducting doctoral and post-doctoral research. Dr Sailaja Elchuri completed her Doctoral studies in molecular regulation of light stress in C4 plants under eminent plant physiologist Prof V.S. Ramadas. Significant contribution included paper submission to volume dedicated to Prof Daniel Arnon. Completed post-Doctoral studies at Arizona State University examining UV light effects on canopy photosynthesis. Later studies included animal models of disease and nanotechnology at Stanford University. Recent focus has been to use one health approaches for Human, animal, and plant triad. She used Omic approaches and green Nanotechnology to study human disease progression and therapy for safer environment. She is reviewer for several journals in Omic studies and Nanotechnology. Published 55 papers in peer reviewed journals and 5 book chapters.
