Dr. Umesh Pankaj is currently working as a teaching cum research associate in microbiology at Rani Lakhsmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Uttar Pradesh, India. He obtained his doctoral degree in the field of agricultural microbiology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India and his post-doctoral research work was carried out from CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, India.. His area of research is on plant-microbe interaction with special emphasis on the restoration of salt-affected and drought prone agro-ecosystem using bio-inoculants like plant growth promoting microbes and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi. Dr. Pankaj has published 12 research articles and two edited books in peer reviewed international publisher to his credit. He is a life member of various scientific societies such as Association of Microbiologist of India (AMI) and Indian Science Congress etc.Dr. Piyoosh K. Babele is currently workings as a Ramanujan Fellow at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Uttar Pradesh, India. He was a former post-doctoral research scientist at Vanderbilt University, USA, and worked at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal as a national post-doctoral fellow. He earned his PhD in biochemistry from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. His research fields are systems biology and metabolic engineering of photosynthetic organism cyanobacteria, orphan millets and nanotoxicity of nano-plastics on agriculture ecosystem. Dr. Babele has authored 40+ research articles in internationally-reputed journals. He is serving as associate and review editor in several Journals like BMC Biotechnology, Frontiers in Microbiology, etc. Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh is currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi. He has more than 37 years of experience in the fields of agricultural research, education, and extension. In his academic career, he served in several positions including Director and Vice-chancellor of ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. Dr. Singh is a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS). He has been awarded a number of prestigious awards and recognitions, such as the Swami Sahaj Anand Best Extension Scientist Award of ICAR and has published 150+ research papers and articles in scientific journals of well repute. His major research and development work has been in the areas of technology assessment, application, and outreach through a large network of the National Agriculture Research, Education, and Extension System (NAREES).
