SEES Lecture Series: Water Sciences and its Importance in Indian and Global Scenario
November 20, 2016
Professor Saugata Datta, Department of Geology, Kansas State University, US, who is scheduled to join Nalanda University in Spring 2017 as a faculty member, organised a lecture series over Skype with the Master’s students of the School of Ecology and Environment Studies. Along with four domain experts, based in Kansas State University in Kansas and Wagner College in New York in the US, Prof Datta delivered this lecture series remotely through Skype from November 17 to 19, 2016.
Along with Prof Saugata Datta, Dr. Stacey Tucker-Kulesza, Dr. Sara Vero, Prof Mohammad Alauddin and Dr Harshad Vijay Kulkarni covered different topics under water sciences in four lectures.
In the first lecture Dr. Stacey Tucker-Kulesza discussed “Soil Erosion and Water Resources”, in the second lecture Dr. Sara Vero examined the “Role of the Vadose Zone in Water Transport and Quality (Vadose Zone and Water Modelling)”, in the third lecture Prof Mohammad Alauddin discussed ‘Water resources management and Human Health’ and in the fourth lecture Dr. Harshad Vijay Kulkarni spoke on, “Water Organic Matter and Microbiology of Aquifer and Water Resources”.
At the end of the three day lecture series Dr. Datta brought out a summary of all lectures with his own contribution on Groundwater Hydrogeochemistry and Food Security.
Prof Saugata Datta (centre), Dr. Stacey Tucker-Kulesza ( left-top), Dr. Sara Vero (left-bottom),
Dr Harshad Vijay Kulkarni (right-top) and Prof Mohammad Alauddin (bottom-right)
Bio-sketch of the Speakers:
Dr. Stacey Tucker-Kulesza is an assistant professor at Kansas State University in the geotechnical area. She received her B.S., M.E. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University. Dr. Tucker- Kulesza’s research focuses on nondestructive testing and monitoring of deteriorating infrastructure, geophysical testing, and soil erosion potential with a goal of understanding the in situ integrity of both aging infrastructure and natural materials in order to support the global initiative of sustainability.
Dr. Sara Vero is a post-doc who joined the geology department of Kansas State University in May 2016. Her Ph.D. research focused on soil physics and hydrological time lag, and their effects on groundwater quality. Her M.Sc. investigated threshold soil moisture values for preventing soil damage via compaction during agricultural slurry spreading. Sara is now investigating the soils and unsaturated zone of the Konza prairie, including the effects of burn regimes on soil structure and nutrient transport. This work contributes to the overall investigation of the critical zone by developing our understanding of the soil as an interface between the atmosphere and soil surface, and the underlying bedrock and groundwater. Sara is a member of the graduate committee of the Soil Science Society of America.
Professor Mohammad Alauddin is Eugene Megerle Endowed Chair and Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Wagner College, New York, USA.
Dr. Harshad Vijay Kulkarni received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Kansas State University in 2016 with a research focus on biogeochemical interactions of natural organic matter with arsenic in groundwater. He has expertise in characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by absorbance, 3-D excitation-emission fluorescence spectroscopy followed by parallel factor (PARAFAC) modeling. His skill-set includes water quality analysis, hydrogeological field investigations, numerical groundwater flow, and biogeochemical modeling. Harshad is strongly interested in developing sustainable solutions to water quality problems using experimental, field investigation and numerical hydro-bio- geochemical modeling approaches.