Biographical note

Dr. Durgesh Kumar Tripathi is currently an Associate Professor at Amity Institute of Organic Agriculture, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India. He is the recipient of ‘Dr DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship’ of the UGC, New Delhi. Dr. Tripathi has received his D.Phil. in Science from University of Allahabad, India. During this period, Dr. Tripathi worked extensively on phytolith analysis, crop stress physiology, agro-nanotechnology and molecular biology. He has expertise on laser spectroscopy. His research interests encompass stress tolerance mechanisms in plants. Presently, he is working with nano-materials and their interactions with plants to find out their detoxification mechanisms, he is also working on Silicon, Nitric oxide and hormonal crosstalk against abiotic stress in plants. Dr. Parvaiz Ahmad is Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at Sri Pratap College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, and is presently a Visiting Scientist at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He completed his post-graduate degree in Botany in 2000 at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. After receiving a Doctorate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, India, he joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, in 2007. His main research area is Stress Physiology and Molecular Biology. He has published more than 50 research papers in peer reviewed journals, and 40 book chapters. He is also an Editor of 17 volumes (one with Studium Press Pvt. India Ltd., New Delhi, India; nine with Springer, New York; three with Elsevier USA; and four with John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.). He is a recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship and Senior Research Fellowship award, granted by CSIR, New Delhi, India. Dr. Ahmad was awarded the Young Scientist Award under the Fast Track scheme in 2007 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India. Dr. Ahmad is actively engaged in studying the molecular and physio-biochemical responses of different agricultural and horticultural plants under environmental stress. Dr. Shivesh Sharma completed his master’s degree and PhD in the field of microbiology. His research interests include environmental microbiology/biotechnology, plant-microbe interaction, and bio formulations. He has been involved in number of research projects, funded both externally (DBT, UGC, DST, MHRD) and internally in the fields of his research interests. He has more than 110 publications in different research journals and various book chapters to his credit. Devendra Kumar Chauhan is a Professor and Head of Department of Botany at the University of Allahabad, India. He has 35 years’ worth of teaching experience, has edited 5 books and contributed 15 book chapters. He has 76 publications in total and is on the editorial board for 5 different journals, including the American Journal of Current Biology and Ethnobotany: International Journal of the Society of Ethnobotanists. His research interests include palaeobotany, evolutionary biology, phytoremediation, plant stress physiology and agro-nanotechnology. Dr Dubey has won awards for both his teaching and his research, and is currently a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. His work spans across botany and food microbiology. He has published over 160 papers and has contributed to 7 books, in addition to holding a number of patents.