Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of Americas (NAPA)

NAPA Research & Capacity Building Committee (2024-2026)

Chair:

Santosh Dhakal, PhD

Assistant Professor

College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

Email: santoshdhakal88 at gmail dot com

Dr. Santosh Dhakal completed Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (B.V.Sc.&A.H.) from Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2011 and earned a PhD in Comparative and Veterinary Medicine (CVM) from The Ohio State University, USA in 2018. Before joining Kansas State University, he worked at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a postdoctoral fellow and non-tenure-track faculty (2018-2022). His expertise includes veterinary medicine, infectious diseases, vaccines and therapeutics development, and public health research. He is a NAPA life member and served as the treasurer of NAPA executive committee, advisor of NAPA’s Student Coordination Committee (SCC) and co-chair of the membership drive committee during the executive term 2020 – 2022. He also served as the General Secretory of NAPA’s 2^nd Biennial International Scientific Conference 2020; Scientific Committee Member during NAPA’s 3^rd Biennial International Scientific Conference 2022; and Outreach, Advertising, and Marketing Committee Lead during NAPA’s 4^th Biennial International Scientific Conference 2024. 

Members:

Pramod Pokhrel, PhD

Research Agronomist

U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa, AZ

Email:pokhrelpramod99 at gmail dot com

Dr. Pramod Pokhrel is a Research Agronomist at U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center (USDA- ALARC) in Maricopa, Arizona. He earned his B.Sc. (Agriculture) from Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Nepal, in 2010 and PhD in Agronomy from Texas A&M University in 2020. Before joining USDA-ALARC, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Dr. Pokhrel’s past and current research focuses on crop simulation modeling, greenhouse gas emission, and carbon dynamics. Dr. Pokhrel is a life member of NAPA. He is the immediate past Chair of the Research and Capacity Building Committee (RCBC) and served as a member during 2020-2022. He also served as chair of the Career and Outreach Committee (COC) that initiated NAPA Graduate Assistantship compilation and posting.

Madhav Parajuli, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), TN

Email: parajulimadhav2015 at gmail dot com 

Dr. Madhav Parajuli is a Plant Pathologist who earned PhD from Tennessee State University, USA. Before doctoral studies, he received a Master of Science degree in Agriculture in 2020 from the same University. Dr. Parajuli’s research focused on developing integrated disease and pest management strategies using cover crops, biocontrol agents, plant defense elicitors, germplasm resistance, and chemical products. He obtained a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 2008 and a Master of Science in Agronomy in 2010 from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is a NAPA life member and served as a President of NAPA’s Student Coordination Committee (SCC) and member of the membership drive committee during the executive term 2022 – 2024.

Indira Paudel, PhD

Research Scientist

Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institute of Science, San Paulo, CA

Email: indira2003paudel at gmail dot com 

Dr. Indira Paudel completed her undergraduate degree in Agriculture from Nepal. She completed her graduate study from the Middle East (Israel), and spent a significant time in Europe before moving to USA to confront the global climate crisis through the study and action of plants and their environments. Dr. Paudel aims to use the plant ecohydrological response and evolutionary mechanisms to diagnose, monitor, and improve the productivity and stewardship of both managed and natural systems to global change factors. Her expertise in whole plant physiology and automatic sensing tools relevant to plant adaptation and water and carbon cycling effects have the potential to garner broad recognition from the scientific community and for commercial applications. Dr. Paudel is the NAPA life member and have been involved in various NAPA activities.

Sailesh Adhikari, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Email: sarcsab at gmail dot com

Dr. Sailesh Adhikari completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, in 2010 and earned a PhD in Forest product from Virginia Tech, USA, in 2020. He has been working as a Postdoctoral Associate since 2020 at Virginia Tech. His expertise includes engineering wood products and Life Cycle Assessments. He has been a NAPA life member since 2024 and served as a session moderator at the NAPA’s 4^th Biennial International Scientific Conference 2024 held in Baltimore Maryland.