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Prof. (Dr.) Sriroop Chaudhuri

Prof. (Dr.) Sriroop Chaudhuri

Professor and Associate Dean (Research)

Co-Director, Center for Environment, Sustainability and Human Development (CESH)

Advisory Board, International Academy for Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH)

Editorial Board Ecology, Environment and Conservation

Associate Dean of Research, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities
MS & Ph.D., West Virginia University, USA

Post-Doc, Texas A&M University, USA

: schaudhuri@jgu.edu.in

I am an environmentalist by training with background in geology. I explore the nature-human connect, by integrating process-level research with geospatial modeling and socio-ecological aspects, across space-time continuum. I particularly interested in understanding emerging issues that threatens the notion of sustainability in developing economies, such as water scarcity and contamination; air pollution related public health hazards in post-SARS-CoV-2 era; irrigation shortage, food-income insecurity and farmers’ plight; land degradation and desertification, to name a few.

A main emphasis of my research lies in assessing impacts of climatic anomalies on the above and how best the regional and national authorities can devise preemptive action. For the latter, I advocate participatory framework, especially, focusing on women’s roles in environmental initiatives. To that end, I am interested in exploring opportunities of strategic community mobilization to devise sustainable solutions. I am the founder and co-director of research a center namely, Center for Environment, Sustainability and Human Development (CESH), which engages student and faculty across the campus and outside on projects at the intersect of environment, ecology, social, political, economic and gender dimensions of sustainability science and policy making.

My work has been published in numerous international journals, and featured by popular press in India and US. For more details of my research indices, please visit my Google Scholar page: (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PsycGxIAAAAJ&hl=en).

My teaching involves hands-on demonstration of environmental changes in the wake of climatic anomalies in the Anthropocene, while prompting students to engage in liberal discourse to understand challenges vis-à-vis opportunities. I always try to urge my students to view environmental phenomena from a decision-maker’s perspective, while at the same time, helping them ‘experience’ the same from a local residents’ point of view- understanding and appreciating demands, aspirations and expectations at grass root level, while evaluating existing policies and regulations to devise contextual solutions.

To that end, my courses aim to push my students to combine critical with creative thinking, so as to envision environmental issues as constantly evolving phenomena, distributed across a space-time continuum, at the intersect of stem sciences, social-cultural studies, economics, political science and various other fields of humanities. I encourage my students to adopt a systems’ thinking approach to assess merits and demerits of existing policy interventions and how to adapt with changing circumstantial needs.

Besides foundational environmental studies, I teach courses on water, climate change, air quality, statistics and Geographic Information System (GIS). The latter is a rapidly evolving technology that has wide applications ranging from environment studies to epidemiological research, natural resources management, social studies, policy-making, to business analytics, to urban and regional planning (transportation and utilities’ network analysis), to crime mapping and law enforcement, to name a few. In recent years, use of GIS has even be extended to fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A key idea of all my courses is to help students to develop more ‘soft skills’ that are valued in industry, as well as at their next level of higher education.

My interest lies in every aspect of environment sciences and studies that looks into the nature-human connect with the goal of advancing our current understanding of sustainability science, especially for the developing economies. To that end, I approach environmental systems, across a wide spectrum of space-time continuum, to understand ecosystem degradation at process-level and impacts on local communities (for example, resource wars, income depreciation and livelihood loss, inequity, gender discrimination etc.), that will help in smart decision making.   

I am the associate dean of research at our School of Liberal Arts and Humanities. I am also among the founder members, and co-directors, of a research center at JGU, namely, The Center for Environment, Sustainability and Human Development (CESH). The CESH was established in 2016, with the idea of offering hands-on opportunities to students to get involved in environmental research and developmental studies. Certain research studies carried out by CESH student researchers in the recent past include:

  • Groundwater scarcity and irrigation supply security
  • Impacts of agro-power subsidies on smallholder farming communities in India
  • Urban air quality in post-SARS-CoV-2 Lockdown
  • Harnessing urban greenery for air pollution mitigation
  • Exploring land degradation neutrality and sustainable development

Past CESH student researchers have produced a substantial body of peer-reviewed publications in various frontline journals, and are currently engaged by reputed institutions. Please visit the “Supervised Student Publications” page for more details.

Personally, I have several manuscripts in frontline environmental journals including:

  • Science of the Total Environment (Impact Factor: 7.96)
  • Journal of Hydrology (IF: 5.72)
  • Journal of Environmental Quality (IF: 2.75)
  • Applied Geography (IF: 4.24)
  • Journal of Land Degradation and Development (IF: 4.97)
  • Journal of Environmental Informatics (IF: 5.27)
  • Field Crops Research (IF: 5.22)
  • Food Security (IF: 3.30)
  • Environmental Conservation (IF: 3.01)
  • Environment, Development, Sustainability (IF: 3.21)
  • Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (IF: 2.51)
  • Environmental Earth Sciences (IF: 2.78)

Alongside, I have also published extensively in reputed dailies including The Statesman, The Telegraph, Deccan Herald, Business Standard, Millennium Post, to name a few.

*Adithyalakshmanan, K. **Kaur, H., and Chaudhuri, S. 2022. Unpacking Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), An Emerging Paradigm to Conserve Land Systems’ Sustainability in the 21st Century? Meta-analysis of Challenges and Opportunities. Nature, Environment and Pollution Technology. 21(1):91-100. https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=IN2022500007

***Parakh, D. and Chaudhuri, S. 2022. Groundwater Regulation Bills in Haryana – A Call for Groundwater Conservation and Management for Sustainable Irrigation Supply Services – Opportunities and Challenges. Ecology, Environment and Conservation. 28(1):147-164. http://www.envirobiotechjournals.com/article_abstract.php?aid=12342&iid=348&jid=3

Ankita, Patvednaya, V., Chaudhuri, S. 2022. What do Farmers Don’t Know? A Generic Index to Summarize Cognitive Awareness of Groundwater sourced Irrigation and Conservation at Grassroots. Ecology, Environment and Conservation. 28(1):179-192. http://www.envirobiotechjournals.com/article_abstract.php?aid=12345&iid=348&jid=3

***Kumar, A. and Chaudhuri, S. 2022. Post SARS-CoV-2 Urban India: Computing Air Quality Health Indicators (AQHI) for Gurugram City to Assess Imminent Threats to Public Health. Ecology, Environment and Conservation. 28:S185-S193. http://www.envirobiotechjournals.com/article_abstract.php?aid=12140&iid=345&jid=3

***Kumar, A. and Chaudhuri, S. 2021. Is COVID-19 Only but a Short-term Respite? A Case Study of Urban Air Quality in Kolkata, A Mega-city in India. Pollution Research. 40:S162-S172.

Chaudhuri, S.***Parakh, D., Roy, M., and **Kaur, H. 2021. Groundwater-sourced irrigation and agro-power subsidies: Boon or bane for small/marginal farmers in India? Groundwater for Sustainable Development. 15(100690). DOI: 10.1016/j.gsd.2021.100690. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352801X21001478#!

***Parakh, D. and S. Chaudhuri. Groundwater Market (GWM) Development in South Asia – A Sustainability Paradigm for Small/Marginal Farmers in Face of growing Irrigation Shortage? Journal of South Asian Development.

***Kumar, A. and Chaudhuri, S. Improving Urban Air Quality Monitoring in New Delhi, India: Reflections on Low Cost Air Quality Sensors (LCAQS) and Participatory Engagement. Environment an Urbanization Asia.

*Adithyalakshmana Kesavan, former student researcher at CESH, currently pursuing MS on Environmental Management in University of Bristol;

**Harnoor Kaur, Former student researcher at CESH, currently pursuing MS in on Water Science & Policy in Oxford University;

*Dishat Parakh and Arvaaan Kumar, Graduate Research and Immersion Program (GRIP) Research Fellows; Senior Fellows, CESH

Post-graduate student researcher (Jindal School of Global Policy, Senior Fellow, CESH)

Sriroop Chaudhuri, Mimi Roy, Armin Rosencranz. What India can learn from China’s environmental protection reforms. The Wire. May 24, 2018. https://thewire.in/environment/what-india-can-learn-from-chinas-environment-protection-reforms

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Cities and climate change. Millennium Post. May 1, 2018. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/cities-and-climate-change-297344

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Ides of March. The Telegraph. April 17, 2018. https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/ides-of-march/cid/1465268   

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Why China has taken a lead over India in farm production. Hindustan Times. March 30, 2018. https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/why-china-has-taken-a-lead-over-india-in-farm-production/story-UJ1DYlVWVnlXrUmPb75DiJ.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Beyond temporary breathers. Millennium Post. March 26, 2018. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/beyond-temporary-breathers-291292

Sriroop Chaudhuri. The micro-irrigation challenge. The Statesman. March 11, 2018. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/micro-irrigation-challenge-1502599259.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Harvesting the nothing. Millennium Post. March 1, 2018. http://dspace.jgu.edu.in:8080/jspui/handle/10739/3179

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Change urban lifestyle to battle dengue. The Statesman. November 16, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/change-urban-lifestyle-to-battle-dengue-1502528951.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Up in smokes. The Telegraph. November 16, 2017. https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/up-in-smoke/cid/1455657  

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. The fight against air pollution: Can Delhi better Beijing? Hindustan Times, November 15, 2017. https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/the-fight-against-pollution-can-delhi-better-beijing/story-IEiGLSK5NBJOorSnJRzNZK.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Air pollution: Without alternatives, penalties against stubble burning will never work. Economic Times. November 9, 2017. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/blogs/et-commentary/air-pollution-without-alternatives-penalties-against-stubble-burning-will-never-work/

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Food: Affordability of waste. Millennium Post. October 11, 2017.

Sriroop Chaudhuri. How inclusive has been our growth? The Statesman. September 29, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/how-inclusive-has-been-our-growth-1502501664.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Have I fed my Child Well? Millennium Post. September 11, 2017. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/have-i-fed-my-child-well-261469

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Have we had enough? Millennium Post. August 21, 2017. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/have-we-had-enough-258266

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Safety vs. food sufficiency. Deccan Herald. July 31, 2017. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/625734/safety-vs-food-sufficiency.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. A self-destructive spiral. Millennium Post. July 18, 2017. http://dspace.jgu.edu.in:8080/xmlui/handle/10739/3187

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Joining hands. The Telegraph. July 10, 2017.

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. No quick-fixes again to farmers unrest, please. The Statesman, June 27, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/no-quick-fixes-again-to-farmer-unrest-please-1498510881.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Key to ‘looking East’. Deccan Herald, June 17, 2017. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/617770/key-looking-east.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri. What we need to do to tackle the crises of water depletion. Dialy O, June 4, 2016.

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Waste: An ocean of inaction. Millennium Post. June 4, 2016. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/opinion-245375

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Harnoor Kaur. Targeted reforms need to tackle drought. The Statesman. May 8, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/targeted-reforms-needed-to-tackle-drought-1494193123.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Future Losses. The Telegraph, April 26, 2017. https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/future-losses/cid/1458860

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Harnoor Kaur. Delhi is on verge of groundwater crises – and it’s time we stopped it. The Wire. April 21, 2017. https://thewire.in/environment/groundwater-crisis-delhi

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. In search of a water revolution. The Statesman. March 29, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/the-search-for-a-water-revolution-1490730928.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Adithyalakshmanan K. Water vs. energy. Millennium Post. March 16, 2017. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/water-versus-energy-220237

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Dhriti Viswanath. Worthless waste that we produce. The Statesman. March 10, 2017. https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/worthless-waste-that-we-produce-1489090188.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Digital India needs to make space for waste. Daily O. February 23, 2017. https://www.dailyo.in/variety/waste-management-digital-india-swachh-bharat/story/1/15809.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Giving worth to the worthless. Millennium Post. February 20, 2017. http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/giving-worth-to-the-worthless-215963

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Lapses in Monitoring. Deccan Herald. February 20, 2017. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/597289/lapses-monitoring.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri. Water: The changing face of northeast. Millennium Post. January 1, 2017.

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. A huge concern, Deccan Herald. December 23, 2016. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/587876/a-huge-concern.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Groundwater on the brink of destruction. Millennium Post. December 11, 2016. http://dspace.jgu.edu.in:8080/jspui/handle/10739/3232

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Halting desertification. Deccan Herald. November 15, 2016. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/581090/halting-desertification.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri and Mimi Roy. Water, sanitation: India still far from goals set by UN. Deccan Herald. October 3, 2016. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/573705/water-sanitation-india-still-far.html

Sriroop Chaudhuri, Mimi Roy and Shreya Monga. How NRDWP is faring in West Bengal. Millennium Post. July 25, 2016. http://www.millenniumpost.in/how-nrdwp-is-faring-in-west-bengal-155335

“Groundwater nitrate concentrations increasing in Rolling Plains” – Story by Kay Ledbetter, June 12, 2012
http://today.agrilife.org/2012/06/12/agrilife-research-groundwater-nitrate-concentrations-increasing-in-rolling-plains/
http://southwestfarmpress.com/irrigation/agrilife-research-groundwater-nitrate-concentrations-increasing-rolling-plains
http://www.winklerpost.com/postnews/2012/wp20120614/wp20120614_pet3.php

“Texoma Nitrate Levels Increasing”. – NewsChannel6, July 6, 2012.
http://www.newschannel6now.com/story/18969039/nitrate-levels-increasing

 “Groundwater Nitrates in the Seymour Aquifer: Problem or Resource?” – Story by: Alejandra Arreola-Traina, tx H2O, Fall 2012.
http://twri.tamu.edu/publications/txh2o/fall-2012/groundwater-nitrates-in-seymour-aquifer-problem-or-resource/

BioNews Texas, April 11, 2013
http://bionews-tx.com/news/2013/04/11/texas-am-agrilife-researchers-identify-serious-concerns-about-future-of-dallasfort-worth-metroplex-water-supply/

Dallas Morning News, May 13, 2013:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130413-study-raises-concerns-about-dallas-fort-worth-groundwater-levels-quality.ece

 “Salinization of groundwater resources in Texas is a growing concern”. – Story by Kay Ledbetter, November 15, 2013.
http://today.agrilife.org/2013/11/15/agrilife-research-study-salinization-of-groundwater-resources-in-texas-is-a-growing-concern/

Water well Journal – A publication of the National Groundwater Association, November 25, 2013.
http://waterwelljournal.org/?p=5949

Distinct geographical patterns in Texas’ Ogallala aquifer water quality: Southern region has a growing concern.” – Story by Kay Ledbetter, March 20, 2014.
https://today.agrilife.org/2014/03/20/agrilife-research-study-distinct-geographical-pattern-in-texas-ogallala-aquifer-water-quality/

Texas’ Ogallala aquifer water quality in question” – The Weekly Livestock Reporter. March 27, 2014.
http://www.weeklylivestock.com/stories.html

AgriLife Research study identifies contributing factors to groundwater table declines” –  AgriLife Today, July 10, 2014
http://today.agrilife.org/2014/07/10/agrilife-research-study-identifies-contributing-factors-to-groundwater-table-declines/

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