Dr JP Singh appointed as HoD Soil and Water Engineering at PAU

Ludhiana, March 1, 2024: Dr JP Singh, Professor of Soil and Water Engineering, has joined as Head, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), for a term of four years. Having 28 years of teaching, research and extension experience in Soil and Water Engineering and five years, six months of administrative experience as Hostel Warden, Dr Singh took over as Head (Additional Charge), Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, from November 1, 2021 to January 16, 2023 and December 27, 2023 (about one-year 4 months).

In research domain, he is handling FIST and DST funded projects worth Rs 1.52 crore for the establishment of the state-of-the-art Geospatial Lab as Principal Investigator (PI) and North India Center for Water Technology Research in Agriculture as CoPI. Besides being involved in several competitive and All India Coordinated Research (AICRP) projects as PI and CoPI, he has served as a Technical Advisor to Drainage Division, Punjab Government, for design and installation of subsurface drainage system in South-Western districts of Punjab under drainage project funded by World Bank. Dr Singh has published about 70 research papers in the national and international journals of repute, and presented research papers in more than 30 national/international seminars/conferences/symposia. One of his developed technologies “Filter for Canal Water Potability” is under patent. He has also been a member/chairman of various committees on waterlogging and drainage as well as professional societies at state and national level.

In teaching, Dr Singh has taught about eight undergraduate and postgraduate courses; developed few PG courses; established Remote Sensing and GIS lab; and guided three Ph.D students and 13 M.Tech students as major advisor. He has equally been instrumental in starting new M.Tech programme in Remote Sensing and GIS in the department.

For his numerous research and teaching accomplishments, he has been bestowed with the prestigious “Jawahar Lal Nehru Award” for the best Ph.D thesis by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi; “Young Scientist Award” and “Kunwar Saxena Bahadur Award” by the Society of Recent Development in Agriculture; “Fellowship Award” by the Hi Tech Horticultural Society; Agricultural Engineering Division Medal for the best research paper by the Institution of Engineers; and “Best Research Paper and Oral Presentation Awards” by the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) and Research Foundation and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) for pursuing Ph.D from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi.