I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Banaras Hindu University, India. Subsequently, I moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a Master's degree from the University of Nottingham and then completed a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Minnesota in 2005.

Prior to joining the faculty at NDSU in 2007, I worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. During my doctoral degree, I worked on Fusarium head blight of wheat, focusing on elucidating gene expression during initial disease development and identifying pathogenicity factors. My post-doctoral research was on similar lines, which involved molecular diagnostics and genomic analysis to explain occurrence of a root disease in ginseng, thereby assisting in its control.

I believe in integrating classical and molecular tools into research projects that aim at providing practical solutions to current disease issues in these crops. Currently at NDSU, my group is involved in working on diseases of dry bean, pulse and lentil crops that affect production in the mid-western region such as root rots, ascochyta blight, anthracnose, rust and white mold in addition to other up and coming concerns.

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