welcome to asta-ja usa

Dr. Durga D. Poudel is a Soil Scientist and a Professor in Environmental Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. He received his B.Sc. degree in Agriculture from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, M.Sc. in Natural Resources Development and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, and Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. He is the Founder of the Asta-Ja Framework.

Dr. Dilip Panthee, Horticultural Scientist/Tomato Breeder, received his B.Sc. degree from IAAS, Rampur, M.Phill. from University of Birmingham and Reading, UK, and Ph.D. from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.  His areas of expertise include breeding and the development of tomato lines and cultivars with broad adaptation, resistance to major diseases, high yield, and fruit quality for the fresh market using conventional and molecular approaches. 

 Dr. Jiwnath Ghimire is trained in science communication and science utilization, focusing on urban planning, disaster management, and environmental management. He is an assistant professor of environmental planning at Iowa State University. His ongoing research endeavors are disaster recovery planning, science-policy interface of climate actions, sustainable communities, energy transitions in small cities and towns, and regenerative resilience.   

 Dr. Arjun Aryal, the Founding General Secretary of Asta-Ja USA is a Geophysicist. Dr. Aryal received his PhD in Geophysics from the University of Hawaii in Hawaii, USA.. He received his MPhil degree in GIS and Remote Sensing from Cambridge University, England and MS degree in Geology from Purdue University, Indiana, USA. Dr. Aryal's expertise include understanding geologic processes such as landslides and earthquake cycles using data from GPS, radar satellites and laser scanners. 

Mr. Nirmal Raila holds a Master's degree in Tropical Hydrology and Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Earth and Energy Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. 

 Ms. Babita Adhikari is pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Resource Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She works on water resource management and climate change impact mitigation, with a focus on developing sustainable strategies to enhance the climate change impact resiliency of vulnerable communities. 

Mr. Narendra Pant is a  Ph.D. candidate in mathematics with a strong interdisciplinary background, holding degrees in both mathematics and physics, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. He specializes in mathematical modeling with a focus on dynamical systems, particularly those involving difference equations and ordinary differential equations.  He has a passion for collaborative problem-solving.