Membership Drive Committee (2022-2024)
Santosh Dhakal, PhD
Faculty, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA
Dr. Dhakal is a Faculty at the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA. He 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. His expertise includes veterinary medicine, infectious diseases, vaccines and therapeutics development, and public health research. Dr. Dhakal has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles, delivered more than 30 scientific presentations, and worked as editor and reviewer for over 30 scientific journals. 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 2nd Biennial International Scientific Conference 2020 and Scientific Committee Member for NAPA’s 3rd Biennial International Scientific Conference 2022
Madhav Parajuli
PhD candidate, Tennessee State University
Mr. Madhav Parajuli, originally from Gulmi, Nepal, is a Ph.D. candidate (Plant Pathology) at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center, Tennessee State University, McMinnville, TN. He is working on the detection of soilborne disease-causing fungal and oomycete pathogens and developing management recommendations using cover crops, biocontrol agents, and chemical methods in woody ornamental nursery plants. He is also focused on understanding whether abiotic (water stress) or biotic (soilborne pathogen) induced stress increases the risk of flatheaded borer or ambrosia beetle attacks on woody ornamental plants. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and a Master of Science degree in Agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, Nepal from 2004 to 2010. He also received a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science from the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tennessee State University in 2020. He worked for 7+ years as an agriculture expert in different organizations including USAID, Plan International, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) in Nepal from 2010 to 2017. Mr. Parajuli published several peer-reviewed journal papers, won several awards in the oral and poster competition, and hold a leadership position in different organizations. He is currently a Chair of the NAPA student coordination committee.
Kabita Paudel
MS student, Kentucky State University
Kabita Paudel is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Environmental Studies program at Kentucky State University. She is now in the second year of her studies. She completed her undergraduate in agriculture from Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. In her graduate studies, she has worked on various projects related to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). She is particularly interested in GIS and RS applications in natural resource management and earth and environmental systems. For her thesis project, she is working on estimating vegetation growth in reclaimed mine lands in Eastern Kentucky. She joined NAPA in 2021 and has been involved in many NAPA activities including but not limited to 2022 NAPA Biennial International Scientific Conference, NAPA webinars, roundtable discussions, etc. She was also awarded second prize in student oral presentation category in 2022 NAPA Biennial International Scientific Conference. She loves traveling, reading, and hiking.