Dr. Neeta Kumari is an accomplished environmental scientist and educator with 18+ years of experience in teaching, research and environmental management. She is currently serving as Assistant Professor (Grade-II) at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi (September 2024–Present), where she is actively engaged in teaching, research supervision and environmental sustainability initiatives.

Previously, she served as Assistant Professor (Grade-I) at BIT Mesra (May 2017–September 2024), Associate Lecturer (July 2008–May 2017), and Research Fellow under TEQIP (February 2006–July 2008). She holds M.Sc. in Environmental Science from Banaras Hindu University, M.Tech in Environmental Science and Engineering from BIT Mesra, and a Ph.D. in Technology from BIT Mesra with specialization in groundwater quality management with focus on fluoride.

Research & Publications

Dr. Kumari has developed a robust research profile spanning groundwater and surface water quality management, watershed management, emerging contaminants removal and sustainable development. Her research output includes 15 peer-reviewed international journal articles, 6 book chapters, 6 conference papers and 1 poster presentation. Her publications appear in reputed venues including Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Bioresource Technology, Arabian Journal of Geosciences, Journal of the Geological Society of India, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Frontiers in Water, Water, Air & Soil Pollution, and Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. Her recent work addresses critical areas such as fluoride modeling using artificial neural networks, hydrogeochemical characterization in mining areas, land use and land cover assessment using GIS and machine learning, and soil erosion risk assessment using RUSLE methodology.

Scholarly Contributions & Book Chapters

Dr. Kumari has contributed 9 book chapters to peer-reviewed publications by leading international publishers including Springer and Elsevier. Her scholarly work encompasses diverse topics including climate change impacts on soil microbes, river sustainability assessment using Bayesian networks, forest management through geospatial applications, sustainable waste utilization, sand mining impacts on river ecosystems, artificial intelligence applications in environmental sustainability and climate change, heavy metal pollution assessment, agricultural waste valorization for bioenergy production, water quality parameter dynamics using geospatial technology, and biodiversity dynamics in climate-affected regions.

Teaching & Academic Contributions

Dr. Kumari has delivered comprehensive teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At the undergraduate level, she teaches Water Supply to B.E. Civil Engineering students, Fundamentals of Environmental Science to B.Pharmacy students, and Environmental Engineering Laboratory to B.E. students. At the postgraduate and pre-doctoral levels, she instructs courses in Ecological Dynamics and Energy, Industrial Pollution Control, Water Supply and Wastewater Management, Environmental System Engineering, Environmental Economics and Environmental Statistics. She supervises laboratory courses including Environmental Lab I, Environmental System Engineering Lab and Remote Sensing Lab.

Her thesis supervision record includes 7 completed B.Tech projects, 15 completed M.Tech projects, 1 submitted Ph.D. thesis and 4 ongoing Ph.D. projects. She has developed expertise in water and wastewater analysis, air quality analysis, microbiological analysis and specialized laboratory techniques across multiple analytical domains.

Research Projects & Collaborative Work

Dr. Kumari's research encompasses collaborative initiatives with renowned scientists and institutions. She has co-authored publications with experts from institutions including Delhi University and the Central Mining Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI). Her research projects focus on groundwater fluoride assessment in Jharkhand, pretreatment optimization of biomass using advanced statistical methods, cellulase production optimization, watershed assessment and monitoring, land degradation assessment using artificial intelligence and remote sensing, water quality prediction in mining-affected areas, and sustainable land management practices.

Faculty Development & Professional Engagement

Dr. Kumari actively participates in professional development activities and knowledge dissemination. She attended a workshop on satellite meteorology organized by the Department of Remote Sensing at BIT Mesra (September 2023–January 2024). She completed a self-sponsored online Faculty Development Programme on sustainable practices in Civil Engineering through ISTE (June 2024). She has delivered invited lectures at prestigious institutions including an international talk on groundwater fluoride management using waste materials at the International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala (July 2024), and a lecture on soil quality improvement using biochar at the International Conference on Nano Structured Materials and Nanocomposites, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala (September 2024).

She has presented research papers at multiple international conferences including the International Conference on Advances in Water Treatment and Management (Singapore, 2023), International Conference on Computational Intelligence (Singapore, 2015), Recent Research on Geotechnical Engineering conference (2024), International Conference on Computational Vision and Bio-Inspired Computing (IEEE Xplore, 2026), and the International Conference on Innovation in Science & Technology (July 2025). She served as session chair at the International Conference on Pervasive Computational Technologies (ICPCT-2025) organized by GL Bajaj Institute of Technology and Management, Greater Noida (February 2025), and as co-chair and keynote speaker on climate change and water security at the national conference organized by Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi (February 2026). She also served as plenary speaker and session evaluator at the International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals 2026 organized by ICSDG Society, Angoda, Sri Lanka (May 2026).

Leadership & Institutional Contributions

Dr. Kumari actively contributes to institutional development and community engagement. She organized the Jharkhand Science and Environment Festival (JSEF) through the EPAC Club in August 2024 and August 2026, promoting environmental awareness and scientific literacy. She served as co-convener for events organized through the IIC Cell of BIT Mesra and as organizing secretary for the National Seminar on Recent Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering (RACEE 2026) held at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She served as faculty coordinator for the Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp organized by the IIC Cell, BIT Mesra and AICTE (April–May 2026).

Awards, Honours & Professional Memberships

Dr. Kumari has demonstrated academic excellence through her qualifications and competitive examination performance. She qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) for Lectureship in Environmental Sciences (August 2004) and achieved an 81.17 percentile in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) with Life Sciences as the subject (March 2002).

Eligibility for Women Researcher Award

Dr. Neeta Kumari presents a compelling profile as a candidate for the Women Researcher Award. Her 18+ years of continuous academic service, 15 international journal publications, 9 scholarly book chapters, 6 conference papers, multidisciplinary research spanning water quality management, watershed assessment, emerging contaminant removal and artificial intelligence applications, active supervision of doctoral and postgraduate students, and significant contributions to environmental education and awareness collectively demonstrate substantial research productivity and scholarly impact. Her work addresses critical environmental challenges facing India, particularly groundwater contamination and sustainable water resource management in mining-affected regions of Jharkhand. Her active engagement in international conferences, invited lectures at premier institutions, peer review contributions and institutional leadership further substantiate her research credentials.

Based on the achievements, research productivity, scholarly contributions and credentials provided, Dr. Neeta Kumari is eligible for consideration for the Women Researcher Award in Scientific Laurels, particularly in recognition of her contributions to environmental science, water quality management, sustainable development and advanced research methodologies in addressing environmental pollution.