Born and raised in Punjab (India’s breadbasket), I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, where my research explores how crops and livestock shape, sustain, and sometimes restore ecosystems worldwide. My work integrates Life Cycle Thinking to identify potential unintended environmental, economic, and social consequences of agricultural systems and emerging technologies. With a PhD in Industrial and Production Engineering (Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar) and a Master’s in Production Engineering (Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, India), I have applied Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment to evaluate the impacts of staple crops (potato, maize, sugarcane, tomato) in the State of Punjab and livestock systems, such as the ‘Gaddi’ goats in the Himalayan region. This foundational work equipped me with robust methodologies to assess sustainability trade-offs in complex agroecosystems.

In my current role with the Michigan Climate Smart Farm Project, I quantify the carbon footprint and resource efficiency of climate-smart agriculture practices for small, diversified farms. By modeling and measuring these impacts, I am contributing to informing climate-smart certifications and providing actionable insights for farmers and stakeholders to make informed decisions for sustainability.