Navsal Kumar

Navsal Kumar is an Assistant Professor at the School of Mechanical, Civil & Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology. His primary focus in both teaching and research revolves around irrigation hydraulics and water resources. 

With over five years of research experience, Kumar earned his PhD (2021) and M Tech (2017) in Water Resources Engineering from the National Institute of Technology in Hamirpur, India. His academic journey began with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering (2015) from Savitribai Phule Pune University, India, where he graduated with Distinction. Kumar has thrice qualified for the GATE exam (2015, 2016, and 2019). 

His research contributions have been recognised internationally, receiving the Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship (2019) from the Science and Engineering Research Board (Govt. of India). This allowed him to undertake research training at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (United Kingdom). Kumar was honoured with the Jal Vigyan Puraskar from The Indian Society for Hydraulics in 2021. 

Asst Prof Kumar's academic and scientific contributions include numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters published by reputed publishers such as ASCE, Elsevier, Wiley, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and AIP. His research portfolio includes 387 citations, an h-index of 11, and an i10-index of 13 (as of November 2023). 

Actively participating in academic and scientific communities, Asst Prof Kumar serves as a reviewer for various scientific journals in his field and contributes to university committees. He is an active member of the Indian Society for Hydraulics, the Association of Agrometeorologists, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). 

Asst Prof Kumar's research specialisations encompass irrigation water management, environmental hydrology, agrometeorology, soil hydraulics, unsaturated zone modelling, evapotranspiration modelling, crop water stress index, and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches. Currently, his research focuses on developing hybrid soft computing models for predicting crop water stress index and soil water depletion. Kumar's expertise and dedication make him a valuable asset to the academic community at Shoolini University.