Renuka Saini, PhD
Renuka Saini is currently conducting postdoctoral research on the impacts of surface ozone on vegetation in India at the Department of Chemistry, Institute of Basic Science (IBS), Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra (India). This research is funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India. As part of this project, Renuka is collecting in situ ozone data in Agra, Uttar Pradesh to calculate ozone related crop yield reduction for different crops to establish a new crop yield exposure relationship. She completed her PhD research at the Department of Chemistry, St. John’s College, Agra (India) where she studied surface ozone behavior & its precursors over a semi-arid site in India. In addition, she has worked in other projects focused on indoor air quality (Indoor/ Outdoor relation of Air Quality in Residential Homes located in Different Environment, DST-USEPA) and atmospheric processing (Parameterization of Boundary Layer Processes and Air Quality Modeling in the Tropical Coastal Belt, IIT-Delhi).
IndiaAQ: What motivated you to start working on air pollution?
RS: When we think about the air in India, immediately air pollution comes in our mind. So, this made me to dive in the field of air quality research and work for our community. In India, researchers are focusing on particulate matter more in comparison to other pollutants. But India is one of the largest producer of wheat & rice, so I wanted to make our community aware of this fact that how surface ozone is reducing the yield of crops in our country, which is affecting the food demand. Therefore, I am working on surface ozone problem in India.
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