Abhishek Chandra  

Abhishek Chandra  

Assistant Professor

Profile Summary

Abhishek Chandra is a food technologist and an interdisciplinary researcher with extensive knowledge in the non-thermal processing of fruits and vegetables as well as drying technologies. He has expertise in sustainable techniques such as ultrasound technology, superheated steam drying, vacuum impregnation for quality preservation of ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products, and the development of novel food processing equipment. He has strong expertise in research design, mathematical modeling, project planning, management, and implementation. He completed his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) from Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, in 2013, demonstrating his strong academic credentials. He secured admission for Master of Technology (M.Tech.) in Food (Biotech.) Engineering from the Department of Post-Harvest Process and Food Engineering at the College of Technology, GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India, in the same year after qualifying the ICAR-AIEEA-PG with an All-India Rank of 92. Afterward, in 2015, he enrolled in the Ph.D. in Food Engineering program at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli (NIFTEM-K), operating under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI).

Work Experience

Abhishek Chandra has been teaching and conducting research for more than five years. He was also actively involved with a few food industries as a consultant for drying technologies. He co-supervised M.Tech. students' research project work at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli (NIFTEM-K), where he pursued a doctorate before joining UPES. He is an ISAE (Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers) life member.

Research Interests

Sustainable drying technologies, superheated steam drying, vacuum impregnation for quality preservation of ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products, food value addition, new product development, standardization of food, food waste utilization, and development of novel food processing equipment by application of artificial intelligence.

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is something that Abhishek finds rewarding and pleasurable. By involving students in their learning environment, encouraging higher-order thinking skills, and respecting their perspectives and backgrounds, he fosters learning. Instead of just imparting knowledge, the aim is to assist the students in critically analyzing, evaluating, and reflecting on their own experiences. He created exercises that may help them learn during both face-to-face conversations and the presentation skills test in order to do this. He coordinates the assessment with the learning objectives of the course and offers a variety of ways to communicate the information, including audio, video, and multimedia elements. He encourages his students to look into new resources that could improve the way they present their work and collaborate.

Courses Taught

Fruit and vegetable processing technology, Emerging technologies in food processing, Instrumental methods in food Analysis, Food processing technology, post-harvest engineering, Food preservation technology, cereal, pulses and oilseed technology, Beverage technology, Food nutraceuticals, Advanced instrumentation techniques.

Awards and Grants

Abhishek received NIFTEM fully funded five-year Ph.D. research fellowship. He was invited as a judge for the “7th Southeast Asian Agricultural Engineering student chapter annual regional convention 2021 (ARC - 2021)” organized by Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.

Scholarly Activities

Abhishek received training for Graduate Engineers in Planning and Designing of Cold Chain infrastructure. He participated in several national and international faculty development programs and was invited for guest lectures on topics of his core specialization. He actively engages in research projects, publications, and academic collaborations. He presents his study and interacts with other researchers during scientific conferences where he actively participates. Additionally, he reviews articles for numerous international academic journals in the area of food science and technology. Presently, he is working as a core technical committee member for UN World Food Programme - Technical Support Unit at UPES for Rice Fortification at Uttarakhand.

Contact

abhishek.chandra@ddn.upes.ac.in