Faheem Ahmad, PhD, is a Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. His research is based on the study of plant-nematode interaction, plant disease, microbe-mediated biotic stress management, and agricultural biotechnology and microbiology. He is the author of more than 43 papers, associate editor of the Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection (Springer), and academic editor of Peer J-Life & Environment.Dr. Ahmad has guided one PhD student and several MSc students to date. He is a recipient of several fellowships and awards, including NRF, TSRO Young Scientist, SERB-DST Young Scientist, and TUBITAK Foreign Researcher Award. He is a fellow of the International Society for Development and Sustainability (Japan) and Bose Science Society (India). He gained postdoctoral experiences at Ehime University (Japan), North-West University (South Africa), Ege University (Turkey), and National Sun Yat-Sen University (Taiwan). Rakesh Pandey, PhD, is Professor Emeritus (Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research) and Emeritus Scientist, Crop Protection and Production Division, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, India. He has authored many research papers, book chapters, review articles, books, and bulletins. He holds four US patents and has developed eight disease-resistant plant varieties of medicinal and aromatic plants. He has 29 rhizospheric microbes accession numbers from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi. He is a recipient of several national and international awards including the Prof. H.M. Shah Memorial Award (2017), Dr. Manmohan Attavar Gold Medal in Floriculture (2017), M.R. Siddiqi Memorial Award (2018), and Prof. Uma Kant Sinha Memorial Award (2021), among others. He is President of the Indian Phytopathological Society (2022-23). Dr. Pandey has so far guided 13 PhD students and several MSc and MTech students. He has been granted several projects from national funding agencies. Dr. Pandey is an expert and task force member of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for crop protection-related projects and selections.
