Dr. Nirmalya Chatterjee, Ph. D.

Teaching

• Fundamentals of Environmental Science (C1B), Fall 2021. 3-credit doctoral/masters core course (33% Co-Instructor)
• Remote Sensing / Geographical Information Systems and Landscape Ecology using R/QGIS (E003), Fall 2020. 2-credit doctoral elective course (Coordinator & 50% Co-instructor)
• Fundamentals of Environmental Science (C1B), Fall 2019. 3-credit doctoral core course (Coordinator & 15% Co-Instructor)
• Critical Zone Soil Processes (E014), Fall 2018. 2-credit doctoral elective course (Coordinator & 67% Co-Instructor)

Work Experience

• 2019– Adjunct Graduate Research Faculty, Biology Program, School of Sciences University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA, USA
• 2017– Fellow Level 1 (equiv. to Assistant Professor) at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, based at the Eastern Himalayas / North East India Regional Office, Gangtok, SK, India
  • Using ecological monitoring methods and sociological survey methods to ascertain ecosystem provisioning by soil and water resources in small catchments
  • Designing interventions for climate adaptation and mitigation for sustainable livelihoods
  • Land restoration interventions for LDCs and marginal agricultural communities, sub-national scale LDN target setting and implmentation
  • Determining effects of short term climate events on soil carbon stores, soil/water interactions for seasonal hydrological events and water availability in mountain communities
• 2016–2017 Teaching Faculty at University of Engineering and Management, Newtown, Kolkata, WB, India
• 2015–2016 Postdoctoral Fellow at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Eastern Himalayas / North-East Regional Office, Gangtok, SK, India
• 2009–2013 Graduate Research Assistant at Dept. of Crop & Soil Sciences, Washington State University, USA
• 2005–2009 Graduate Research Assistant at Dept. of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, USA
• 2005–2008 Graduate Teaching Assistant at Dept. of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, USA
• 2001–2002 Science Teacher in Chemistry and Physics, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kolkata, India

Education

• 2009–2013 Ph.D. Soil Science (Soil Physics), Washington State University, USA.
• 2005–2009 M.S. (Biophysical Chemistry), University of Connecticut, USA
• 2002–2004 M.Sc. (Analytical Chemistry), Maharaja Sayajirao University, India
• 1998–2001 B.Sc. (Chemistry (Honors)), University of Calcutta, India

Research Interests

• soil remediation, climate change effects on soil carbon and pollutant dynamics, soil GHG emissions, soil nutrient availability, soil erosion, carbon sequestration
• vadose zone hydrology, contaminant hydrology, storm-water run-off, soil/water biogeochemistry
• vegetating of marginal soils, native plant afforestation

Peer-Reviewed Publications

published

• Fields, A., Bhattacharjee, J., & Chatterjee, Nirmalya. Reservoir bathymetry and riparian corridor assessment in two dammed sections of the Teesta River in Eastern Himalaya. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193(10), 1-18 (2021) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Soil erosion assessment in a humid, Eastern Himalayan watershed undergoing rapid land use changes, using RUSLE, GIS and high-resolution satellite imagery. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment 6(1), 533–543 (2020) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee & Flury, M. Effect of particle shape on capillary forces at an air-water interface. Langmuir 29(25), 7903–7911 (2013) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Lapin, S. & Flury, M. Capillary forces between sediment particles and an air–water interface. Environmental Science & Technology 46(8), 4411–4418 (2012) [PDF]
• Niedzwiedzki, D. M., Nirmalya Chatterjee, Enriquez, M. M., Kajikawa, T., Hasegawa, S., Katsumura, S. & Frank, H. A. Spectroscopic investigation of peridinin analogues having different π-electron conjugated chain lengths: Exploring the nature of the intramolecular charge transfer state. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 113(41), 13604–13612 (2009) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Niedzwiedzki, D. M., Aoki, K., Kajikawa, T., Katsumura, S., Hashimoto, H. & Frank, H. A. Effect of structural modifications on the spectroscopic properties and dynamics of the excited states of peridinin. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 483(2), 146–155 (2009) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Niedzwiedzki, D. M., Kajikawa, T., Hasegawa, S., Katsumura, S. & Frank, H. A. Effect of π-electron conjugation length on the solvent-dependent S1 lifetime of peridinin. Chemical Physics Letters 463(1-3), 219–224 (2008) [PDF]

in press/review/preparation

• Nirmalya Chatterjee. Numerical simulation of capillary forces acting on subsurface particles at air-water interfaces. In preparation (2021)

Other Publications

• Nirmalya Chatterjee. Capillary Forces on Sediment Particles: Experimental Measurements and Theoretical Estimates. PhD thesis, Washington State University, August (2013) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Flury, M., Hinman, C. & Cogger, C. G. Chemical and physical characteristics of compost leachate – a review (WA-RD 819.1). Technical report, Washington Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA, August (2013) [PDF]

• Conferences, Posters

• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Lapin, S. & Flury, M. Capillary forces on millimeter-scale sediment particles: Experimental measurements and theoretical estimations. (Oregon Society of Soil Scientists, Winter Meeting, Troutdale, OR, 2013) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Niedzwiedzki, D. M., Aoki, K., Schulte, T., Katsumura, S., Hofmann, E. & Frank, H. A. Optical spectroscopic studies of peridinin and peridinin-chlorophyll-protein (pcp) complexes. (25th Eastern Regional Photosynthesis Conference, Woods Hole, MA, 2008) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Ilagan, R. P., Aoki, K., Katsumura, S. & Frank, H. A. Steady-state and femtosecond time-resolved optical spectroscopic studies of peridinin derivatives. (24th Eastern Regional Photosynthesis Conference, Woods Hole, MA, 2007) [PDF]
• Nirmalya Chatterjee, Ilagan, R. P., Aoki, K., Katsumura, S. & Frank, H. A. Steady-state and femtosecond time-resolved optical spectroscopic studies of peridinin derivatives. (23rd Eastern Regional Photosynthesis Conference, Woods Hole, MA, 2006) [PDF]

• Grants & Awards

• Co-PI to the ≈$8,560 grant for “Estimation of current and prediction of long-term C sequestration in biomass and soil carbon in reforested tracts around Bangalore”, funded by SayTrees, Bengaluru, India (PI: Mr. Anirban Roy, ATREE)
• 2012–2013 Contributor to the $10,000 grant for a literature survey and a review on compost leachates, awarded by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (USA), through Task Order No. T4120-36.
• 1996–1999 National Science Talent Scholarship, NCERT, New Delhi, India

Memberships

• 2013 – Soil Science Society of America
• 2013 – American Geophysical Union

Professional Development

• 12/2015 5-day workshop on “Hierarchical Modeling in Ecology using Bayesian Methods in R”, National Center for Biological Science, Bengaluru, India
• 03/2016 2-week training on “GIS Methods in Soil-Water Conservation”, Center for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, India