Education: B.Sc., Khalsa College Amritsar(2002); M.Sc.,CSK HPKV, Palampur(2004); Ph.D., PAU, Ludhiana (2008)

Positions held: Assistant Professor (Plant Protection), KVK, Faridkot (Dec,2008- May, 2011); District Extension Specialist (Entomology), FASC, Gurdaspur (May, 2011–July, 2017); Assistant Plant Pathologist, RRS, Gurdaspur (July, 2017- August, 2019); Entomologist, Deptt. of Processing and Food Engineering (August, 2019 –till date)

Field of Specialization: Economic Entomology

Research Interests: (Maximum up to three areas of interest)

1. Integrated Pest Management in stored food grains.
2. Integrated Pest Management in various field crops.
3. Identification and management of emerging insect-pests in various field crops

Ongoing Projects:

1. 'Development of IoT-based biogas flushed automated storage system to manage major insect-pests of mungbean and kabuli chana' under All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Post harvest Engineering and Technology.

Projects Accomplished:

1. “Improvement in production and productivity of Cotton crop in the state during Kharif, 2009” as technical coordinator
2. Strengthening of Agricultural Development Activities in Punjab , Plan-87 (PC- 3084)
3. Integrated Quality Management of Moong against Pulse Beetle stored for Grain and Seed Purpose under All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Post harvest Engineering and Technology.
4. Development of management protocol for metallic drum/retail pack stored chickpea against Pulse beetle (Callosobruchus chinensis) using essential oils

Selected Research Publications (maximum up to 5):

• Saini Manpreet Kaur and Dhawan A K (2014) Effect of nitrogen fertigation and sowing time on the expression of Cry2Ab and on mortality of Spodoptera litura in Bollgard II cotton. Journal of Environmental Biology, 35: 311-15 (NAAS rating 6.68)
• Randhawa H S and Saini Manpreet Kaur (2015) Efficacy of different insecticides against pod borer, (Maruca vitrata Geyer) in pigeonpea. Legume Research, 38: 687-90 (NAAS Rating 6.15).
• Saini Manpreet Kaur, Alam M S and Bhatia Surekha (2022) Integrated management of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) in Mung bean stored as seed. Indian Journal of Ecology 49 (5): 1989-1995. doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2022/3772 (NAAS Rating: 5.79)
• Kaur Amandeep, Saini Manpreet Kaur, Sharma Smriti and Kooner Rubaljot (2022) Novel molecules targeted control of brinjal shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodesorbonalis in subtropical conditions of Punjab (India). Pesticide Research Journal 34(1): 44-45 DOI: 10.5958/2249-524X.2022.00008.5 (NAAS rating: 5.49)
• Kaur Kulwinder, Kumar Satish, Kaur Preetinder, Saini Manpreet Kaur, Singh Arshdeep, Bala Manju and Singh Dhanwinder (2023) Optimization of process parameters for ozone disinfestation of C. maculatus: Effects on Germination, Invitro protein, Digestibility, Nutritional, Thermal and Pasting properties of mung bean grains. Ozone: Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1080/01919512.2023.2210615 (NAAS rating: 8.60)

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

• Awarded fellowship from Sir Ratan Tata Trust for attending Global Conference on Entomology at Chiang Mai, Thailand from 5-9^th March, 2011 organized by Century Foundation, India.

• Awarded prestigious International fellowship under Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for participating in the International Course on “Integrated Pest Management and Food Safety” at Wageningen UR, The Netherlands from June 9-27, 2014.
• Awarded Ist Position in the Long Term Training Course (LTTC) on Scientific Methods of Storage and Inspection of Food grains” at IGMRI, Ludhiana from 23.11.2020 to 18.12.2020 (4 weeks) organized by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, New Delhi.