Dr Harsimran Kaur did her B.Sc. (Hons. Agriculture) in 2007, M.Sc. (Soils) in 2009 from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and accomplished Ph.D. (Soil Science) from Washington State University, Pullman, USA in 2017. I joined Punjab Agricultural University in 2018 and since then have been serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Soil Science. Her research interests include mechanistic and empirical modelling of soil properties, water quality (surface and groundwater) and agricultural cropping systems in response to changing climatic at different scales using geospatial and geostatistical methods. Further aligned are model improvement, model uncertainty and soil spectroscopic modelling. She was Co-PI on PPCB funded project on water quality status of Satluj and Beas (2020-2022) to study the spatial and temporal trends in the river water quality monitoring data. Further, was part on digital village: a data-driven approach to Precision Agriculture in Small Farms (2019-2023), conducted geostatistical and spectral analysis of soil parameters (funded by T2CEFS). Currently, she is  Co-PI on a recent ICSSR funded project on waste to resource and working on the spatial analysis of the factors influencing decision of use of wastewater and its impact on the environment. 

Selected Research Publications 

1. Jashandeep Singh Sidhu, Sumita Chandel, Sashikant Sahoo, Dhanwinder Singh, Kuldip Singh, Mohit Arora, Harsimran Kaur (2025) Hydrogeochemical characterization and geospatial assessment of groundwater quality in the alluvial aquifer of southwestern Punjab in association with health risk assessment due to nitrate and fluoride pollution. Environmental science and pollution research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-025-36381-9.
2. Prabhjyot-Kaur, Samanpreet Kaur, A Dhir, Harsimran Kaur and BB Vashisht (2024) Agro-Eco-Resource Zonation (AERZ) for sustainable agriculture using GIS and AHP techniques in Indian Punjab. Theoretical and Appl Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-024-05104-4.   
3. Sumita Chandel, Harsimran Kaur, D. K. Benbi, Dhanwinder Singh, Manpreet Kaur, Kuldip Singh (2023) Reflecting on changes in the drinking and irrigation water quality of rivers Beas, Satluj and confluence waters. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30849-2.
4. Harsimran Kaur, S Chandel, DK Benbi, D Singh, M Kaur, K Singh, SS Marwaha (2023) Quantifying and trend analyzing dynamics of water quality variables of two Indus basin rivers of Indian Punjab. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 9:111. 
5. Harsimran Kaur, D. R. Huggins, B. R. Carlson, Claudio Stockle, Roger Nelson (2022). Dryland fallow vs flex-cropping decisions in inland Pacific Northwest of USA. Agricultural Systems, 201: 103432.
6.  

Ongoing research projects:

1. Indian Council of Social Science Research funded Project on “Waste to Resource: Treated Wastewater Irrigation Management System for Sustainable Agriculture Under One Health Approach in Punjab” (Co-PI)

Awards/Honor’s/Distinctions

1. Awarded Dr. Sukhdyal Nijhawan medal during B.Sc. (Hons.) in Agriculture majoring in Soil Science and Dr. N. S. Randhawa medal in M.Sc. Soils.
2. Awarded US-India agriculture knowledge initiative project fellowship to complete part of M.Sc. thesis research at Iowa State University, USA.