Dr Sandhya has joined PAU as Assistant Professor (Agril. Engg.) at KVK Bathinda on Oct 13, 2006 after completing M.Tech. at PAU, Ludhiana in 2002. She is currently working as Senior Scientist in the Department of Processing and Food Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana. She has been engaged in teaching various courses related to Food Processing and guided about 10 undergraduate and 4 post graduate students with research proposals and experimentation. She has been working under All India I.C.A.R. Co-ordinated Research Project onPost-Harvest Engineering and Technology. She has 34 research papers, 28 popular articles, 13 conference papers, 25 abstracts, 8 research bulletins and 3 book chapter to her credit. She has delivered about 125 lectures as a resource person to farmers, rural youth etc. and had also conducted 66 short duration and vocational trainings for farmers, rural youth and in service personnel. She has participated in about 85 national and international conferences, seminars, workshops and trainings.

Professional Accomplishments

Research Projects:

• Development of pilot-scale cold plasma system for microbial safety and quality enhancement in fruits and vegetables juices (Funded by DST-TDP)
• Development of technology for production, farm-level processing and optimization of processes for value-added products of millets (Funded by Society for Mission Tandrust Punjab)
• Development of chili pricking machine (RKVY)

Research Publications:

1. Kaur G, Sandhya, Kaur M, Challana V and Kaur S (2025). Application of cold plasma, a novel nonthermal method on fruit juices: A review on quality and safety. Qual Assur Saf Crops Foods 17(1): 163–189.

2. Kalsi B S, Singh S, Alam M S and Bhatia S (2023). Application of thermosonication for guava juice processing: Impacts on bioactive, microbial, enzymatic and quality attributes. Ultrason Sonochem 99: 106595.

3. Kalsi B S, Singh S, Alam M S and Sidhu G K (2023). Comparison of ANN and ANFIS modeling for predicting drying kinetics of Stevia rebaudiana leaves in a hot-air dryer and characterization of dried powder. Int J Food Prop 26(2): 3356–3375.

4. Kalsi B S, Singh S, Alam M S and Bhatia S (2023). Microwave drying modelling of Stevia rebaudiana leaves using artificial neural network and its effect on color and biochemical attributes. J Food Qual 2023: Article ID e15163.

5. Kalsi B S, Singh S and Alam M S (2022). Influence of ultrasound processing on the quality of guava juice. J Food Process Eng e14163.

Awards and Recognition:

• Young Scientist Award 2022 in the International Conference organized by Mangalayatan University, Jabalpur (MP)
• Women Scientist Award-2019 by Society for World Environment, Food and Technology, New Delhi
• Gold medal and citation by The Institution of Engineers (India)
• Medallion, Citation and Cash award of Rs. 10,000/- Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi
• Gold Medal (B. Tech.)
• Cash award by Guru Harkishan Society, Chandigarh
• Leela Wanti Running Trophy
• Ashok Kumar Matto Running Trophy