Physical Geography

Dr. Jaya Arora holds a doctorate in Environmental Studies and specialises in abiotic disturbances such as landslides. She has a varied background in ecology, climate change, biodiversity, soil microbiology, cytogenetics, and eco-genomics. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor at O.P Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, India, where she presents her teaching and content delivery skills in the field of Environmental Biology. Appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Delhi School of Journalism, Dr. Jaya is specialised in guiding federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and Clean Air Act (CAA) with over two years of professional experience in teaching Environmental Biology, Policy and Law with ability to collect, analyze, and interpret field data and biological information. She had genuine interest in field work in the broad area of ecology and the environment. She chose to work on a highly challenging and a relatively new field of research namely, 'Ecogenomics' that integrates ecology and molecular biology. Dr. Jaya worked on two contrasting research areas, viz., field research which focuses on basic ecological investigations of the disturbed Himalayan ecosystems and molecular biology of the plant species involved in the colonisation of these habitats. She has performed an in-depth analysis of plant phytosociological properties, soil physicochemical parameters, genomic investigations of plants by flow cytometry and plant rhizobiome/metagenomics analysis using high throughput next-generation sequencing techniques. Considering the challenges of working in a relatively pristine area – both in terms of the study site as well as the subject area – Dr. Arora conducted vital experiments in order to conclude her research work and bring it to a logical conclusion. Professionally, she has over two years of expertise in ecological restoration, land management, and environmental consulting. As a restoration ecologist, she is dedicated to protecting and recovering damaged ecosystems. Jaya earned a Ph.D. from the University of Delhi "Department of Environmental Studies" Delhi, India. Committed to constant study, Jaya documented ethnobotanical notes on a list of therapeutic plants in Chaubatia (Ranikhet), in the Indian Himalayan highlands. Jaya, who is interested about working in plant sectors, collaborated with WIMCO Seedlings Limited (ITC) on a project to analyse the variety and distribution of Poplar trees and their genotypes in the Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, India.