I was born and brought up in Namakkal District of Tamil nadu. My native land  is in the foothills of the Eastern Ghats with rainfall of less than 1000mm, which made me to feel tons and tons of joy whenever I come across water. It developed me to stay in water in search of my tiny, beautiful diatoms….

I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology  from KSR College of Arts & Science, Tiruchengode, Tamil nadu and Master’s in Environmental Science from JJ College of Arts & Science, Pudukkottai, Tamil nadu. After completing my Master’s I worked at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, Bangalore. I got my Ph.D on ecology of stream diatom communities in Western Ghats from Mysore University.

I worked at CU Museum of Natural History in University of Colorado, at Boulder as a Post-Doctoral Fellow with Prof Pat Kociolek.  My current research focus is on taxonomy and ecology of endemic  diatoms of  Peninsular India. I am interested in solving the puzzles behind the endemic species evolution in Indian Peninsular.

I am also an associate at Gubbi Labs. At Gubbi Labs, where I am involved in biomonitoring programs, water quality assessments and environmental education programs.

My main interest spans around diatom taxonomy, ecology and biogeography in Indian subcontinent. I have also developed Environmental education tools called “SimRiver” based on diatom ecology in collaboration with Tokyo Gagukei University’s Mayama. Please see my publication page to know more about my research interests. SimRiver is available in Kannada, Marathi and Tamil. Please click the following link to choose your preferred language.