Department of Geography

Dr. Ashis Chandra Pathy

ashis.pathy@utkaluniversity.ac.in

Dr. Damodar Panda

damodar_65@rediffmail.com

Dr. Krishna Chandra Rath

rath_kc@yahoo.co.in

Dr. Rumana Khatun

rumana.amu@gmail.com

Prof. Kabir Mohan Sethy

Kabirmohan2006@yahoo.com

Prof. B.N. Sinha, retired as the Professor and Head of Post-Graduate Department of Geography, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He was also a visiting Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Manipur University, Imphal. Author of 17 books and more than 88 research papers, he has served as the Honorary Editor of the Indian Council of Geographers and is President of the Eastern Geographical Society, Bhubaneswar and President of National Council Theoretical and Applied Research. He is ex-President of the Deccan Geographical Society, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and the Indian Council of Geographers. As a visiting Professor under the Senior Fulbright Heys Exchange Programme to the USA during 1973-74, he lectured at many American and Canadian Universities and has guided several research scholars at Karnataka and Utkal Universities.

Prof. D.K Singh (1934 - 2017), Dibya Kishor Singh. Born at Hindol, dist. Dhenkanal on 24th of August 1934, BA Geography Hons(Ravenshaw College,1957),MA Geography (BHU,1959),Ph.D.(Gauhati University,1972),Diploma in Statistics(BHU,1958). Specialized in Quantitative Methods and Cartography, Shelter Environmental and settlement Planning. Served as lecturer, Asst. Professor, Reader and Professor in Geography in West Bengal, Saugor, Gauhati and Utkal Universities respectively from 1960-1996. Awarded Fulbright Scholarship in 1966-67(Indiana University, USA), Commonwealth Foundation -Royal Geographical Society Bursary Award in 1980(Bristol University, England), Visiting Fellow in the Human Settlement Division of Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand in 1992 and in the SPRING CENTRUM of Dortmund University, Germany in 1993. Supervised 20 M.Phil. and 17 Ph.D. theses besides one D.Sc. scholar in Geography. Published about 100 research papers and articles in reputed journals. Served as editor of Geography journals. Worked as resource person in workshops of Geography and Executive member of many professional and cultural organizations. Life member of many Geographical and Professional societies. Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, London; Member of American Association of Geographers; and as a life member of National Association of Geographers, India of which he also served as Vice-President. Served as member of National Committees in Geography Panel of INSA for two terms (1991-97). Was a member of the Geography Panel of UGC(1997-2002). Member and Advisory Editorial Board of the “Encyclopedia of World Geography”, Andromeda Publishers, Oxfordshire, U.K.,1993; Author of the UGC project book “Shelter Environment and Settlement Planning of Rural Orissa”. Made two seminal contributions on “Assam Valley” and “Meghalaya” in the famous book “Geography of India” edited by Professor R.L.Singh. Also contributed research articles to a number of edited books including Prof.R.P.Mishra’s Regional Planning. As a member of the Indian Section of the International Theosophical Society, was the Secretary of the Utkal Theosophical Federation for two terms (1999-2005). Helped in Publication of spiritual books in Odia for the federation. Was president of Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir, Unit -III, Bhubaneswar from 1998-2005.

Prof. V.L.Singh - M.A from BHU, Ph.D

Prof S. N. Tripathy - M. Sc from BHU, Gold Medalist, Founder Faculty of the Dept. of Geography, Credit of writing maximum no. of Geography books in Odia.

Prof. S. K. Mohanty-M.A from BHU, Ph.D (Utkal), Humboldt Fellow at Univ. of Heidelberg, Germany

Dr. P.K. Kara (1954) after his Graduation from Ravenshaw College in 1974 obtained his M.Sc. Degree in Geography with first class from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi U.P. in 1976. He obtained his Ph.D. Degree from Utkal University in 1983.He joined as faculty member of Utkal University in the year 1981 and retired from the Service as Professor after superannuation in May 2014. Besides teaching he was in charge of controller of Examinations, Utkal University from July 2006 to December 2007 and Deputy Register cum Development Officer from September 2008 to January 2010. Within this period, he was in charge of Finance Officer of the University for six months from September 2009. Fourteen candidates have been awarded Ph.D. Degree and fifty candidates have been awarded M. Phil degree under his guidance. He was associated with different academic institutions in different capacities. He has lectured at various Universities and Academic institutions and also acted as resource person in various refresher courses and Workshops.

Prof. Gopal Krishna Panda is a well known physical geographer, presently working as Emeritus Professor in the Post Graduate Dept. of Geography at KISS Deemed University, Bhubaneswar. He has been awarded the prestigious Emeritus Fellowship of UGC in the year 2016 and honoured with the Senior Fellowship of ICSSR, New Delhi in 2020. During his tenure of service in the Dept. of Geography at Utkal University, he has served in different capacities as Professor and Head of the Dept. of Geography, Chairman of the Post Graduate Council, Member of the Syndicate, Senate and Chief Executive of the Population Research Center, He has nearly 35 years of teaching and research in the areas of physical geography, coastal geomorphology, climate change, natural hazards and disaster management and geospatial technology focusing on programme evaluation, capacity building and value addition. He was a National Scholarship holder and Gold Medalist of his time in Utkal University in the year 1977. He was a Visiting Fellow of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine of Liverpool University availing British Council Fellowship in 1995 and Minnesota State University, USA in the year 2013. He was the Principal Investigator for a major research project sponsored by the UNDP and OSDMA to prepare the “Odisha State Natural Hazards and Disaster Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Assessment Report” for the state. Under his guidance 15 students have been awarded Ph. D degree in geography and environmental science. He has super annuated from the Dept. of Geography in 30th June 2015.

Prof. Dr. Jayant K. Routray (DOB: 11 November 1956): He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with Geography Honours and Distinction, specialization in Climatology (1974) from Ravenshaw College, Master of Science in Geography with specialization in Town and Country Planning (1976) from Utkal University, Master of Regional Planning (1979) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Post-Graduate Certificate in Town and Regional Planning, Technical University of SZCZECIN, Poland (1983); and Ph. D. Degree in Science (Geography) in 1987 from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, India. He is a registered Town & Regional Planner and Fellow of the Institute of Town Planners (India), Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (Institute of British Geographers), London; Life Member of many academic and professional societies including the Society of International Development (SID). His academic and research interests are in Decentralized participatory planning and sustainable rural development, Regional planning methods and techniques, Rural-urban relations, Social and development impact assessment, Disaster risk assessment, reduction and management, and Climate induced adaptation. Academically and professionally, he has achieved the international status for his outstanding and diversified contributions in the field of Rural-Regional Development and Disaster Management. His teaching, research, training, consulting and community service experiences span over 40 years First 10 years in India and 30 years in AIT, Bangkok). He started his career at the National Institute of Rural Development as Assistant Director of Integrated Area Planning for abour one year (1979-80). He served the PG Department of Geography as Lecturer and Reader from 1980 to 1999 with a few years of lien to work at AIT, Bangkok. Prof. Dr. Jayant K Routray is currently holding the position of Professor Emeritus (Regional Development and Disaster Management) at AIT since May 2019. Ex-Chairman of the Institute of Town Planners India, Odisha Regional Chapter, Bhubaneswar; and currently serving as the Governing Board Member of the Nabakrushna Choudhury Center of Development Studies, Bhubaneswar. Prior to this, he was working in AIT for about three decades since June 1988 in various academic positions (Adjunct Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor). Served as a Faculty of the joint academic program of SPRING-Asia (Spatial Planning in Regions of Growing Economies) of AIT, Bangkok and Technical University Dortmund (Public University), Germany supported by the DAAD from 1989 to 1996 while continuing as a faculty at In administration, at AIT he served as the Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Academic Programs - Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM) & Climate Change and Sustainable Development (CCSD); Coordinator of Regional and Rural Development Planning; and Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Initiative video conferencing course (international and interuniversity academic program) on “Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (DMHA)” in collaboration with the University of Hawaii at Manao, USA and United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan from 2007 to 2017. He also served as elected Academic Senate Chair of AIT from 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2014 and elected Faculty Representative from 1 Nov 2007 to 30 March 2010, Director of the ASEAN Regional Center of Excellence on Millennium Development Goals (ARCMDG) from 2008 to 2010. In the capacity of the Faculty Representative and Academic Senate Chair, he served the AIT Board of Trustees as an ex-officio member for two terms. He has gathered about 40 years of teaching, research and professional experience. He has served as external examiner of many doctoral theses of Indian universities. He has 192 publications (31 research monographs/books, manual and proceedings, and 29 book chapters, 31 research papers in national and regional journals, and 70 papers in international refereed journals, and other publications). The total citations of his research work so far 2696 with h index = 28 (Google Scholar database) and h index = 22 (Scopus database). He has supervised 33 Doctoral candidates (32 Ph. D., one D. Sc. Degree), 6 M. Phil. and 146 Master Theses and Research Studies, and 8 Special Studies. He is currently Editorial Board Members of Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development (APJORD), and International Journal of Built Environment, Journal of Environmental Management of the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) of Thailand, and Journal of Geography and Social Sciences of the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Baluchistan, Pakistan. As a faculty and coordinator of three academic programs, he was instrumental in developing and implementing 18 MOUs and MOAs with universities, Institutions and international organizations (Royal University of Bhutan, WWF, Miyagi University, SGES of Kyoto University, Kyoto University, Telecom Sans Frontiers, PHI Sudan, UNISDR ONEA-GETI, HEC Pakistan, RIMES, NTNU Norway, NUST Pakistan, ADPC, and ADPC & ETH Zuric). During 1994 to 2017, mobilized 28 projects (research, training, international workshops, forum and expert consultation meetings) amounting to more than 1.25 million US Dollar. He was involved in preparing and signing a number of MOUs with universities and institutions and international organizations having mutual interest in Regional Development Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change. He is the reviewer of research articles of various international peer reviewed journals (Regional Development Dialogue, Natural Resource Forum, Land Use Policy, Journal of Environmental Management, Current Anthropology, Asian Journal of Geoinformatics, Environmental Management, World Development, Australian Geographer, International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability, Global Environmental Change, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, Weather and Climate Extremes, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Natural Hazards, Environmental Hazards, APJORD, Planning Malaysia, and American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, Advances in Meteorology, and Gender and Women Studies, Land Degradation and Development, Cities, Journal of Race, Ethnicity & the City and others). Reviewed book manuscript on disaster and climate change for Elsevier. Serving as a Member of the Editorial Advisory Group of a Publication Series on Disaster Risk Reduction by Springer since 2013. Reviewed the Monograph Series on Sustainable and Inclusive Transport (Enhancing Rural Transport Connectivity to Regional and International Networks in Asia and the Pacific), UN ESCAP, Bangkok, 2020. To illustrate a few, he had served as a Panel Speaker in the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission Special Symposium on “Changing face of the world retailing industry” at Nikkei Hall, Tokyo, September 1993. He served also as a Member of the Expert Committee on “Temperature rise in Bhubaneswar City”, held at Orissa Pollution Control Board on 31 March 1999, organized by the Environment Department, Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar, India. He served as Resource Person cum Facilitator of the World Bank Institute Training Course through video conferencing at AIT in 2003 and Panel Speaker for the Distant Digital Education Workshop at Keio University, Japan in 2004, delivered a series of professional lectures in many institutions and universities in India, Japan, Germany, Norway, Malyasia, Bangladesh and Thailand. He has developed and conducted a number of international training programs at AIT while serving as resource person in those training programs, delivered a number of keynote addresses in international conferences. Recently he represented AIT and ARCMDG, and served as Co-organizer and Track/Theme Coordinator of the International Conference on “Language, Education and Millennium Development Goals” organized jointly with UNESCO, Bangkok, Thailand in 2010. Delivered a number of keynote speeches in international conferences in India, Bangladesh and Malaysia. Organized the International Forum on Education for Rural Transformation (IFERT) at AIT in 2017. As a consultant he has worked for the FAO (RAPA), Bangkok in 1986-87; UNCRD, Nagoya, Japan in 1991; and Mekong Secretariat of the UN-ESCAP, Bangkok in 1994 and UNDP, Nepal in 1997, and conducted one Regional Workshop for ILO in 1998, and UNEP training Program for SAARC countries in 2006, and UNIFEM Workshop and Training program in 2010. He served as a Panelist for the ProSPER.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Award 2011 in Sustainable Development, created in partnership with Elsevier, held at the University of Philippines, 13 July 2011. Provided advisory cum consulting services to National University of Laos in developing a new graduate level academic curriculum on Integrated Forest Resource Management with Rural Development in 2011. Delivered a keynote address on “Environment and Development: Issues and Challenges” in the international conference held at Department of Geography and Environment, Rajshahi University, Bangladesh during 7-8 March 2014. Served as a panel speaker on “Rural-Urban Relations; Challenges for Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide” in the International Conference on Urban and Regional Planning 2014 during 9-11 May 2014, held at Center for Innovative Planning and Development, Universiti Technologi Malaysia, Johor. In 2017, delivered special lectures in the Miyagi University of Education, Sendai, Japan; UNCRD, Nagoya, Japan; and Oxfam India, Bhubaneswar on topics related to disaster management, contemporary regional development planning and sustainable development. Recently contributed as a resource person in the Expert Group Meeting “Enhancing Rural Transport Connectivity to Regional and International Networks in Asia and the Pacific”, organized at Bangkok by the UNESCAP, 9-10 July 2019. Served as a keynote speaker of the IGU-India conference, March 2020. He also delivered a series of Webinars in 20, 21 & 22.

Dr. Manjurani Routray (DOB: 04 March 1955): Earns BA Hons (Geography) in 1974 from Ravenshaw College, MA Geography from Utkal University (1976), Master of Regional Planning (1979) and Ph. D. in 1987 from IIT, Kharagpur. She was the Lecture in Geography for a period of one year (1980-81) at Utkal University, later moved to Regional College of Education, Bhubaneswar and served there as Lecturer in the Geography Department, and finally joined NIC Bhubaneswar in January 1990 as a Senior System Analyst and retired from there as Technical Director (Scientist E) in March 2015. Her specialization was Urban & Regional Planning and GIS applications for micro level development planning. She is a life member of the Eastern Geographical Society and Associate Member of the Institute of Town Planners India. At NIC, she was involved in Multi layered GIS Project for creating spatial databases for all administrative layers (village, GP, Block, Su-division and district) with natural resource layers of Odisha in the scale of 1: 50,000, Upscaling of multilayered GIS project for extracting features from high resolution satellite imagery in 1:10,000 and 1:4000 scale to build application layers on top up 50,000 scale layers. She along with her colleagues set up the GIS Help Desk for districts like Kendrapara, Khordha, Nuapada, Ganjam, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur, and Deogarh for supporting the district and micro level planning. She organized a number of training programs and provided training to professionals engaged in GIS applications at the state and district level officials, and other institutions. She has accumulated 35 years of research, teaching and professional experience.

Mr. Chitta Ranjan Satapathy (DOB: 10 August 1956) has earned BSc Hons in Geography and Distinction from Ravenshaw College in 1976, MSc Geography in 1978, and MPhil in 1980 from the Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He was UGC Research Fellow in the PG Department of Geography from 1981 to 1983. He served as Lecturer in Geography from March 1983 to March 1984 in the PG Department of Geography, Utkal University. His specialization was Town and Country Planning. Later he joined the Planning and Coordination Department, Government of Odisha as Assistant Director in March 1984. He continued there until 2016 and retired as Joint Director (Level I). He also served as Project Coordinator of the Poverty & Human Development Monitoring Agency from 2016-2018. During his service career, he has contributed as a planning and development expert in different projects at the district and state levels.

Dr Gouri Dutta: She earns a BA Hons Degree in Geography from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack; MA Geography Degree from Calcutta University (1964); and PhD Degree from Calcutta University (1979). She served as Lecture in Geography from 1970 to 1979. She was first faculty joined and opened Geography Department at Utkal University in 1970 and served as Head of the Department for a brief period until Prof. B. N. Sinha joined later in the same year. Her specialization was Cartography. She offered courses such as Climatology, Oceanography, and Cartography. Her contribution for the first group of 7 batches of Master Degree students are highly acknowledged. She has a good number of publications to her credit. In 1979, she moved to USA to join her husband. She has earned a MS degree in Mathematics/Computer Science from Indiana State University (USA) in 1986. She served as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mathematics and School of Business of Indian State University from 1984 to 1993. Later she served as a System Analyst/Programmer in the Indian State Department of Health from 1993 to 2012. She is settled in USA and currently engaged in social development activities.