Mrs. Sunita Verma has been working as an Associate Professor and Head of Zoology Department at Shanti Devi Arya Mahila College, Gurdaspur, Punjab. She has done B.Ed, M.Sc. and M.Phil as part of her education and she has also qualified UGC NET and GATE exams. She has an amazing 30 years of teaching experience and she has published numerous research papers in various reputed journals and presented many papers in International and National Conferences and Seminars. She is also a Member of Faculty of Life Sciences, GNDU, Amritsar and Nodal Officer of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Club, Scholarships, ABC Registration AND Anti Ragging Cell along with being a NSS Program Officer and Registrar of the college. She is Coordinator for the celebration of National Science Day sponsored By PSCST and International Biodiversity Day which is sponsored By Punjab Biodiversity Board Chandigarh both of which comes under the Govt. of India. In addition to this, she has acted as a Coordinator for NSS program and Red Ribbon Club from 2003-2015 and DBT Star College Scheme (Govt. of India) from 2015-2018. She has attended many refresher and general orientation courses, NSS Training and orientation courses along with NSS adventure Camps and Short term programs (GIAN) etc.

Shanti Devi Arya Mahila College

Which latest program is your institute offering to students at present to help them outperform and stand apart from the crowd?

Our college is offering a 3 year B.Sc. Degree courses in the discipline of Biotechnology and various value based courses are also provided to B.Sc. Medical and B.Sc. Non Medical students. And we are the only institute from Pathankot to Amritsar having a B.Sc. Biotechnology in their course curriculum. From 2015-18, the 5 Science Departments (Biotechnology, Zoology, Botany, Chemistry and Physics) of our college were also supported by DBT Star College Scheme, Government of India - New Delhi, under which we got 47 Lakhs grant from DBT. Along with this, we have highly enriched labs with costly equipment to ensure students and teachers don’t face any issue in performing experiments and practicals. And we regularly celebrate “National Science Day” supported by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology and National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCTSC), Department of Science & Technology - Govt. of India and “International Biodiversity Day” supported by National Biodiversity Authority of Punjab Biodiversity Board which comes under Govt. of India to spread a message about the importance of Science and Technology and contribution of Scientists in making our daily life better.

Which factors make the programs of your college a best fit and worth pursuing for students?

Our pursuit of excellence with which we deliver finest quality education to students, academic and intellectual freedom we have given to them and our faculty members and learning exposure and interaction opportunities we have provided them to build strong networks with other college’s students are the best features of courses we are offering to our ambitious youths. In addition to this, the diversity of students that we have in college and creative and innovative mindset of teachers with which they educate our students also makes the courses a best fit and worth pursuing for students. 

What will you say are the best practices of the courses that your institute is offering to students?

As we all should know that the most prominent approaches used in Biotechnology are Plant Tissue Culture, Transgenic or Genetically Modified Organisms and Recombinant DNA Technology also called Genetic Engineering and it enables Scientists to tailor an organism's DNA at will. Hence we have made it mandatory for students who all are pursuing B. Sc course from our college to undergo a training for 15 to 30 days during which they gain knowledge and work experience about various kinds of fermentation processes, processing of milk, curd and cheese, packaging of milk, testing of fat levels in single packet of milk, kheer, Lassie, Ghee and butter processing etc.

What are some valuable insights of the programs that students are currently pursuing from your institute?

Our college provides rigorous hands-on training to the students and we also ensure that students pursuing B. Sc. Degrees get ultra modern infrastructure and other facilities to conduct various experiments related to Beer Lambert Law, Paper Chromatography, Preparation of Cotton Plugs, Preparation of Culture Media, Streaking, Preparation of Agarose Gel, Electrophoresis, Centrifugation, Autoclaving, Colorimetric Estimations, Handling of Pipette, Setting of Microscope and Visualization of Slides to improve their knowledge and practical skills etc. 

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How do the programs of your college ensure the future preparedness of students?

As we all know that Biotechnology can improve our life in various ways including bio production of sustainable chemicals, energy and other materials. Apart from this, Genetically Modified Crops are there to increase sustainable food production, sea water bio processes to produce fuel and chemicals, zero waste bioprocessing, Carbon Dioxide as a raw material, Regenerative Medicines to create new organs, rapid and precise development and manufacturing of medicine and vaccines, accurate, fast, cheap and personalized diagnostics, prognostics, Biotech improvements to soil and water and advanced healthcare facilities which we can avail using genome sequencing. So, conclusion here is all these factors and use cases create amazing learning opportunities for youths and hence ensure their future readiness as throughout the course delivery they will be exposed to various kinds of real life scenarios.

How did you train yourself and your faculty members to deliver new programs to students?

Our college trains and upskill the faculty members by organizing Faculty Development Programs, seminars, workshops and refresher sessions along with General Orientation Courses on a regular basis.

How do you bridge the gaps between students' skills and industry demands?

For the purpose of enhancing students' knowledge and bridging the gaps between their skills and industry expectations, our college regularly organizes industry visits at Verka, Mohali, H.P. and Chandigarh and placement oriented learning programs followed by career guidance sessions are also conducted by us from time to time. Last but not the least, a webinar was organized by us in collaboration with Clini India in order to give an idea to students about the developments and trends being followed and chased in the outside world..

What challenges have you faced while inculcating new programs in your college’s curriculum?

The first hurdle in front of us is that lab equipment is very costly and hence puts a financial burden on us, because if the same amount is available at the right time, then we can use it in research projects and skills enhancement of students. In addition to this, many of our students come from rural backgrounds, so the communication gap is also there which becomes a hindrance while our teachers deliver lectures.

On what types of projects your students are currently working on under their respective courses?

At present, our students are working on diverse range of projects and developing the prototypes to prepare Vermicomposting for a clean and green environment, to isolate the microorganisms by spread plate method and streaking method by collecting college soil sample, to determine the quality of milk samples from college mess and canteen, to determine the quality of water samples from college and lastly to determine minimum inhibitory concentration of drug for wood degrading microorganisms.

What benefits and career options would be available to students after pursuing courses from your college?

As far as growth opportunities are concerned, so students will be having amazing work scope not only in present time, but also in future and after successfully finishing the courses from our college, they can do Science and Research jobs in various industries related to the areas like Drug development & Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture improvement, Environmental Control & Conservation, Animal Husbandry, Bio-processing industries, Cosmetics domain, Energy Management, Food Biotechnology, Soil Biology, Public funded laboratories or Hospitals. Apart from this, they can teach at Schools, Colleges and Universities. Last but not the least, Administrative Jobs in Government as well as private sectors are also available for competent and skillful individuals.