Prof. Soumendra Kumar Naik is currently working as an Professor. He completed his Ph.D. (Botany) from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha in 2002 and his doctoral research was on tissue culture of pomegranate. He carried out his post-doctoral work during 2007 as BOYSCAST Fellow on Genetic Engineering at University of Kentucky, USA. Prior to joining Ravenshaw University in 2010, he was working as a Lecturer in the Department of Biosciences and Biotechnology at Fakir Mohan University, Balasore. He has more than 19 years of experience in teaching and research. His research interests include conservation and sustainable utilization of plants resources using in vitro approaches of plant tissue culture and biotechnology and scientific validation of different ethnobotanical claims. Till date, under his guidance / co-guidance 6 Ph.D. & 9 M.Phil. students have successfully obtained their degrees. He has published more than 40 research papers in journals of national and international repute including book chapters. He is the recipient of UGC – Research Award (2016-2018), BOYSCAST Fellowship (2006-2007), Best Record of Publication (2017-2018 & 2018-2019; Ravenshaw University), and Sarojini G. Panigrahi Young Scientist Award (2001). Dr. Naik is a Fellow of Indian Botanical Society (FBS). He is the first person from Odisha to be elected (2019) as Member of ‘Plant Tissue Culture Association of India (PTCA-I)’. At present, he is serving as an ‘Associate Editor’ of Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants (Springer). Further, as a member of IUCN (Medicinal Plant Specialist Group), he is contributing actively towards conservation of medicinal plants of Odisha through his research work. In addition to teaching and research activities, he has discharged various administrative responsibilities including Head, Department (2012-2014) and Dean Students’ Welfare (DSW) at Ravenshaw University (2015-2016). At present, he is serving as the Head of the Department of Botany and Coordinator of Biotechnology Program of the Department in the University.