Dr. Sumit Sudhir Pathak

Dr. Sumit Sudhir Pathak is an Assistant Professor (Grade I) in the Division of Food Processing Technology at Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, with a total of 9 years of teaching, research, and industry experience, including nearly five years at Karunya. He holds a Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, an M.Tech. in Food and Fermentation Technology, and a B.Tech. in Food Technology. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for an ANRF (SERB, DST) Early Career Research Grant on the design and development of a cryogenic processing line for leafy herbs, and is a Certified Lead Auditor for FSSC 22000:2018 from SGS, UK.

Prior to joining Karunya in September 2021, he served as a Junior and later Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Food Process Engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, worked as a Research and Development Officer with Amlamrut, Ganaraya Food Products Pvt. Ltd., Wardha, and began his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the University Institute of Chemical Technology, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon. At Karunya, he currently serves as Academic Coordinator, Divisional Time Table Coordinator, and Lab In-charge of the IoT and ANRF/SERB-DST laboratories, alongside his teaching and research responsibilities.

His research interests span food processing and preservation, cryogenic processing of herbs, fermentation and food microbiology, post-harvest handling and non-timber forest produce, new product development, and the phytochemistry of edible flowers. He has completed several faculty development programmes, including those on Outcome-Based Education, Indian Knowledge Systems, and postharvest management of horticultural commodities, and has undertaken funded projects on cryogenic decortication systems, myrobalan processing, and functional wheat gluten products.

Dr. Pathak has published extensively in peer-reviewed national and international journals on topics including fruit and herb drying kinetics, bioactive compound extraction, food process engineering, and cryogenic preservation, and has contributed several book chapters in this area. He recently edited the book "Cryogenic Processing: Advances in the Food Industry" (John Wiley & Sons), and holds granted patents for a low-temperature decortication-cum-grinding machine for myrobalan fruits and a method for preparing spaghetti from chemically modified gluten, reflecting his continued contributions to food process engineering and cryogenic food technology.