Dr. A. Asha Monicka

Dr. A. Asha Monicka is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Agricultural Engineering at the School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Process Engineering from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University with an OGPA of 9.05 (2018), an M.Tech. in Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering from TNAU with an OGPA of 8.78 (2013), and a B.Tech. in Agricultural Engineering from TNAU with an OGPA of 8.51 (2011).

Her research interests include drying technology, thermal storage materials, development of value-added products, and microencapsulation of active ingredients. Her research work has contributed to agricultural processing and food engineering, with particular focus on the development of drying systems and technologies for agricultural products. She has published 11 research papers in Scopus-indexed national and international journals and has authored six Scopus-indexed book chapters published by Academic Press and Wiley.

Dr. Asha Monicka has been serving as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Agricultural Engineering at Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences since 2018 and previously served as an Assistant Professor at Thanthai Roever Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2013 to 2014. She has received the Maulana Azad National Fellowship from UGC (2014–2018) for pursuing her Ph.D. and secured first place in an oral presentation at a national conference conducted by TNAU in 2017 for her research on the storage stability and antioxidant activity of encapsulated carotenoids. She currently guides two Ph.D. scholars and three postgraduate scholars and has completed the supervision of one postgraduate scholar.

Her research activities include the project “Scale-up of Heat Pipe Assisted Hybrid Solar Drying System for Agricultural Products in Tribal Areas,” funded by IPTIF, India, with a grant of ₹9.99 lakhs for 2025–26. She has also received the “Achievers Awards 2025” from Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences for the research grant received from IIT Palakkad Technology iHub Foundation. Her research has resulted in the published Indian patent application titled “Hybrid Indirect Solar Dryer with Wicked Heat Pipes including Cuttlebone–Paraffin Wax Composite as a Thermal Storage Material” (Application No. 202641082451 A). She is a Life Member of the Agricultural Scientific Tamil Society, New Delhi, and the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers, New Delhi.