Santosh Bhandari

Resourceful phytopathologist passionate about advancing knowledge in host-pathogen interactions, pathogen biology through high-quality research. Self-motivated professional with excellent communication, planning and problem solving abilities.

• Santosh B., Saurav N., Rubisha B., Bandana T., Anit P, (2022) “Ecofriendly management of Cercospora leaf spot, Cercospora coffeicola (berk & m.a. curtis) disease of coffee in gulmi” pp. 111-123: http://rjoas.com/issue-2022- 07/article_13.pdf
• Mitchell Marabella, Julia Howard, Santosh Bhandari, Sally Do, Maya Montoya-Pimolwatana, Yichen Dou, Shefali Dobhal, Dario Arizala, Stefania Montesinos, Sharon A.Andreason, Francisco Ochoa-Corona, Jon-Paul Bingham, Jenee Odani, Daniel Jenkins, Li Maria Ma, Jacqueline Fletcher, James P. Stack and Mohammad Arif "Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) assay for reliable detection of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vasculorum. ( https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378084419, pre-print)
• R. B. Khadka, R. Bhandari, A. Rimal, A. Gaire, S. Adhikari, S. Bhandari, S. Manandhar, S. Baidya (2023) “First report of target spot on tomato caused by Corynespora cassiicola in Nepal”, New Disease Report, https://doi.org/10.1002/ndr2.12187
• Poudel, A., Sapkota, S., Bhatt, R. P., Bhandari, S., & Nepal, S. (2022). “Influence of socio- economic attributes of farmers on the adoption of orchard management practices of mandarin in Myagdi district”, Nepal Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science, 7(2), 218-225, https://dx.doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2022.0702010
• * “Monitoring and farmers perception of Fall Army Worm on maize under farmers field conditions in dhading besi, dhading, Nepal” (2019)
• * “Influence of foliar application of zinc, boron and iron on plant growth and fruit set of mandarin orange (citrus reticulata blanco) in gulmi, Nepal” (2020)
• “Socio-economic analysis of traditional and modern beekeeping in gulmi, Nepal” (2021)

*The last three papers are under writing and publication process.

• Graduate Research Assistantship (Jan 2023- Present)

This scholarship award helping me in studying M.S. in Tropical Plant Pathology with full-tuition waiver at University of Hawaii at Manoa and getting an opportunity to work as a research assistant in Arif Laboratory and conducting different research in the field of plant, food and environmental microbiology and molecular biology.




• Student Affiliate Program (Aug 2023-Present)

This scholarship was awarded by East-west Center (EWC) for the period of one year, which helping me for the on-campus housing with the affordable prices. This award giving me an opportunity to engage in different volunteering activities such as international potluck, youth summit, festivals, cooking, community exchange programs, community building institutes and many more. This program is very useful for me to get connect to the graduate students from more than 40 countries and from more than 15 different departments sharing the common space (housing: Hale Manoa).




• Undergraduate Research Funding Feb 2021- July 2021 This grant was provided by Agriculture and Forestry University under LEE-PMAMP (Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Program) to conduct research in the field of agriculture and to help the

community by exchanging the knowledge and experiences student had during their undergraduate

studies. This grant helped me in conducting research in the ecofriendly management Cercospora disease (Cercoposra coffieicola) of Coffee which was an emerging disease in the Gulmi district of Nepal in the year 2019-2020.




Merit Scholarship, AFU (March 2016-Dec 2021)

This scholarship was supported by Government of Nepal and Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU)’s University Development Fund (UDF) to study the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Bsc. Ag) in Rampur, Chitwan Nepal based upon the merit list published by the AFU.




Five Annual Scholarships (Educational Support for Merit Student), Governments of Nepal, Bhabishya Nirman Higher Secondary School, Rupandehi, Nepal (2008-2012)- This scholarship was provided by government of Nepal in support of the education for the students securing top 3 positions in their classes evaluated based upon GPA and ECA

• ORC 103-Transportation of Biological Materials Initial and Refresher , BIORAFT, John A. Burns School of Medicine (20 April, 2023-19 April, 2024)
• ORC 101- Initial General Biosafety (Online), BIORAFT, John A. Burns School of Medicine (20 April, 2023- 19 April, 2024)
• Hazardous Waste Generator Training (Online) ( 21 April 2023- 20 April 2024)

• Crop Pest Diagnosis (English) v2.0 (2020)

      An online course offered by CABI Academy for four weeks.

• Hands On Experience with Vermicompost (2018)

      Training on Vermicompost preparation organized by ASLF lasted for 3 months.

• Training on Questionnaire Design and Data Analysis (2020)

       Organized by Group of Agriculture and Veterinary Students (GAVS) for providing hands-on experience in  STATA, IBM SPSS and GenStat,    

• Workshop on Geographic Information System (GIS) (2019)

       IAAS, Rampur

• Agri-Exhibition and Farmer’s Fair – 2076 (2019)

      Organized by Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal

• Plant Clinic and Soil Testing Campaign (2019)

      Organized by ASLF in collaboration with AFU, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal

• Training on Proposal Writing and Literature Review

      Organized by NYCA from 8th-10th July.

• Data Analysis Training (2020)

      Organized by FoA AFU, Profiecient in using R studio, Excel,Powerpoint   Word, SPSS, Arc GIS, Canva.

• Workshop on Bee keeping & Farm visit (2019)

      Three days informative workshop on Bee Keeping organized by YIN.

• Writing a Research Paper (2020)

       LinkedIn Learning

• Excel Essential Training (2020)

       Linkedin Learing

• How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (Project- Centered Course) (2021)

      Institute Polytechnique De Paris, Coursera

• Sustainable Agricultural Land Management (2020)

     University of Florida, Coursera

• Introduction to Genomic Technologies (2021)

     Johns Hopkins University, Coursera

• Public Speaking Seminar & Workshop (2021)

      UNCON 3 days workshop

• UN-Volunteer Nepal March 2020- Present

Covid-19 Awareness Campaign 2020, Youth Led Action (virtual)

• Vice-President Feb 2019- March 2020

Agriculture Student Liaison Forum (ASLF), Rampur, Chitwan

• Vice- Secretary Feb 2018-March 2019

Agriculture Student Liaison Forum (ASLF), Rampur, Chitwan

• General Member and Consultant March 2018- Feb 2019

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Rampur Youth Network (RYN)

• President July 2010-June2011

Nepal Junior Red Cross Society, BNHSS, Devdaha, Rupandehi

• World Friendship Organization June 2009-Aug 2010

Participated in different campaigns for social and environmental cause in Nepal.

Dr. Mohammad Arif                                                                        

Associate Professor

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences

Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Email: arif@hawaii.edu

Cell: +1 (405) 564-4177

Dr. Shefali Dobhal

Junior Researcher

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences

Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Email:shefali@hawaii.edu

Cell: +1 (405) 269-2811

Dr. Anne Alvarez

Plant Pathologist, Emeritus

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences

Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Email: alvarez@hawaii.edu

Cell: +1 (808) 679-7188

Dr. Ram Khadka

Senior Scientist (S4)

Nepal Agricultural Research Council

National Plant Pathology Research Center

Lalitpur, Nepal

Email: ramkhadka.narc@gmail.com

Cell: + 977- 9851324166