Impa Somayanda, Ph.D.

Background

Impa Somayanda joined the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech as a Research Assistant Professor in April 2022. She received her Masters and Doctorate degree from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India. Prior to joining Texas Tech, she served as a research associate and research manager at Kansas State University, USA and a postdoctoral fellow and project scientist at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines.

She is a crop physiologist, with experience in abiotic stress physiology, and irrigation and nutrient management in different crops including wheat, sorghum, cotton, rice and corn. She has authored 51 peer-reviewed journal articles with 3823 citations and an H index of 29 as of Sept 3rd, 2025.

Research Interests

Dr. Somayanda’s research program at Texas Tech focus will be to:

• Explore the spectrum of water quantity and quality related challenges across the Southern High Plains and develop economically viable cropping systems for arid regions
• Assess the impact of poor-quality and saline irrigation water on crop productivity and soil health
• Integrate advances in precision irrigation and sensor-based water management technologies to increase water savings at farm scale
• Enhancing water-deficit and heat stress resilience in crops and foragesAscertain the effectiveness of utilizing “Treated Produced Water” as a new and alternative source of water for supporting regional agricultural industry