The Subsurface Water Investigation and Modelling (SWIM) Lab belongs to the Water Resources Engineering Section in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar)
Research Interests & Focus
General Interests: Hydrogeology; Flow and transport in porous media; Water Resources; Geothermal Energy; Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems; Renewable Energy systems.
Recent focus: Machine learning applications to groundwater problems; Aquifer storage and recovery; Interaction of surface water and groundwater; Modelling transport and fate of heavy metals in subsurface porous media; Seawater intrusion due to global sea-level rise; Mountain front recharge of groundwater.
Ph.D. students
Current Students
Mr. Thallam Prashanth (Reg. no: 2021cez0007) (Dec 2020-present)
Research Project: Influence of groundwater drought on perennial nature and fluvial geomorphological processes in south Indian basins.
Mr. Abhishek Sonkar (Reg. no: 2022cez0004) (Aug 2022-present)
Research Project: Harnessing geothermal energy from abandoned oil wells of the Gandhar geothermal field, India.
Mr. Md. Mansur Haruna (Reg. no: 2024cez0017) (Jan 2025 - present)
Research Project: Application of data-driven modelling to simulate and forecast surface soil moisture.
Past Students
1. Dr. Rohtash Goswami (Reg. no: 2017mez0028) (jointly with Dr. Ranjan Das)
Timeline: Joined: 05-01-2018; Thesis submitted: 25-09-2023; Thesis defended 18-12-2023).
Thesis title: Optimization of gasification process and waste heat recovery for power and distilled water production. (Thesis
defended on 18-12-2023)
Presently: Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Tamil
Nadu. India.
2. Dr. Shreya Ganguly (Reg. no: 2019cez0011)
Timeline: Joined: 25-07-2019; Thesis submitted: 10-02-2025; Thesis defended: 18-06-2025.
Thesis title: Efficient Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Water: Insights into Novel Adsorbents, Health Risks and Vulnerability Studies. (Thesis defended on 18-12-2023)
Presently: Looking for postdoctoral opportunities.
3. Dr. Dolon Banerjee (Reg. no: 2020cez0004)
Timeline: Joined: 07-09-2020; Thesis submitted: 25-06-2025; Thesis defended: 09-09-2025
Thesis title: Machine Learning Applications to Hydrological Variables: Modelling, Estimation and Forecasting under Changing Climate.
Presently: Research Associate, Department of Hydrology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India.
M.Tech. students
Current students
Mr. Manish Jaiswal (Reg. no: 2024cem1005)
Project/dissertation title: Application of electrical resistivity tomography in deducing the infiltration capacities of soil.
Past Students
Mr. Akash Bajpai (Reg. no: 2019cem1003) (jointly with Dr. I Sonkar)
Year of passing: 2021
Project/dissertation title: 2D Unsteady flow analysis of flood inundation downstream of Ropar Headworks.
Presently: Pursuing Ph.D. at the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, IIT Roorkee.
Mr. Dharmendra Nath Shukla (Reg. no: 2020cem1004)
Year of passing: 2022
Project/dissertation title: Seawater intrusion and prevention in coastal aquifers.
Mr. Sakshi Agarwal (Reg. no: 2020cem1011)
Year of passing: 2022
Project/dissertation title: Performance evaluation of aquifer storage and recovery systems in freshwater aquifers using MODFLOW.
Mr. Gaurav Singh (jointly with Dr. I Sonkar) (Reg. no: 2021cem1011)
Year of passing: 2023
Project/dissertation title: Forecasting groundwater availability in the Bist-Doab region of Punjab, India.
Mr. Vikas Singh (jointly with Dr. R Sarmah) (Reg. no: 2021cem1012)
Year of passing: 2023
Project/dissertation title: Transient solution to saltwater intrusion problem in coastal aquifers due to sea-level rise.
Presently: Pursuing Ph.D. at the Centre for Climate Studies, IIT Bombay.
Ms. Anisha Das (Reg. no: 2022cem1005)
Year of passing: 2024
Project/dissertation title: Application of machine learning in predicting nitrate concentration level in groundwater.
Presently: Pursuing Ph.D. at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Ropar.
Mr. Chetan Kumar Pandit (Reg. no: 2022cem1008)
Year of passing: 2024
Project/dissertation title: Prediction of Groundwater Levels and Analyzing Extreme Drought Frequency in Krishna Basin using ARIMA model.
Mr. Amit Umesh Kantode (Reg. no: 2023cem1002)
Year of passing: 2025
Project/dissertation title: Development of a precise regional-scale groundwater model by coupling MODFLOW & machine learning algorithms: a case study in Bist-doab region, Punjab, India.
Presently: Pursuing Ph.D. at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay.