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We develop and apply modeling tools to understand air quality in India and its impacts on human and ecosystem health.
Our research integrates atmospheric science, agricultural systems, exposure assessment, and sustainability analysis using a systems-scale approach to understand how resource management impacts the environment.
Our key focus areas of study include (i) nitrogen management, (ii) air quality model development and application, and (iii) indoor air quality
Nitrogen management
Agriculture and food systems pose a wicked problem, as current production methods have been linked to environmental damage. We combine national survey data, agricultural repositories, emissions models, air quality models, and LCA approaches to understand tradeoffs between food, dietary choices, and the environment.
Ambient air quality modelling
We develop next-generation reduced-complexity models and implement chemical transport models to improve predictive understanding of air pollution, human exposure, and ecosystem impacts. Our work supports integrated assessment of air quality and public health across India.
Indoor air quality
We combine field measurements with computational fluid dynamics models to assess ventilation and infectivity metrics in high-occupancy-density microenvironments like classrooms towards the development of digital twins.
Publications
Publications
List of publications are available here. Recent publications:
Agrawal, S., Yadav, S.+, Singh, A., Baldelli, A., Prajapati, U., Balasubramanian, S., Shriwastav, A., Chandel, M.K., Garg, A., Pratap-Singh, A., Sengupta, S., and Nawaz, T. (2026). ’Environmental Pollution in Food Production and Pathways for Mitigation through Sustainable and Circular Approaches'. Accepted in the Journal of Environmental Engineering.
Babbar, D. and Balasubramanian, S., 2026. Toward an Integrated Nitrogen Budget for India: Multi-Sectoral Flows, Circularity, and Environmental Losses. Environmental Science & Technology, 60(31), pp.21622-21633. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c17394
Babbar, D. and Balasubramanian, S. (2026). 'National-Scale Nitrogen Budgets Reveal Large Inefficiencies in Indian Agriculture'. Communications Earth and Environment. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03656-z
Tiwari, D., Mondal, A., Balasubramanian, S., Anand, A., Maji, S., Venkataraman, C. (2026). 'High risk from coincidence of extremes in particulate matter and heat in India'. Environmental Research Letters, 21(11), p. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae2346
Arigela, R., Kannan, S., Jejurkar, P., Sethi, V., Sinha, K. and Balasubramanian, S. (2026). 'Assessment of Classroom Ventilation Strategies and Infection Risk using Spatiotemporal Modelling of CO2 Concentrations'. Building and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114393
Media and Online Coverage
Media and Online Coverage
Collaborations
Collaborations
PeARL Group, IIT Bombay
University of Washington at Seattle
University of Washington at Seattle
University of California, Berkeley
Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay
Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay
Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)
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