Biography/WhoISWho

A well-reputed Attorney and Counselor-at-Law, Ramesh K. Shrestha was born in Panchthar District, Nepal, and raised in Dharan until the completion of S.L.C. The owner and Principal Attorney of Shrestha Law Firm, PLLC, in downtown Manhattan, New York City, NY, had a fantastic childhood, as his family considers education to be the prime mantra to succeed in life. He earned his S.L.C. in the late 70s from the British Army School, Dharan, a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) from Nepal Law Campus in the 80s, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Tribhuvan University. He is a member of the bar of Nepal. He completed a summer program in American Legal System at International Law Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, in 1993. Earned Master’s in Law (LL.M.) from Saint Louis University, School of Law (SLU) in St. Louis, in 1994.
Upon graduation from Law School, he worked for the prestigious corporate law firm, Suelthaus & Kaplan, in St. Louis, as an intern in 1994/95. Prior to establishing his own law firm, Shrestha Law Firm, PLLC, in 2000, he worked at Chhetry & Associates, PC, as an attorney-at-law. He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 1996 and has been a member of the bar with good standing. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), American Bar Association (ABA), and the State Bar of New York. He has been admitted to practice before The Federal Courts of Southern and Eastern District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Mr. Shrestha has been practicing Federal Immigration and Nationality Law of the United States extensively as an Attorney-at-Law for more than 22 years. He represents a variety of U.S. and International corporations, small businesses, technology firms, and individual clients. Attorney Shrestha has successfully represented corporate and individual clients in diverse areas such as employment and business/investor, permanent labor certification, priority workers, family petitions, citizenship, removal/deportation defense, asylum, waivers, and federal court litigation. Representing individuals in business and family immigration, consular processing, removal defense, and asylum matters has been a professional passion.
He has been strikingly successful in US Federal Courts in overturning unfavorable decisions of the Department of Homeland Security and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). He has argued before the US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. Shrestha has been selected as one of the “10 Best Immigration Attorneys” for 2017 in the State of New York by the American Institute of Legal Counsel. Mr. Shrestha has also been consecutively enlisted, among the top 100 Immigration Attorneys in the State of New York from; 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, by The American Society of Legal Advocates, a national legal advocacy organization.
Over the years, as a community lawyer, Mr. Shrestha has remained a legal advisor for many community not-for-profit organizations, including the Federation of Indigenous Peoples of America (FIPNA), and the United Sherpa Association (Sherpa Kyidug) in New York City. Mr. Shrestha worked as Board Member for NRN NCC for 2011/2012. Mr. Shrestha also led a by-laws amendment committee for the NRN NCC. He created an idea of making it a member-based organization, where the NRN members could directly cast a vote for the Executive Committee instead of the members of the House of Delegates.
Mr. Shrestha has significantly contributed to the Nepali Community living in the USA. He frequently published articles in many newspapers, beyond which his other contributions include: exclusively writing a weekly legal column, Wakil Sanga Kanun Ka Kura (Legal Matters With Attorney), in Vishwa Sandesh, Nepali Newspaper published in New York City, and live online lectures and presentations on US Immigration and Nationality Law, via Khasokhas News Media, and other online media in New York City.

Born and raised in a rural area of Balkot (Current Chhatradev Village Palika), Arghakhanachi district of Nepal, Dr. Keshav Bhattarai has contributed hugely to bridging Nepali and US education systems.
Bhattarai family comprised four siblings (three brothers and one sister). The family lived on subsistence farming. He earned an Intermediate of Science (I. Sc.), Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.), and Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Tribhuvan University. He also earned an Associate of Indian Forest College (AIFC) post-graduate Diploma from Indian Forest College, Dehradun, India, and a Masters of Science (M.Sc.) in Natural Resource Management from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.
He completed his Ph. D. at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US, in 2000 in Geography. He later joined Eastern Kentucky University as a faculty member, and in 2002, he moved to the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri.
His academic career began as an Associate Instructor at the Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, in 1996. He has taught various courses at Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Central Missouri. Dr. Bhattarai has been a member of the Nepal Foresters’ Association since 1983 and the Association of American Geographers since 2002.
Dr. Bhattarai has been working as a Professor/ Geography at the School of Geoscience, Physics, and Safety Sciences at the University of Central Missouri since 2011. Dr. Bhattarai has also worked as a Short-term Consultant to the World Bank to assess Hydropower potential in Nepal. He has also worked as an Interim Chair Department of Geography at the University of Central Missouri from 2009 to 2011.
Dr. Bhattarai bridges the University of Central Missouri (UCM) and various universities in Nepal.  Nepali universities and UCM have started 2+2 and 3+1 programs with UCM. The 2+2 refers to completing two years of undergraduate studies in Nepal and the remaining two years in the US to complete undergraduate studies and vice-versa. The 3+1 program refers to completing three years of education in Nepal and transferring to the US and vice-versa to complete an undergraduate degree.
The Bhattarai family also is working to establish the Tilak-Jalpa Foundation (in memory of their Late Parents) to provide scholarships to low-income but high-achieving undergraduate students in Nepal.
Before starting his higher studies in the USA, Dr. Bhattarai worked in various capacities under the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation in Nepal from 1983 to 1995. Dr. Bhattarai left the Government’s job due to repeated political illogical impositions on him on the settlements of political cadres in forest areas without any norms and land use planning.
Dr. Bhattarai’s urbanization research reveals that Nepal’s urbanization is moving too quickly without urban dwellers’ needed planning and infrastructure. The arbitrary political ad-hoc decision to annex many rural areas into urban definition from 15 percent in 2014 to 65 percent in 2017 has increased vulnerabilities among urban dwellers since Nepal is located in between frequently moving Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. Nepali urbanization has become a rural polis (political decision to annex rural areas into municipalities). Such ad-hoc urbanization has increased land costs and taxes on low-income people without giving any needed facilities to them. Dr. Bhattarai served as a Fulbright Specialist at the Central Department of Geography (CDG) at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu in the summer of 2018 to facilitate CDG to embark on active participation in urban planning through research.
Dr. Bhattarai is the recipient of the Gorkhadakhsin Bahu, the award for civil servants decorated by King Birendra for outstanding performance in forestry service and administration in 1993. He also received Mahendra Vidyabhusan for his academic excellence in 2004. Moreover, he is also the recipient of the All-Round Forest Award by Indian Forest College, Dehradun, India in 1983, the International Scholar Award by the University of Central Missouri in 2003, and the Chairperson’s award for Outstanding Academic Performance by the Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington in 1999. He has also bagged half a dozen faculty research awards for his academic excellence from 2002 to 2017.
He has published several academic papers, authored two books, co-authored one book, and contributed many book chapters journal articles, and presented his research at several professional meetings.

Dr. Tulasi R. Joshi was born and raised in Bajhang, the most remote and poorest district of Nepal, where he and his classmates had to copy chapters of high school textbooks and read under the pine’s kindling light at night. He had to travel 15 days to Kathmandu to take the high school board exam (11 days on foot, 1 day by bus, and 3 days by train in India). Despite these hardships, he excelled in education. Eventually, his dedication and commitment to education earned him Masters’s and Ph.D. degrees from prestigious American universities. He has received recognitions from three governors of West Virginia, the prestigious Cyrus R Vance award of West Virginia Department of Education, USA, several recognitions and honors from the Association of Nepalis in America (ANA), an outstanding service award from Fairmont State University, and the long-standing service recognition honor, by the Association of American Geographers (the largest international professional organization of geographers), for long dedicated service in the profession; he is perhaps the only Nepali in America, to have received such recognition from a professional organization. His motto with exemplary works is: “Make as much money as you can, save as much money as you can, and give charities as much money as you can.” Notably, he was instrumental in completing the undergraduate education of about 40 Nepali students at his University, Fairmont State University, WV, USA. He equally assisted 15 impoverished students from the poor, remote district of Bajhang in acquiring their professional education; the benefit value of these students is estimated to be over one million US dollars. The Fairmont, Virginia resident, Professor Joshi, is the Chair of the Scholarship Committee (1988-Present). Thus far, his accomplishments are as follows:
1) He established the ANA-Bajhang scholarship program in 1989, under the ANA scholarship program, to assist deserving impoverished students of the Bajhang district in acquiring their college education in Nepal. Ten students have received financial aids, and two students are currently getting scholarships.
2) He provided ANA assistance to the Nepal Scholarship Program at Fairmont State University.
3) He arranged the 9th International Convention of ANA in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1991.
4) He is the coordinator of the Nepal Scholarship Program at Fairmont State University (FSU), West Virginia, 1989-Present, where he has been a professor for over four decades.
5) He coordinated the support of ANA, the Association of Nepalese in Midwest America (ANMA), and FSU to establish the Nepal Scholarship Program at FSU in 1989 to assist Nepali students in studying at FSU. He also contributed and raised funds for the scholarship program. The program and international scholarships of FSU have benefited about 40 Nepali students with approximately $1,000,000 for their undergraduate studies at FSU. The scholarship program has recently been named ANA-Tulasi and Marilyn Joshi scholarship at FSU.
In recognition of his outstanding community service, he was awarded the US President’s Volunteer Award Gold- 2018, Cyrus R. Vance Award for International Education in West Virginia, from the State of West Virginia, in November 2003. The award consisted of a $5,000 gift and a bent-neck decanter hand-made by Blenko Glass, West Virginia, Museum of Modern Arts Good Design Award in 1950. The money was donated to the Nepal Scholarship Program at FSU. He also receives a Gold medal from the king, Mahendra, of Nepal for academic excellence (1963).

Dr. Sukh Gurung is a professional engineer and devoted academic born in Armala, Kaski, located south of the Himalayan mountains and north of the city of Pokhara. Near the snowcapped Machapuchare Himalayan peak, among the green hills surrounding Pokhara, with their scenic lakes, rivers, and green trails, Dr. Gurung first aspired to build an extensive and inspiring career as an engineer constructing infrastructures bridging nature and human civilization. His pursuits have taken him not only throughout his home country of Nepal but also throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and the United States.
He was awarded complete schooling for pursuing undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs with his excellent schooling record. His first stop was India, where he earned a BE in civil engineering from Jai Narayan Vyas University. He continued his studies in Thailand, where he earned an ME in geotechnical engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, a higher education institution renowned for programs focusing on engineering, advanced technologies, and sustainable development. As any disciplined adventurer and scholar, Dr. Gurung decided to devote himself fully to his passions. After completing his master’s programs, he flew to Japan and completed a Ph.D. program, earning his doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Hiroshima University in 1996.
Dr. Gurung built an impressive work history with these extensive academic achievements. He has held various positions as a civil engineer for institutions such as the Department of Roads, the Department of Irrigation, and CARE International in Nepal. In Japan, he held a researcher position with Hiroshima University, collaborating in a research program in environmental engineering with Cambridge University, UK, and Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His research articles have expanded the discipline in significant ways. Dr. Gurung has also collaborated on projects focusing on the subsurface investigation and drilling a deep tube well to provide clean drinking water to local communities in Uganda. He is a registered engineer in Nepal and a professional engineer in New York State. He is affiliated with renowned organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Nepalese Engineers.
He is involved in developing numerous specialty geotechnical and civil engineering projects in the United States. His work is also instrumental in designing deep foundations for constructing high-rise buildings in New York, thirty-two stories in Brooklyn, and fifty-nine stories in Manhattan, especially adjacent to busy subway tunnels where it is imperative to avoid compromising the structural integrity of the high-rise buildings and the tunnel itself. He has also performed routine assessments of different dams in New Jersey for structural performance and safety. He teaches a geotechnical course through onsite classes in New York and New Jersey and online classes to civil engineers registered with the School of PE, Dublin, Ohio, for their professional engineers licensing exam.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Sukh Gurung has reached incredible heights in his infrastructure development career that addresses the continued growth of human civilization. He has achieved the hard-earned dream of a bright-eyed, hungry scholar who has traveled, mind and body, a long way from Pokhara to different parts of the world.
With over twenty-three years of experience and multiple degrees, he remains a pillar in his field, inspiring ingenuity and innovation. His journey has showcased that hard work, focus, and an adventuresome spirit can create an enriching career that spans countries, continents, and seas. Eventually, Dr. Gurung’s odyssey brought him to settle down with his family in the United States in May of 2002, where he still lives today.

New Mexico is a place full of culture. For Dr. Keshab Paudel, an extraordinary social hero and medical doctor from New Mexico, the culture of serving fellow humans has been the most important culture of his life. The veteran NRNA activist Dr. Paudel has served as the General Secretary of NRNA ICC ( International Coordinational Council), the umbrella organization of Nepali-origin people in different parts of the world. Previously he served as the President of NRNA NCC USA from 2015-2019 ( two terms) and Chief-Patron from 2019-2021.
After completing his undergraduate studies in general medicine/surgery at Tribhuvan University, Nepal, in 1994, Paudel was a paramedical worker Department of Health Service of Nepal until 1996. Paudel received his MBBS from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, in 2002 and his MBA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2013. In 2011, he was presented with a Pennsylvania State Medical License after obtaining a license from the American Board of Internal Medicine, valid from 2010 to 2020.
He was a research associate for the Japan Nepal Malaria Research Project (2003–2004). He researched “Racial Differences in Colonoscopy Findings, Colonic Polyps, and Cancer Locations among Individuals Age Less than 50 Years” (2009–2010) and “Yield of CT Abdomen in Evaluation of Sepsis of Unknown Origin” (2008–2010) at the Montefiore Medical Center North Division, NY. He evaluated patients with anemia and diabetes at the exact center (2007–2010) and focused on the outcomes of patients with solid organ transplants at the Integris Baptist Medical Center, OK, in 2006.
Moreover, Paudel has made multiple presentations about his work throughout the world. In 2011, he presented “A Study on Stress-Related Weight-Change in Medical Residency: Does the Care for Others Eventually Take Priority Over the Care of One’s Self?” at the Binghamton Biomedical Research Conference. Additionally, he gave an abstract presentation on “Fasting versus Random Blood Sugar Measurements: Which Is the Better Correlate with HbA1c Measurements in Older Adults with Diabetes Mellitus?” at the Young Investigators symposium in 2009 and on “Is There a Relationship between the Presence of Anemia and Diabetes to Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Older Subjects?” at the annual fellow and resident research competition in 2008.
His report on “An Inventory and Evaluation of the Health System of Nepal,” published in July of 2003, was submitted to the Ministry of Health, Nepal, and was funded by World Bank. His extraordinary five-year plan for AMDA Hospital, Damak, was introduced to the Community Medicine Department, Institute of Medicine, Nepal, in September of 2000.
Paudel was the system medical director (2016–2017) and associate system medical director at the Lovelace Health System (2014–2016). He served as a medical director of the hospitalist program at the Heart Hospital of New Mexico from 2014 to 2015 and at the Lovelace Westside Hospital from November 2013 to March 2015. He served as the Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at Lovelace Westside from November 2013 to August 2016. He was also an attending physician at Dr. Garabed A. Fattal Community Free Clinic of Upstate Medical University at Binghamton, NY, from July 2010 to December 2013 and a hospitalist at United Health Services Hospitals from July 2010 to December 2013. In early 2004, he joined the Ministry of Health, Nepal, as a medical officer. This was followed by his work as a medical officer at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal, from November 2002 to January 2004.
He was not only elected to be the senior fellow of the society of Hospital Medicine in 2015 but also a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He worked as a board of directors member of the Nepal America Medical Foundation from 2014 to 2015 and has been the president of the Society of Hospital Medicine, New Mexico, from 2014 until now.
He received the Health Care Hero Award: Lovelace Medical Group (May 2016). He received a Chapter Excellence Award from the American College of Physicians and an Award of Excellence from the Society of Hospital Medicine in March 2016. The United Health Services Hospitals presented him with a Physician Leadership Award in June 2012.

Discipline is more important than the desire to succeed in life. Shyam D. Karki is an exceptional human being who has invested much of his time, discipline, and effort into his work to rise as one of the most successful names in the pharmaceutical field.
Shayam D. Karki received his Bachelor of Pharmacy from American University of Beirut, Lebanon; his Master of Arts in economics from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal; and his PharmD from the School of Pharmacy, University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He was certified as a geriatric pharmacist by the Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy and received a Management Training Certificate from the Department of Administration of HMG NEPAL. Moreover, he was certified in anticoagulation therapy management from Indiana University.
Karki served as the pharmacy department director at Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of Maryland and Adventist Behavioral Wellness Services, Rockville, MD, from 2015 to 2017. He was an onsite clinical pharmacist at Levindale Geriatric Hospital, Baltimore, MD, from 2014 to 2015. Before that, he was the pharmacy department director at the Specialty Hospital of Washington, DC, Capitol Hill, from 2011 to 2014.
In addition to serving at different hospitals in managing and directing roles, Karki has made significant contributions in pushing the boundaries of human knowledge through his research activities. He has presented more than fifty posters at the annual meetings of professional societies and published more than twenty-five research papers in professional peer-reviewed journals. He has been an abstract reviewer for ACCP, ASCP, and ISPOR. He has made more than one hundred presentations on issues relating to pharmacotherapy and pharmacoeconomics to a different pharmacy, nursing, and medical organizations and more than three hundred routine presentations (weekly forty-five-minute programs) on medications to the pharmacy and medical students, medical residents, and geriatric fellows at hospitals.
Karki is an adjunct associate professor at the School of Pharmacy, Howard University, Washington, DC. He is a preceptor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. He was the chairman of the Performance Evaluation Committee, Pharm-Health Infusion Inc, Rochester, NY, from 1993 to 1997. He served as the Geriatric Pharmacy Consultant at the Jewish Home of Rochester, NY, from 1995 to 2004. He was the coordinator of clinical research & education at Unity Health System, Rochester, NY, from 1995 to 1999. He is the founder and life member of the Nepal Pharmaceutical Association (NPA).
Mr. Karki has been honored with multiple awards to acknowledge his contributions to society. He is the recipient of the Roerig Pharmacy Award for excellence in research in drug use in long-term care facilities in 1993, provided by the New York Council of Hospital Pharmacists. He was elected to a fellowship at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy in 2000. He was presented with a Recognition Award for professional achievement. He sustained service to Nepali and Nepali communities in North America by His Majesty the King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Kathmandu, Nepal, on October 2003. Though the awards are prestigious, the biggest honor for this great figure is the gratefulness for all the lives he has touched

Human beings are natural wanderers, and Keshab Raj Sedain, a prominent immigration lawyer at the Law Offices of Keshab Raj Seadie PC, one of the top US law firms, in New York, is well known for making people’s lives more beautiful by helping them migrate to the United States, a land of opportunity. In his career, Mr. Seadie has processed more than a hundred thousand visas and green cards with a 99 percent success rate.
He was born into a well-off family in Lamjung, Chiti, Nepal. When Mr. Seadie remembers his beautiful childhood days, he remembers a day on which he swam for almost ten minutes in the river to catch a beautiful fish. He has undoubtedly always been a go-getter.
Seadie completed his master’s in business at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, Nebraska, in 1993 and his master’s of interlaw (ABT) from the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, in 1996. He was a bright student, which enabled him to tackle complex immigration matters in his professional life. Though it is often tedious, Mr. Seadie realizes the beauty in what he does: connect people to their American dream.
In addition, Mr. Seadie is involved in real estate. He deals with buying, constructing, and renting offices to small businesses. Moreover, Mr. Seadie was a former of Board of Inquiry secretariat United Nations transitional officer in Yugoslavia, Zagreb, Croatia.
Mr. Seadie is aware of all his life privileges, so he invests a lot of time and money into creating opportunities for others. He raised more than $50,000 through the Himalayan Climate Initiative after the major earthquake in Nepal in 2015. He funded zinc sheets for around one hundred families in Nepal while reconstructing their homes destroyed by the earthquake.
Seadie is an active member of multiple reputed professional organizations, such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, and New York States Bar Association.
He has always looked up to his father, who taught him to dream big. With Mr. Seadie’s hard work and patience, all his dreams are now a reality. In the future, Mr. Seadie looks forward to helping underprivileged kids in Nepal live their dreams by providing them with cutting-edge educational services. Seadie, who resides in New Jersey with his beautiful family, has an obvious message to the young generation: “Dream big, make a plan, and stick to it until you get to the destination, just like a stamp on an envelope.”

Durga Pokharel, former Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare of Nepal from 2005-2006, grew up in Kachiday Village of Dhankuta district, Nepal, listening to horror women stories told by her five widowed close relatives. These women were forcefully sent packing after their husbands died, but because of the liberalism of the Pokhrel family, they were given shelter to live. She told her widow relatives that she would never get married and would go to school. Her father was the first Ayurvedic doctor of Nepal, sent to Banaras Hindu University for higher education by the Rana Prime Minister, Chandra Shamsher JBR. She was the first daughter to perform the death ritual of her father, shaving heads and 13 days of mourning like her two brothers.
After completing her B.L. in 1981 from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, she received the Ford Foundation Grant to study at Harvard, Kennedy School of Government, 1983-1984, earned her M.A in Public Administration (MPA), and completed her Ph.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy in 1996. She was the receiver of the Mac Arthur Foundation grant for writing in 1994 and the Resident Assistant Senior Tutor of Harvard University from 1988-1989.

After completing her study, she returned to Nepal in 1999 and made significant contributions in several aspects. She was the Chair of the National Women’s Commission from 2002 – 2004. She contributed to passing an amendment to the Public Service Law to ensure that all women who had been temporary women’s development officers in the country for up to 25 years were made permanent. Pokharel, who had led the government delegation to the UN in New York on the status of Minister in 2005, was appointed as a member of the Poverty Alleviation Fund Committee under the Prime Minister. She also contributed as a member of the Reservation (Affirmative Action) Committee of the government of Nepal in 2003 and a member of the Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee, Ceasefire Peace Dialogue in 2003.

As a columnist for numerous newspapers, she was deeply involved in media as an editor of Manas, a Nepali weekly newspaper, and managing editor of The National Star Daily and Horizon, an English quarterly. She was also on the board of directors of Star Publications, Kathmandu. She served as Assistant Lecturer at Padma Kanya Campus from 1973 to 1973, a Lecturer at Dhankuta Degree College from 1971 to 1973, and Principal of Saraswati Primary School, Dhankuta, in 1966. Pokharel, the producer of a couple of movies, was also involved in the cinema industry by establishing Oscar International College, the only film college in Nepal, in 2008. She is the founding member of the Harvard Alumni Club, Nepal, from 2006 to the present and a member of the Asian Human Rights Forum, Hong Kong, from 1978 – 1983.
She is the founder of ADJST Real Estate LLC, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Pokhrel has published hundreds of articles and research papers in prestigious publications, including some remarkable books. Her book, ‘Shadow Over Shangri-La’, co-authored with Anthony Willett, was published in the USA in 1996.
Considering her magnificent tasks, several national and international institutions have awarded her renowned awards and honors, including Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International, and Mahendra Vidhya Bhushan. As one of the most versatile scholars and bold ladies from Nepali political families, she was even more excited to contribute to the nation. However, some bad things happened in her life, which ended with her bidding the country farewell and moving to the USA in 2013. Dr. Pokharel is settling in Charlottesville, Virginia, and leading a happy life with her husband, a British scholar, and three sons.

In the heart of those who explore lies a deep desire to expose all of us to the part of the universe they reveal. Those are the people we call teachers and professors and show our highest gratitude and respect. Jay P. Sah, a research associate professor at the Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC)/ Institute of Water and Environment (InWE), is an explorer who has spent most of his life experimenting with Mother Nature to learn more about her. The scientific community highly acknowledges Mr. Sah as an author of almost three hundred research papers on various fields, such as vegetation-environmental relationships, disturbance ecology, community ecology, wetland ecology and management, biodiversity conservation, environmental management, environmental impact assessment, and interdisciplinary approaches to natural resource ecology and management.
Mr. Sah took his first step in his professional life as an assistant lecturer at Tribhuvan University in the capital city of Nepal after earning his MSc in botany from the same university. He was awarded a Meritorious Scholarship for being the highest-scoring student in the entire class of 1982 at Tribhuvan University. His never-ending academic success was also evident when he was awarded the James A. Linen III Memorial Prize for securing the highest marks in the graduating class of 1993 at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, where he pursued a master’s degree in natural resource management after receiving the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Scholarship.
His scientific accomplishments reached a new height when he attended Florida International University, USA, to get his Ph.D. in biology. As a postdoctoral research associate at the university from 2002 to 2003, he honed his skills in research design, coordination of field works, data analysis, report writing, presentations, and manuscript preparation to analyze Tree Island and L-31 vegetation data and write about the vegetation part of the comprehensive reports. Moreover, as a visiting research associate at the same university from 2003 to 2007, he focused on studying the ecosystem of South Florida, especially the habitat of the endangered seaside sparrow. After serving as a research associate/faculty member at Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, since 2007, he was honored with a Ten-Year Service Award in the Fall of 2013. In addition, he was awarded the Research Excellence Award by the College of Arts, Science, and Education (CASE) of Florida International University in the fall of 2017.
The most extraordinary award for Mr. Sah is undoubtedly the success of hundreds of individuals he has enlightened and is enlightening through his teaching, books, technical reports, and mentorships. I have given back to society by holding significant positions in organizations such as the International Association of Vegetation Science (IAVS), International Association for Ecology (INTECOL), Ecological Society of America (ESA), Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), National Geographic Society (NGS), Natural History Society of Nepal (NAHSON), Nepal Botanical Society (NBS); Ecological Society, Nepal (ECOS); Wetlands Nepal (WetNepal), and Nepal Botanical Society, Mr. Sah’s legacy will always be celebrated by everyone enthusiastic about the path he follows, or is simply inspired by the passion he inherits for scientific exploration.

Thakur Dhakal is a stormwater management expert and guides the formulation and implementation of stormwater management-related policies by the Fairfax County government in Virginia, one of the richest counties in the US. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Nepal, in 1999, Thakur completed his master’s degree in project management at the University of Maryland, USA, in 2010. As of now, his areas of expertise include hydrology, hydraulics, erosion and sediment control, stormwater management, best management practices and their evaluation, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4), Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), floodplain studies, climate change and resiliency, sustainable development, project management, and comprehensive planning and policy for local governments.
Dhakal worked in the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, the government of Nepal, from 1990 to 2005, first as an overseer, then as an engineer and division chief. He also worked as an engineer in Nepal’s largest drinking water project, the Melamchi Water Supply Project, in 2005.
Dhakal was the technical chair and proceedings editor at the Annual Conference of the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) in 2015 and 2018. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Virginia, USA. He presented his paper on “Sustainability through Resource Recovery: Beyond the 3Rs,” at the proceedings at the ASNEngr Ninth Annual Conference, Houston, TX, September 17–18, 2016. He was an instructor at the Stormwater Management Seminar organized in 2016 and 2017 by Halfmoon Education Inc. In addition, he instructed at the Storm Water Management Ordinance training to Industry, Engineers and Surveyors Institute Chantilly, VA, in May 2014. He taught at the Fundamental of Land Development, Engineers and Surveyors Institute, Chantilly, VA, in October 2016, and Fairfax County Policy and Procedure Updates, Engineers and Surveyors Institute, Chantilly, VA, in October 2013.
From 2013 to 2014, Dhakal was the president of B2 Toasters Toastmasters Club, Fairfax, VA, and the president of the Greater Washington, DC, Chapter of the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) from 2012 to 2014. He was the judge of the worldwide Future City Competition 2016, Washington, DC, and is the vice president (2018-2020) and vice general secretary (2016-2018) of the American Society of Nepalese Engineers. He has been a board member of the Architectural Review Board, Franklin Farm Foundation, Oak Hill, VA, since 2015 to until now.
For all his contributions, Dhakal received the Champion Award in 2009, 2014, and 2016; the Land Conservation Award in 2011 and 2012; the Outstanding Performance Award in 2013; and the Team Excellence Award in 2018. At Toastmasters International, he was the Competent Communicator in 2010 and Competent Leader in 2013 and achieved Advanced Leader Bronze in 2015. He has also collected Dual Combined Administrator Certification in Virginia on Storm Water and ESC. The exemplary story of Dhakal’s life continues to touch the hearts of hundreds of dreamers worldwide.