CV

Education:

2018-2023: PhD, Microbial Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2014-2018: B.Tech, Biotechnology, VIT University, India

Research and Professional Experience:

Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 2025- present
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 2023-2025
Graduate Research Assistant, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2019 -2023
NSF INTERN, Reckitt Benckiser, Montvale, NJ, 2022 -2023
Undergraduate Student Researcher, VIT University, Vellore, India , 2017 -2018
Research fellow, Indian Institute of Science,Bengaluru, India , Summer 2017
Intern, Wockhardt Research Centre, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, Summer 2016

Awards and Fellowships:

National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) Champions Program , 2025- present
Rutgers PreDoctoral Leadership Development Academy (PLDA) Fellowship, Rutgers University, NJ, 2022 -2023
Water Environment Research Outstanding Paper Award, 2022
Microbial Biology Student Travel Award, Rutgers University, NJ, 2022
Top Graduate Student Poster Presentation Award, ASM NJ Theobald Smith Society Fall 2021 Symposium, NJ, 2021
Award for Innovation that Supports Wellbeing, STEM Community outreach symposium at Rutgers University, NJ, 2018
H. Boyd and Jeanette I. Woodruff Microbiology Fellowship, Soil and Environmental Microbiology, Rutgers University, NJ, 2018
Achievers Award, VIT University, Vellore, India, 2018
Science Academies’ Summer Research Fellowship, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India, 2017

Conference Presentations:

Deshpande AS, Medrano I, Krishnamoorthy S, Aufrecht JA. 2025. (Oral) Integrating activity-based probes with nanopore sequencing for high-throughput protein function characterization. ACS Fall Meeting, Washington, DC
Deshpande AS, Byrne J, Ehasz G, Sanlatte C, Han T, Mainelis G, Fahrenfeld NL. 2024. (Oral) Antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes in bioaerosols at wastewater treatment plant: should I be worried? WEFTEC, New Orleans, LA
Byrne J, Deshpande AS, Han T, Mainelis G, Fahrenfeld NL. 2024. (Poster) Antibiotic resistance genes in water and air at a wastewater treatment plant. NJ Water Environment Association. Atlantic City, NJ. Poster award winner
Deshpande AS, Herrera D, Markillie L, Aufrecht J. 2024. (Poster) Synthetic Soil Aggregates: A new approach to studying microbial community dynamics. ASM Microbe, Atlanta, GA
Deshpande AS, Herrera D, Markillie L, Aufrecht J. 2024. (Poster) Synthetic Soil Aggregates: A new approach to studying microbial community dynamics. EBSD Mini Conference, PNNL, Richland, WA
Deshpande AS, Han T, Ehasz G, Bryne J, Mainelis G, Fahrenfeld NL. 2024. (Oral) Potential hazards posed by antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria at wastewater treatment plants. NJ Water Environment Association, Atlantic City, NJ.
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2023. (Poster) How does removing extracellular and "non-viable" cell DNA impact environmental antimicrobial resistance gene host assignment and hazard assessment? AEESP conference, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2023. (Invited Oral) Which bacteria carry antibiotic resistance genes in our rivers and how mobile are these genes? NJ Water Environment Association (NJ WEA) 2023 Annual Conference, Atlantic City, NJ.
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2022. (Oral)Influence of non-viable cell DNA on riverine water and biofilm Microbiome, Resistome, and Mobilome. Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2022. (Poster)Abundance, diversity, and host assignment of total, intracellular, and extracellular antibiotic resistance genes in riverbed sediments. ASM Microbe, Washington, D.C.
Bakacs M, Fenyk H, Fahrenfeld N, Deshpande A, Palomino J. 2022. (Poster) Building an effective volunteer pathogen water monitoring program on the Lower Raritan River in Central New Jersey. National Urban Extension Conference, Camden, NJ.
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2022. (Poster)Influence of non-viable cell DNA on riverine water and biofilm Microbiome, Resistome, and Mobilome. Gordon Research Conference: Microbiology of the Built Environment, Waterville Valley, NH
Deshpande AS, Fahrenfeld NL. 2021. (Poster) Extracellular, intracellular and total antibiotic resistance genes: abundance in river water, biofilm, and sediment and diversity and host assignment in bed sediments. ASM NJ Theobald Smith Society Fall 2021 Symposium. Virtual. Poster award winner
Deshpande AS, Rajni Kumari, Anand Prem Rajan. 2018. (Poster) Isolation of bacteria from Chitradurga Copper mines and their metal active properties. STEM Community Outreach symposium. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Poster award winner
Deshpande AS, Keerthi Kesavan, Jayanthi Sivaraman. 2016. (Poster)Insilico docking studies for investigating the anticancer properties of plant- based compounds against cervical cancer. National Conference on New Horizons in Plant Biotechnology: Innovative Products and Applications, VIT University, Vellore.

Service, Volunteering, and Outreach:

Career Guest Speaker, Delta High School, Richland, WA, 2025
Reviewer for DOE Visiting Faculty Program Research Proposals, WA, 2025
DOE Pacific NW Regional Science Bowl Moderator, WA, 2025
Peer Reviewer, 2022- present
1. Journal of Hazardous Materials
2. Antibiotics
3. Water Environment Research
4. Microbiome
Rutgers Day volunteer, Fahrenfeld Lab, NJ, ~200 visitors, 2022, 2023
Secretary at American Society for Microbiology, Rutgers University Student Chapter, 2019 -2021
Society of Women Engineers Girl Scout Lab Tours, NJ, ~20 girls and their chaperones, 2021
Board member (Design Head) at SABEST VIT (Official Biology club, VIT), India, 2015 -2017
Team lead (Finance Head) at Anokha (Non-Profit Organization), VIT University, India, 2015 -2016
Organizer of ‘BIOSUMMIT 2017’ (National-level event), VIT University, India, 2017
Volunteer for technical festival GRAVITAS, VIT, India, 2014