Prakash joined UAF as a faculty member in 2002 and has served UAF in different capacities: as Interim/Associate Dean for UAFs College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM); Director for CNSM Division of Research (CDR); Project Director for the National Science Foundation funded Alaska EPSCoR Program, a large initiative to increase research capacity in the State of Alaska; and as a passionate educator and researcher at the Department of Geosciences and the Geophysical Institute (GI).

Prakash conducted her post-doctoral research at ITC, Netherlands,  has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the Indian Institute of Technology – Roorkee (IIT-R), and Masters and Bachelors degrees in Geology from Lucknow University, India. She is a Professor of Geophysics and has contributed extensively to remote sensing based mapping of Alaska’s natural resources and changing landscape. Prakash is also internationally recognized for her research on underground coal mine fires.