Host Institution India: Harvard University

Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan

Dr. Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan is a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Gerd Bacher at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany since 2021. He obtained his integrated B.Sc., B.Ed., and M.Sc. in physics from the Regional Institute of Education, University of Mysore in 2014. He then received his Ph.D. in 2021, under the supervision of Prof. Ranjani Viswanatha, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru. Dr. Ramakrishnan’s doctoral work focuses on the design of quantum dots for optoelectronic applications.

Dr. Ramakrishnan received a fellowship under the Walter-Benjamin Program from the German Research Foundation. His research grant focuses on magneto-optical spectroscopy of single perovskite nanocrystals. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals. He is the winner of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards (GYTI 2020) in the field of nanoscience and engineering. He qualified the GATE examination 2015, with an all-India rank of 74, and secured first rank in the country in the national entrance examination conducted by NCERT in 2008. His other scientific recognitions include the “Best ePoster Content and Discussion” award at the 2020 online conference Light Emission in Organic and Hybrid materials (LightEm) organized by nanoGe, and another best poster award at an In-House symposium 2018, JNCASR. He is also a winner of the Sony World Photography Awards, 2023.

Inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are in high favor among recent energy materials. However, the necessary inclusion of lead, a toxic element, raises a critical concern for future commercial development. Dr. Ramakrishnan is addressing this issue during his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship. He is designing and synthesizing doped lead-free double perovskites and studying their spin dynamics using ultrafast magneto-optical spectroscopy. This project provides a promising avenue for lead free perovskite nanocrystals for use in high performance photophysical applications.

Ashish Tiwari

Ashish Tiwari graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, West Bengal with a BTech and MTech in computer science and engineering in 2007. A 2012 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Ashish has held positions of ASP Jhansi, SP rural Varanasi, SP Mirzapur, SSP Etah, SP Jaunpur, SSP Ayodhya, Founder Commandant-Special Security Force (SSF), SP Election (Uttar Pradesh), and SSP Firozabad. He was recognized as one of the 40 promising global leaders in policing by the IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S.A.), who mentioned him in their ‘40 under 40’ list in 2022. He also received the Young Alumni Achiever award from IIT Kharagpur.

Ashish is passionate about SMART (simple and sensitive, moral and modern, accountable, reliable and responsive, trained and technical) policing. He believes in technology, innovations, and entrepreneurial government with a people-centric approach. He has launched multiple technology initiatives to realize SMART policing, which have been institutionalized at the state level and have impacted millions of citizens. He is also a member of various committees, and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences on modernizing policing using technology. To empower women, Ashish has constituted a ‘green group’ of rural women to fight problems of drugs, alcohol, gambling, and domestic violence in various districts. Leveraging technology, under ‘Operation Smile’ in west Uttar Pradesh, Ashish has reunited hundreds of missing children and victims of child trafficking with their families. His innovative strategies in community policing, countering fake news, and digital governance have received public and professional appreciation and widespread media coverage. Ashish has received numerous accolades, including the FICCI smart police officer award, the SKOCH award, the gFiles governance award, triple DGP Commendation (silver, gold, and platinum) discs, and the State Award for Best Electoral Practices.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Ashish is engaged in developing innovative solutions for smart governance and smart policing at the intersection of technology, security, and development. He intends to work at both the federal and the state level to apply new technologies in security and governance.

Vidya Viswanathan

Ms. Vidya Viswanathan is an environmental policy researcher. She consults with multiple state agencies and NGOs as a domain expert. Currently, she is working with Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research (SAFAR) leading their national initiative of building accountability and transparency for common resource governance. In the past, she led the Environmental Justice Program at the Center for Policy Research (CPR), a leading policy think tank in Delhi. Ms. Viswanathan was CPR’s youngest Program Director. Under her leadership, the program restored common resources through improved regulatory compliance, thereby protecting farmlands and water bodies from industrial contamination in over 150 energy and infrastructure projects. She has also worked with the government through her engagement with the Ministries of Labor and Employment and of Rural Development.

Ms. Viswanathan is the co-author of several articles and papers that discuss the efficacy of environmental regulations in protecting ecology and managing social conflicts induced by land use changes on the ground. Her research interests include methods of strengthening environmental governance, including regulations, with a focus on building better and collaborative interfaces between citizens and regulators to promote India’s ecological security.

Ms. Viswanathan graduated top of her class and received numerous awards for her academic and non-academic achievements at the postgraduate level. She holds a Master of Arts in social work with a specialization in community organization and development practice from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Delhi.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Ms. Viswanathan aims to acquire specialized skills in policymaking and soft skills of leadership and advocacy. She is excited about experiential learning from a diverse and accomplished cohort that will help her refine the pathways of documenting, articulating, and building compelling insights from the grassroots into environmental policy design.

Rajan Vishal

Mr. Rajan Vishal worked in the Reserve Bank of India after receiving his Master of Business Economics degree from the University of Delhi in 2005. Driven by his commitment to improve public service delivery at the cutting-edge level, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 2008. He received the gold medal for the best study in rural development from the National Academy of Administration.

He has worked as District Collector in four districts for more than six years. As an administrator, he has worked in insurgency affected and the least developed areas of the country, implementing welfare programs, steering government campaigns for the marginalized and managing relief programs during natural calamities. He was awarded the Best Electoral Practices Award by the Election Commission of India in 2015, for increasing female voter turnout in Parliamentary Elections 2014 by 25 percent in Jalore District, with women from some villages having voted for the first time.

He also has experience in policy formulation in the health, cooperative, urban development, and finance sectors. He has played an important role in the formulation of impactful policies that have improved nutrition and health, strengthened the legal rights of women, empowering them as decision makers in Rajasthan.

A graduate program in public administration from a U.S. university will provide Mr. Vishal with the skills, knowledge, networking, and approaches needed to design potent policies to address the complex developmental challenges facing India. After completing the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship, he would work on a range of issues: health, public finance management and women empowerment.

Garima Shekhar

Ms. Garima Shekhar is the founder of Evolving Being, a liberal arts-focused admissions consultancy (www.evolvingbeing.org). TechnoServe India, in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, selected her amongst the top 30 women entrepreneurs for an Accelerator Program in 2021.

In the past, she was a core member of the Founding Projects team that launched the undergraduate batch of Ashoka University, a pioneering Indian liberal arts and sciences university in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and Stanford University among others. She was on the interview panel, along with the founders and faculty of the university, to shortlist students for the undergraduate and postgraduate program, Young India Fellowship. She has also offered consultancy to the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). She has traveled extensively, met students from different walks of life, and discovered the transformative power of quality education.

Ms. Shekhar has studied Economics at Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She received full scholarship to pursue the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University. At Welham Girls’ School, she scored the highest aggregate marks in grade XII and received several accolades: Academic Excellence Award by the Governor of Uttarakhand, the Khandelwal Shield for the Highest Aggregate, and the Faculty Trophy for Sustained Academic Excellence. When she gets time off work, she enjoys going on long treks, doing yoga, and learning new languages.

Through a graduate program in Education Leadership, Organization, and Entrepreneurship as a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, she hopes to support students around the globe in achieving their higher education goals.

Manasi Sahay Thakur

Ms. Manasi Sahay Thakur is an Indian Administrative Service officer with close to 13 years of experience. She is a mechanical engineer from the College of Engineering in Pune. After a brief stint in the private sector, she joined the Indian Administrative Services in 2009.

As Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur, she successfully led a campaign against female feticide. She conceptualized and coordinated Muskan, an animated film on girl child rights, which has had over a million views on YouTube and has received awards and recognition at different international forums. Ms. Thakur also led a nine-day long rescue operation for rescuing trapped laborer in an under-construction tunnel in Bilaspur.

As Director, Women and Child Development, she was instrumental in drafting the first legislation in India dealing with the sensitive issue of early childhood care and education. She also functionalized the first One Stop Centre in Himachal Pradesh for women in distress.

As Director, Energy, Ms. Thakur helped improve the state’s revenue realization through power sale, spearheaded efforts for energy efficiency and successfully worked on policies to revitalize the dormant hydro sector. She has co-authored “The Power Tariff Case-A Tale of Two States” which is being used by the National Academy of Administration for training civil servants in Negotiation Strategy. She ensured steady supply chain of essential commodities during the Covid-19 lockdown and was also responsible for the safe transportation and evacuation of stranded migrants from Himachal Pradesh in Maharashtra and Goa.

By pursuing a master’s in public administration as a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, she aims to hone her policy making skills and better understand evidence-based decision making. She aspires to learn about global best practices along with leveraging of data and technology to become a more impactful professional and meaningful contributor back home.

Mir Mohammed Ali

Mr. Mir Mohammed Ali holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in political science. He was selected to the Indian Administrative Service in 2011 and assigned to the Kerala cadre.

Mr. Ali has served in various capacities in the state of Kerala. As Director of Land Records, he organized a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Google Maps and the state government to bring more than 60,000 public establishments online.

As District Collector of Kannur, he led 81 local governments in banning single-use plastics in 2016. When widespread misinformation derailed a vaccination program, he piloted ‘Satyameva Jayate’, an information literacy campaign that trained more than 100,000 students to consume information critically and disseminate it responsibly. During this time, he won five Kerala State e-Governance awards, including Best e-Governed District.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow at Harvard Kennedy school, he is focusing on acquiring the analytical skills needed for a career in evidence-based policy making. A firm believer in the capacity of information technology to make a difference, he seeks to interact with a global cohort to expand his understanding of positive technological interventions worldwide.

Mr. Ali is an avid cinephile who enjoys writing and directing short films. His film on Kannur Tourism was awarded the ‘Best Ad Film’ at an International Film festival. He also finds great joy in open-water swimming, kayaking and stand-up comedy.

Parul Mehra

Ms. Parul Mehra graduated from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore in 2017 with a bachelor’s in law and social sciences. She was awarded the Sh. Venkatramanna Gold Medal for excellence in labor law and headed two student bodies – the International Affairs Society and the Academic Support Program.

Ms. Mehra started her career with the United Nations (UN) in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018, where she joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support efforts to secure the release of thousands of irregular migrants in detention across East Africa. She then moved to Somalia where she supported the federal government in overhauling the immigration and passport law. Subsequently, she led the development of a training program on migrant worker protection for labor inspectors in Libya alongside managing a nation-wide market assessment to inform Libya’s labor migration policy. Parul has recently rejoined IOM in Kenya as an International Migration Law Expert where she is leading training initiatives on migrant rights for a variety of stakeholders including journalists and immigration officers.

Ms. Srivastava is also an adept swimmer, diver, and paddle board surfer. Combining her passion for water sports with environmental conservation, she is involved in several coastal community conservation initiatives in India, Kenya, and Tunisia.

A master’s in international legal studies from Harvard Law School will allow Ms. Srivastava to further hone her knowledge and skills in supporting better governance of human migration. She hopes to leverage this knowledge to improve access to basic rights for migrant workers in India and other developing country contexts.

Arushi Malik

Dr. Arushi Malik is an Indian Administrative Service officer with over 16 years of experience. She is a medical doctor turned civil servant and is the recipient of a prestigious fellowship at the Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

As District Collector and Magistrate, she has headed the district administration of six districts: Ajmer, Bharatpur, Jhunjhunu, Tonk, Chittorgarh and Dungarpur. She has vast experience in policymaking and program implementation at the grassroots level as Special Secretary, Health; Commissioner Panchayati Raj; and Secretary, Animal Husbandry. Her work as Director, Sanitation (Swachh Bharat Mission) to improve the sanitation coverage of Rajasthan, a predominantly arid state larger than Finland, was lauded at the national level and by international agencies. She created a strong enabling environment and formulated a community-led approach, successfully increasing the rural sanitation coverage and achieving ODF (Open Defecation Free) status, covering over 6.8 million households.

Dr. Malik is the Prime Minister’s Award Recipient for Excellence in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Deployment Gandhi Act (MGNREGA) implementation in Dungarpur district, with 530 districts competing in the country. She received the National Certificate of Excellence for her work with the Swachh Bharat Mission (National Sanitation Mission). For the same, she was selected for screening for the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration. In 2009, she became a Guinness Book of World Record holder for leading a team of 300 people to plant 611137 trees in 24 hours.

Her area of interest is maternal health and designing effective prevention and treatment strategies to address maternal morbidity, mortality, and low birth weight. During the Fulbright-Nehru program, a graduate degree in public health will offer her a new approach to address the public health issues in India. She is also keenly passionate about global health: emphasizing an equitable approach to health with a focus on socioeconomic health determinants, using past responses to health issues as an opportunity to learn.

Amitha Jayaram

Dr. Amitha Jayaram is a medical doctor and a career civil service officer in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, with eight years of experience in public sector audit and government accountability. She graduated with an MBBS from Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences Karnataka and was subsequently selected to the Indian Audit and Accounts Service in 2013. She is a recipient of the CAGs National Award for Innovation and Excellence in Public Audit.

She has led projects examining the efficacy of government schemes/programs and providing evidence-based recommendations for governance reforms. With a primary focus on local governance and environment and sustainable development, her impact areas include water conservation, waste management, welfare of socially disadvantaged, the right to education, rural and urban infrastructure, mineral resources, and energy security. She has delivered capacity building training on Environment Audit for international participants from more than 30 INTOSAI member nations.

Her research interest is in policy measures towards empowerment of local governments, market instruments for sustainable waste and water management, mitigating adverse impacts of large infrastructure and mining projects. She has trained for several years in Bharatanatyam dance and Carnatic music and is also an astronomy enthusiast.

Dr. Jayaram is currently a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow at Harvard University pursuing a master’s in public administration to enhance her exposure to challenges and international best practices in the public sector that equip her to step up efforts towards accountability, transparency, and good governance, in tune with latest developments in various sectors.