Bhangya Bhukya

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Denying Political Rights, Denying Development: Interrogating Adivasi Development in India
Field of Study:	History
Home Institution:	University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Bhangya Bhukya is a Professor of History at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. He specializes in Modern Indian History. His research interests include community histories, the effects of power and knowledge, governmentality and dominance, the state and nationalism, intellectual histories of subaltern communities, identity politics by forest and hill people in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow (2003-06) and a British Council Visiting Fellow (2010).

Dr. Bhukya did his Ph.D. from the University of Warwick, UK, and his thesis has been published as a book, Subjugated Nomads. The Lambadas under the rule of the Nizams in 2010. He published quite influential books, including The Roots of the Periphery. A history of the Deccan Gonds (2017), History of Modern Telangana (2017) and A Cultural History of Telangana (2021). He is also a public historian and activist involved in India’s Adivasi human rights movements.

Dr. Bhukya proposes to study why British colonial protectionism and post-colonial integrationism/assimilationism did not bring tangible changes in Adivasi life, particularly how these development approaches outweighed Adivasi self-rule and self-determinism; and, consequently, also their political rights. The study is theoretical in its nature, and it interrogates the philosophy, assumptions, and approaches of what is termed ‘Adivasi development’ and proposes to re-investigate what development has actually meant to Adivasis.

Anita M George

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Exploring Latitudinal Gradients in Sponge Morphology and Microbiome Composition
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Panaji, Goa
Host Institution:	Stony Brook University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Anita M George is a marine biologist and sponge taxonomist at a prestigious institution in India. She is a visiting scientist at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. Her 14 years of research is concentrated on the systematics of sponges along with their associated biota and how sponges act as ecological indicators to climate change factors. As a principal investigator in the DBT-Research Associate program, Dr. George conducted the first sponge taxonomy workshop at CSIR-NIO, Goa, in 2019 with grants from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune and Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission, Maharashtra.

Dr. George obtained her Ph.D. from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu, where she worked on the taxonomy and biodiversity of south Indian sponges. Her post doctorate from James Cook University, Townsville, focused on the morphological changes of sponges from protected and non-protected reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia using remote-sensed data and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping. Dr. George received a research and travel grant from the Australian Institute of Marine Science to research the Queensland Museum collections of calcareous sponges of GBR and Palau.

Dr. George’s Fulbright-Nehru project will explore the latitudinal gradients in sponge morphology and microbiome composition using metagenomics and environmental eDNA extracts. The research outcome will give insights into the impact of seawater temperatures on sponge metabolism and biodiversity. Dr. George will share her GIS and taxonomic knowledge with her host, where the students can work in their interdisciplinary fields of research.

Kanchan K. Malik

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Women in Community Communication: Negotiating Empowerment
Field of Study:	Women’s and Gender Studies
Home Institution:	University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	University of Texas at Austin, TX
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Seven months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Kanchan K. Malik is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad, India, where she also served as Head from 2017-20. She has been a Faculty Fellow with UNESCO Chair on Community Media since 2011 and Editor of the e-newsletter, CR News. With a dual Master’s in Economics and Mass Communication, Dr. Malik worked as a journalist with The Economic Times, New Delhi, before kindling her career in academics. Dr. Malik’s teaching and research are in the areas of community media, women in community communications, journalism studies, and media ethics. She has worked with national and international research projects and published papers on media interventions by non-governmental organizations for empowerment at the grassroots level.

Dr. Malik co-authored with Prof. Vinod Pavarala the much-cited book ‘Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India’ (Sage: 2007). Her co-edited book is ‘Community Radio in South Asia: Reclaiming the Airwaves’ (Routledge: 2020). She recently worked on the manual ‘Strengthening Gender Sensitive Practices and Programming in Community Radio’ (UNESCO, 2021).

Dr. Malik’s Fulbright-Nehru teaching component will comprise thematic seminars focusing on how community media in South Asia have enabled women to create gender spaces, challenge women’s marginalization in access to media and help mainstream gender in social change discourses. Her research project will seek to develop a framework for interpreting the empowerment question through the culturally rooted lived realities of women engaged in community communication and untangling how women negotiate with and navigate the deep-rooted issues affecting gender equality.

Rayson Kayalvarathu Alex

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Environmental Humanities Pedagogy in Higher Education of Contemporary India and the US (2000-2020)
Field of Study:	Education Policy and Planning
Home Institution:	Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Pilani, Rajasthan
Host Institution:	Western Washington University, WA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rayson K. Alex is Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Goa. His academic work lies in the area of ecocriticism, or broadly environmental humanities (EH) with a specific focus on indigenous nature-cultures and eco-cinema.

Dr. Alex was awarded his Ph.D. in 2011 for his dissertation in ecocriticism from the University of Madras. He is one of the editors of Essays in Ecocriticism (Sarup & Sons, Delhi, 2007), Culture and Media: Ecocritical Explorations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014), Ecodocumentaries: Critical Essays (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and Ecocultural Ethics: Critical Essays (Lexington Books, 2017). He has translated works from Malayalam: Ecocriticism in Malayalam (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022) and E for Elephant: Elephant Tales and More (Green Books, 2022). He is a recipient of the ASLE Translation and Media Subvention Grants and is the Founder and co-Director of the tiNai Ecofilm Festival.

Dr. Alex’s Fulbright-Nehru research in the US is a continuation of his research work in India that focuses on identifying ecological pedagogies in the humanities which will strengthen and systematize formal and informal teaching in the environmental humanities. These pedagogies will be structurally consolidated, evaluated and disseminated in a manner that is beneficial to the scholars and teachers, particularly in India. He also proposes to teach a course titled “Indian Films, Environmental Justice, and the Subaltern” at the Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Western Washington University.

Praveen Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Understanding Charge Transport in MXenes Heterostructures for Efficient and Stable Green Energy Harvesting Applications
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, West Bengal
Host Institution:	Drexel University, PA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Praveen Kumar is working as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences (IACS), Kolkata. He did his Ph.D. from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, followed by postdoctoral research at ISOM, UPM Madrid, Spain, as a Marie Curie Fellow. He is an Editorial Board Member of Materials Letters (Elsevier) and Nanotechnology (IOP) Journals. He has served as a Chair, Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), Indian Chapter, funded by the European Commission from May 2017 to July 2021. He is also a member of The National Academy of Sciences (NASI), India and Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS).

Dr. Kumar’s research contribution covers a broad spectrum of materials science, including III-V semiconductors, 2D-Materials, MXenes, carbon nanostructures, etc., for various energy harvesting (PEC water splitting, CO2 reduction, broadband photodetectors) and storage (supercapacitors) applications. He has authored 89 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, filed 03 patents, more than 75 in conference proceedings, 09 books/chapters, and delivered around 52 invited talks around the globe. He is a recipient of several recognized awards and fellowships, including MRSI Medal 2021, MCAA Societal Impact Award (2019), DAE Young Achiever Award (2019), Micro Internal Travel Grants (MITG), European Commission (2018), BRICS Young Scientist Award (2017), INSPIRE Faculty Award (2014), and the Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012).

Dr. Kumar’s Fulbright-Nehru project aims to develop facile synthesis processes for MXenes heterostructures and establish their optical, electronic, electrical, and magnetic properties by experimental and theoretical means for energy harvesting (water splitting and CO2 reduction) applications. He will also be teaching Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology courses at Drexel University.

Sudarshan Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Proteomics Based Approaches To Decipher The Antibacterial Mechanisms Of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) against Staphylococcus aureus
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences
Home Institution:	National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana
Host Institution:	Oregon State University, OR
Grant Start Month:	February 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sudarshan Kumar is working as senior scientist at National Dairy Research Institute Karnal. He is presently engaged in research related to dairy animal health and production. Over the last 10 years, Dr. Kumar has developed skills in proteomics-based approaches to solve the problems of low milk yield, truncated lactation, mastitis and alternatives to antibiotics in dairy animals. He also develops highly sensitive MS-based methods for the determination of residual veterinary drugs, pesticides and adulterant in milk. He is specialized in molecular cloning, protein expression and purification in a wide range of hosts like bacteria, yeast and mammalian cell which are validated for its function in cell culture models. Recently, in recognition of his work, Dr. Kumar has been conferred the fellowship of the prestigious National Academy of Dairy Sciences.

Currently, his research activities are focused on discovering alternatives to antibiotics. Dr. Kumar’s studies revealed that urogenital tract in animal secrets a large number of endogenous peptides which possesses antimicrobial characteristics and thus keep the organ sterile. However, there are challenges in its clinical application.

The Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Scholar Program involving collaboration between NDRI and Oregon State University aims to understand the mechanism of action behind such AMPs. Specifically, the emphasis is on understanding the molecular crosstalk between antimicrobial peptide and bacterial growth during the tussle to survive and to explore the responsive mechanism of bacteria towards AMPs. In the presence of AMPs, bacterial growth is inhibited. But the final outcome of the battle depends on the potency of AMPs and the SOS response of bacteria. For taking AMPs to the clinical stage, it is essential to understand the SOS response of bacteria. Such knowledge not only helps in the selection of a best AMP but also enables devising strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Sandip Kumar Saha

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Developing A Stable Solid-Solid-Phase Change Material with High Thermal Conductivity for Low-Temperature Solar Thermal Energy Storage Applications
Field of Study:	Energy Studies
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Lehigh University, PA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sandip Kumar Saha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He works in the broad area of thermal energy storage, solar receivers, and cooling technologies. His primary research interest is exploring the different types of thermal energy storage for solar thermal applications. In recent years, he has been actively involved in developing and demonstrating new technologies for thermal energy storage, solar receiver, and green building.

Dr. Saha received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He was with R&D TATA Steel, India, as a Researcher, and Applied Mechanics and Energy Conversion, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, as a postdoctoral fellow before joining IIT Bombay as a faculty member in 2012. Since then, he has carried out several large, funded projects in thermal energy storage. Prof. Saha is a recipient of the Bhaskara Advanced Solar Energy (BASE) Fellowship, IUSSTF, 2016. He was awarded the IIT Bombay research award 2020. He is currently serving on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports.

Dr. Saha’s Fulbright-Nehru project aims to develop a new high thermal conductive solid-solid phase change material that can be stable for more than few thousands of thermal cycles for low-temperature solar applications (<80 C). A detailed investigation of the thermophysical properties using state-of-art experimental and computational facilities will be carried out to optimize the process parameters and the filler materials. Specifically, an emphasis will be given to understanding the contact between filler polymer interfaces and interfacial thermal resistance. For his teaching component, Prof. Saha is team-teaching a course on advanced engineering thermodynamics with his host. To ensure synergy between the two components, interested students from the course will be involved in analysing and thereby enhancing the performance of energy systems using thermal energy storage through the research work.

Ramu Manivannan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	In Pursuit of Justice: A Comparative Study of John Rawls, Amartya Sen and J.C. Kumarappa
Field of Study:	Political Science
Home Institution:	Multiversity - Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	University of Denver, CO
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Ramu Manivannan currently serves as Honorary Chairperson at Multiversity – Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Kurumbapalayam, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. He combines research and teaching experiments in education, development, and democracy with special interest on indigenous knowledge systems. He is a writer, public commentator and contributor to several Indian print and visual media outlets.

Dr. Manivannan served as a Professor and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras for sixteen years. He taught in Hindu College, Delhi University for over 18 years before joining the University of Madras. He was a fellow of the United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan. He has been working with refugees from Tibet, Burma and Sri Lanka for over three decades in the areas of peace, education and development. He has founded fifteen non-formal schools for the children from tribal areas, stone quarry areas and the weavers’ community before building an alternative school, Garden of Peace, for rural children based on holistic education, located in Kurumbapalayam in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Manivannan’s Fulbright-Nehru project aims to undertake a comparative study on John Rawls, Amartya Sen and J. C. Kumarappa based on their works on justice and examine the implications of their ideas to the notions of democracy and development in India. Given the combination of teaching and research plan, he will also be teaching papers on democracy and development in India and South Asia, besides co-teaching a paper on the political economy of Brazil and India.

Rajesh Nachiappa Ganesh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Assessment of interobserver reproducibility of histo-pathological chronicity scoring systems in native kidney biopsies using light microscopy and determine the utility of the scoring system in polyomavirus nephropathy in transplant kidney biopsies.
Field of Study:	Public Health
Home Institution:	Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, Puducherry
Host Institution:	Houston Methodist Hospital, TX
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rajesh Nachiappa Ganesh is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry. He works in the broad field of Surgical Pathology with special focus on Renal and transplant pathology, molecular pathology and image analysis. He has been actively working in the field of biomarker research in native and transplant renal diseases.

Professor Rajesh has 17 years of teaching and research experience in the field of surgical pathology after his doctoral degree and has been a faculty at JIPMER for twelve years. He had started the division of renal and transplant pathology services at JIPMER in 2010 and started post-doctoral fellowship in Nephro-pathology. He is actively involved in obtaining extra-mural funded research grants from various national and international agencies and has established a molecular research laboratory which has been expanded for diagnostic patient care with funding from Department of Health Research, India. He is also actively involved in proteomics applications and image analysis in the field of Pathology with several collaborative projects.

Professor Rajesh’s Fulbright project is intended on close interaction with senior consultants in Nephropathology at Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas, to study inter-observer reproducibility in diagnostic reporting of renal biopsies and validate the findings in Polyomavirus infections in transplant biopsies. The teaching component involves regular discussion of the biopsy and clinical findings with Nephrology residents and fellows at the center and is in synergy with the research objective to improve patient care outcomes.

Ranjith Padinhateeri

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Genome Organization and Nucleosome Dynamics
Field of Study:	Physics
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Ranjith Padinhateeri is a professor in the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay). Dr. Padinhateeri’s lab focuses on theoretical studies to understand various biological phenomena using a variety of tools from physics, including statistical mechanics, polymer physics, and soft-matter theory. His specific areas of interest include nucleosome dynamics, chromatin assembly, DNA mechanics, and the self-assembly of proteins.

Dr. Padinhateeri completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Institute Curie, Paris. He gained expertise in applying physics principles to understand biological systems. Dr. Padinhateeri joined the IIT Bombay faculty in 2009. He and his team developed computational models to investigate the kinetics of nucleosomes and the polymer organization of chromatin. Dr. Padinhateeri has received several awards, including the National Bioscience Award from the Department of Biotechnology India.

Dr. Padinhateeri’s Fulbright-Nehru project aims to develop a model to understand chromatin organization —the organization of the genetic material— in space and time inside a cell nucleus, accounting for nucleosome dynamics. The predictions from computational studies of the model could help us to design gene regions that can have specific chromatin states. As a part of the fellowship, Dr. Padinhateeri also plans to teach a course on modeling biological processes covering stochastic processes, Monte Carlo simulations, and molecular dynamics simulations.

Shibayan Roy

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Understanding the α/β Interface Structure Evolution During Secondary Working and Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal
Host Institution:	Carnegie Mellon University, PA
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Shibayan Roy is an Assistant Professor in the Materials Science Center of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur, West Bengal since 2015.

Previously, Dr. Roy was a postdoctoral research associate at Materials Science and Technology Division in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA from November 2013 to October 2015. He is the recipient of the R&D 100 award (2017) from R&D Magazine, USA as a part of the research group from ORNL.

Dr. Roy also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (IWW), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany from February 2012 to September 2013. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore in November 2011. He also received the K.P. Abraham Gold Medal for Best Doctoral Thesis from IISc and the Student Innovative Thesis Award (Doctoral level) from the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) in 2012, in recognition of his doctoral thesis.

Through the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award (Research and Teaching) project, Dr. Roy aims for an in-depth characterization of coherency and orientation relationship as well as atomistic structure and remnant dislocations at α/β interfaces for different α-colony orientations after secondary TMP and additive manufacturing (AM) of two-phase Titanium alloys. His work also establishes an interrelation between these attributes of α/β interface and spheroidization response of different α-colony orientations in the course of secondary TMP and AM.

Sarita Sundar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	A Critical Look at the Intersectional Milestones in Indian and American Design Histories: Motivations and Influences
Field of Study:	History
Home Institution:	Freelance Performer and Independent Researcher, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	University of Vermont, VT
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Sarita Sundar’s practice and research spans heritage studies, visual culture, and design theory. She is the founder of Hanno, a heritage interpretation and design consultancy.

Ms. Sundar has a postgraduate degree in Visual Communications from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and an M.A. in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, UK where she was awarded the 2016 Professor Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Academic Prize. She is a visiting faculty at various design institutes: including NID, Ahmedabad; and Srishti Manipal School of Design and Technology, Bangalore. Her research ranges from studies of vernacular typography to looking at the intangible and material culture of performance practices in the temples of Valuvanad, Kerala (for which she received a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts). Her present research focuses on the cultural and design history of seats in India and will culminate in a publication in 2022.

Ms. Sundar’s Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship takes forward her multi-disciplinary research and seeks to address the lacuna of critical discourse in the discipline of design in India. By mapping the transcultural exchange of aesthetics and ideologies between India and the United States, and situating the interconnected events and dialogues, Ms. Sundar’s project looks at how these historical milestones continue to motivate and influence contemporary design, and associated fields such as curatorial practice in both countries. Furthermore, it examines the pathways followed by modernism and counter-movements like postmodernism, and their interactions with indigenous epistemology in Indian aesthetics and thought. She is also co-teaching a course, ‘Visualizing India’, at the University of Vermont.

Anu Unny

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research & Teaching)
Project Title:	Climate Change Policy and Politics in the US: Balancing Domestic Concerns and Advancing India-US Climate Cooperation
Field of Study:	Political Science
Home Institution:	University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Host Institution:	University of Washington, WA
Grant Start Month:	February 2023
Duration of Grant:	Eight months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Anu Unny is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Kerala. She is also the Hon. Director of UGC-Nehru Studies Centre, University of Kerala. Before joining the University of Kerala, she worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi. She has served as a Member of the Board of Studies in Kerala and Kannur Universities.

Dr. Unny completed her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from the School of International Studies (SIS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. Along with her teaching responsibilities, she acts as a research guide for the Ph.D. Programme in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Kerala. She is a recipient of the International Studies Association (ISA) grant to visit the US in 2017. She has many research papers to her credit in national and international journals. She has visited many countries, including the US, to present her research outcomes in conferences. She is an active participant in media discussions on international issues and a resource person for UGC Orientation and Refresher Programmes.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Dr. Unny will teach a course on the ‘Politics of Climate Change’ for students at the University of Washington. She will also engage in research at the University of Washington to understand the nuances of US domestic politics on climate change and to explore the challenges and possibilities in strengthening India-US climate cooperation. Apart from climate politics, Dr. Unny’s research interests lie in gender, human rights and Indian politics.

Amalendu Ghosh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Targeted Genome Editing for Mitigating Thrips-Tospovirus Threats to Horticultural Crops
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences
Home Institution:	ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Washington State University, WA
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Amalendu Ghosh is currently working as a Scientist in Advanced Centre for Plant Virology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He completed his postgraduate (2005-2007) and doctoral degree (2007-2010) in Agricultural Entomology from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, West Bengal with several distinctions. He has been a faculty member at IARI, New Delhi for the past seven years. His main research interest lies in understanding the relationships of insect vectors and plant viruses and developing novel molecules aiming to interrupt the inter-relationships and restrict the spread of diseases. Dr. Ghosh has demonstrated the inhibition of virus transmission by thrips and whitefly using double-stranded RNA and antisense oligos.

Dr. Ghosh has been the recipient of Endeavour Research Fellowship (Australian Government), four Young Scientist Awards, and nine competitive research grants.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, he aims to carry out targeted gene editing and determine the effects on development, reproduction, embryogenesis, and vector competence of thrips. With his expertise in insect science combined with plant virology, he aims to learn and conduct research with a multidisciplinary approach at the Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman. He wishes to apply the CRISPR/Cas9 system in Thrips palmi (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) to induce sterility thereby reducing the transmission of tospoviruses. This approach will help to develop an eco-friendly tactic that is adaptable to changing climate to manage thrips as a pest and restrict the spread of tospoviruses.

Gowramma Ittara Poovaiah

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Preparation of Culturally Responsive Curriculum Model for Early Childhood Education to Enhance Literacy Readiness Skills
Field of Study:	Education Policy and Planning
Home Institution:	Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Host Institution:	Florida State University, FL
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Gowramma Poovaiah Ittira is a Professor at the Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar, NCERT. She teaches right from the grass root level of Bachelors of Integrated Teacher Education Programme and extends her guidance to her doctoral candidates, thus covering a wide range of students from sectoral socio-lingual communities of varied age groups. She reaches up to approximately 900 to 1000 student teachers per year and mentors about a quarter of these students in their internships while they teach in varied, diverse locations among the four states in the eastern region of India. Her current role helps in facilitating and informing research, including culturally relevant practices from varied parts of India and disseminating the results to reach schools all around India.

Dr. Ittira’s Fulbright-Nehru project aims to examine how and in what ways early literacy is affected by socio cultural practices. This project will document sociocultural practices adopted in early childhood and study their influence on literacy readiness. Furthermore, it will help inform literacy initiatives in local language and English, in India, highlighting what practices in early childhood education are beneficial. The project initiated from her home institute, Regional Institute of Education (RIE) Bhubaneswar, where she was exposed to the diverse languages of eastern India and its cultural diversity. She found similarities in practices in these practices with Kodava, her homeland. Thus, the research will directly contribute to early literacy development while incorporating the rich sociocultural practices. It will have a wide application in multilingual communities around India to foster literacy and early language acquisition while celebrating the vast cultural and linguistic diversity. Her current role will facilitate research in culturally relevant curriculum construction and practices along with possible forms of alternative education from varied parts of India and disseminating the results to reach schools all around India.

Tarun Jain

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Evaluating Long Run Gender Attitude Change
Field of Study:	Economics
Home Institution:	, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Host Institution:	Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, WI
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Tarun Jain is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Previously, on the faculty at the Indian School of Business, he earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia. His research focuses on understanding causes and consequences of human capital formation (for instance, with education and health), especially in the context of fast-growing developing countries. Gender is a topic of special research interest given that women face persistent barriers in economic advancement. His research has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Growth Centre, and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, published in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Review, the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Journal of Public Economics, and featured in the New York Times, The Economist, the Times of India and Indian Express. He has written for media outlets such as the Economic Times, New Indian Express, Ideas for India, The Hindu and Mint, and been a speaker for TEDx IIM Ahmedabad.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, Dr. Jain will analyze the impact of a gender attitude change curriculum taught in government schools on the life outcomes of young adults. Specifically, he will investigate the long-term impact of the program on gender-related attitudes during adulthood, female participants’ higher education, labor force participation and age of marriage, and marital choices made by married male participants, such as their wives’ education and employment status, and the gender division of domestic work.

Priyanka Jamwal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Integrating the green blue and grey in twinned watersheds (Lubbock and Bengaluru): Nature-based solutions for water quality management
Field of Study:	Urban and Regional Planning
Home Institution:	Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	Texas Tech University, TX
Grant Start Month:	December 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Priyanka Jamwal is currently working as a Fellow in the Centre for Environment and Development, ATREE, Bengaluru. She completed her B. Tech in Civil Engineering from NIT Hamirpur (1997–2001) and Masters in Environmental Engineering from Punjab Technical University, Chandigarh (2001-2003) with several distinctions and her doctoral degree in Environmental Engineering and Management from IIT Delhi (2003–2008). She broadly works in water resource management with a focus on water quality. Her work focuses on identifying contaminant sources in surface water bodies, modelling the fate and transport of contaminants in urban hydrological systems and assessing the risk to human health due to exposure to contaminants. Her empirical work has focused on quantifying microbial load from point and non-point sources in urbanising watersheds. Her work on the fate of trace metals and nutrients in urban hydrological systems has identified gaps in India’s water quality regulatory frameworks.

She has made significant contributions in the field of environmental pollution and human health risk assessment. Her work also focuses on understanding the groundwater sanitation nexus in the peri-urban spaces that lack piped water supply and centralised sanitation infrastructures. She applies interdisciplinary approaches to understand the factors that drive humans to interact with the environment in a certain way that impacts water resources. She is also interested in developing design principles for the deployment and scaling of Nature-based solutions (NBS) to address water pollution issues in urban and rural areas.

Kuljeet Kaur Marhas

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Stellar Nucleosynthesis, and Dust Formation/Evolution In Novae Inferred from In-Situ Isotopic Analysis Of Presolar Grains from Primitive Meteorites
Field of Study:	Physics
Home Institution:	Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Host Institution:	Carnegie Institute for Science, DC
Grant Start Month:	November 2022
Duration of Grant:	Eight months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Kuljeet Kaur Marhas is a Professor in Planetary Science Division at Physical Research Laboratory. She has been working in three sub divisions of planetary sciences (A) early evolution of Solar system (analyzing early forming solids to understand origin and evolution of Solar System), (B) presolar grains and nucleosynthesis (analyzing presolar/circumstellar grains to understand stellar evolution), (C) differentiated objects (other Solar system bodies like Moon, Mars via meteorites). Dr. Marhas has also been involved in analyzing samples from sample return missions by NASA, JAXA to understand several aspects of solar system formation. Several new scientific (theoretical and experimental) and technical projects have been initiated by her, with her recent/new interest in hydrothermal alterations and volatile transport in/at asteroidal regions.

Dr. Marhas earned her Ph.D. from Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), India, in 2001. With her new experiences achieved during her postdoctoral period at Max Planck Institute for chemistry, Mainz (2002-2005) and Washington University, St. Louis (2005-2007) she brought expertise in small grain analyses and set up her laboratory in Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad.

The grand objective of the Dr. Marhas’s Fulbright-Nehru project is to understand nucleosynthesis and temporal evolution of physico-cosmochemical conditions in novae by isotopic studies of sulphur and other elements in presolar nova grains found in meteorites. Specifically, the proposal approach is to analyze a few tens of potential presolar novae grains using C and N isotopic measurements, and subsequently measure their S isotopes to compare them with the latest nova and SN models to unequivocally establish their genealogy and provenance.

Shantanu Kumar Behera

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Underpinning the Processing-Microstructure-Performance Relationship in Polymer Derived Si-C Hybrids for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha
Host Institution:	University of Colorado, CO
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Shantanu Behera is currently an Associate Professor of Ceramic Engg. At NIT Rourkela. He holds a bachelor’s degree from NIT Rourkela and a Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA. He worked on analysing the atomic structural features of dopant segregated grain boundaries in alumina using transmission electron microscopy at Lehigh and synchrotron x-rays at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY, USA). Following his doctorate, he worked at the University of Colorado Boulder (USA) on various aspects of Polymer Derived Ceramics before relocating to India. Dr. Behera’s research interests over the last decade at NIT Rourkela includes development of nanostructures and hybrids from preceramic polymers with potential applications in batteries, supercapacitors, and in high temperature resistant bulk materials and coatings.

Dr. Behera was an invitee in the Indo-German Frontiers of Engineering Symposium following which he was a Visiting Scientist at the Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany. He reviews scientific literature for more than 30 journals and is an outstanding reviewer for a few. He speaks regularly in his mother tongue (odia) in All India Radio on popular and informative scientific topics.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, Dr. Behera aims to fabricate novel Si-C hybrids using preceramic polymers for application as efficient anodes for Li ion batteries. With his expertise in preceramic polymer processing, microstructural characterization, and the resources at CU Boulder, he plans to develop a series of Si-C nanostructures, test their electrochemical properties to gain insights on the processing, microstructure, and performance relationship in these materials.

Sushanta Kumar Chatterjee

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	A trilemma of Renewable Integration, Market Redesign, and Asset Stranding - Road Ahead for India
Field of Study:	Public Policy
Home Institution:	Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Presently Chief (Regulatory Affairs) with Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), Dr. Sushanta Kumar Chatterjee has a long experience in dealing with power sector reforms, especially, Regulatory Reforms since its inception in 1998.

He has been a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and holds a Ph.D. in Management, MBA in Finance and Master’s in Economics.

He has co-authored “The Electricity Sector in India: Policy and Regulation” (Oxford University Press, 2012); authored “S.K. Chatterjee’s Commentary on the Electricity Laws of India” (Delhi Law House, 2006); published papers on renewable energy policy (World Bank 2013; NREL 2016; Energy Policy 2021); completed research as Principal Investigator (Topic: “Meeting the Renewable Revolution: A Roadmap for Electricity Market Design in India”) at International Growth Centre, London School of Economics, UK (2017); co-authored “Renewable Energy in India: Economics and Market Dynamics” (Sage Publishing, India, 2021).

Public policy has been his passion in professional and academic life. He has demonstrated a leadership role in conceiving, designing, and implementing policy and regulation, especially on renewable and electricity market design in India. He has played a pioneering role in introducing the Electricity Act, 2003; Renewable Energy Certificate mechanism; Security Constrained Economic Dispatch; Real Time Market; market based Ancillary Services.

He has been/is a part of several Committees constituted by Ministry of Power, CERC, Forum of Regulators, and South Asia Forum for Infrastructure Regulation. He is a regular guest faculty in several institutions in India/abroad. Dr. Chatterjee has been nominated as the first President of Indian Association of Energy Economics.

Basavaprabhu L. Patil

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	To Develop and Validate Novel Genome Editing Tools for Virus Diagnostics, Functional Genomics and Virus Control in Papaya
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences
Home Institution:	ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Basavaprabhu L. Patil is a Principal Scientist (Plant Biotechnology) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru. He did Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Science in Agriculture from UAS-Dharwad and Ph.D. (2001-2005) from University of Delhi. During Ph.D. he received a DAAD scholarship to work at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He did his postdoctoral research (2006-2010) in Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, USA and contributed to the development of Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa. Briefly he worked as Scientist-D, in the DBT’s National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali and then he relocated to University of Basel, Switzerland. In 2012, he joined as a Senior Scientist in ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi. In 2018, he relocated to ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru and continues to work in the area of Plant Virology. During his stint in ICAR, he has been PI for multiple projects funded by DBT, BIRAC, BCIL and ICAR. He has published extensively and is a recognized editor for International Journals, and reviewer for Grant Applications. He has served as an external expert to assess the scientists from CSIR and ICAR. He was honored with the IVS Fellow Award by the Indian Virological Society in 2014 and received EU’s Erasmus Mundus scholarship in 2016. Recently, he was conferred with Prof. B.M. Johri memorial Award, by the Society for Plant Research (India).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Patil will develop and validate novel Genome Editing Tools for Virus Diagnostics, Functional Genomics and Virus Control.

Geetha Manivasagam

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Immune Modulation Studies on 3d Printed Personalized Bone Implants using Dynamic 3d In Vitro Tissue Model
Field of Study:	Bioengineering
Home Institution:	Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	Terasaki Institute, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

As a woman scientist in STEM, Dr. Geetha Manivasagam started her research in her mid-30s and worked in various interdisciplinary areas. She completed her Master’s of Science and MPhil in crystallography and biophysics, but during the Ph.D. work, she shifted her focus towards biomaterial engineering for improving the quality of life in patients receiving implants.

She is currently the Director of Center for Biomaterials, Cellular and Molecular Theranostics (CBCMT), an interdisciplinary research facility to mobilize and materialize translational research. Considering her contributions in the field of Biomaterials, she was invited to be a part of a national initiative for preparing a road map for bioimplants in coordination with IIT ,DMRL, IISC, and Tata Health Care. Recently, she was invited by Springer Nature to be a member of the editorial team of the journal Invitro Model. She had been recognised as No. 1 scientist in Materials Science by MHRD from 2009-2019 and listed in the Top 2 % of scientists in the country in Materials Science as per the analysis performed by Stanford University.

Dr. Manivasagam’s Fulbirght-Nehru Fellowship work comprises developing a smart multimodal polymer-based bone-implant fortified with growth factors and anti-microbial agents for the controlled release of compounds as the conventional treatment modalities for treating bone infection are getting saturated with diminishing efficacy. This work is a novel approach with practical translational potential that can curb bone bacterial infection which is a global threat and aid rapid regeneration of bone.

Sathesh Mariappan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Physics Informed Machine Learning Methods to Understand Combustion Driven Oscillations in a Bluff Body Stabilized Combustor
Field of Study:	Computer Science
Home Institution:	Indian institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	Brown University, RI
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sathesh Mariappan is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He completed his Bachelors at Madras Institute of Technology, 2007 (University First Rank) and obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 2012, both in Aerospace Engineering. Before joining IIT Kanpur, he worked in the German Aerospace Center, Goettingen as a Humboldt Post Doctoral fellow. He is a recipient of Young Engineer Awards from the Indian National Academy of Engineering and Institution of Engineers. He is also recognized internationally through the Humboldt Fellowship and International Exchanges award (co-applicant) from The Royal Society – London. His research focuses on understanding and mitigating combustion-driven oscillations in gas turbine engines.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Dr. Mariappan will specialize in applying physics informed neural network (PINN): a machine learning method, to study combustion driven oscillations in combustors of gas turbine engines. PINN is an emerging tool, having the striking advantage to synergize experimental data and physics-based models. This synergy brings a new understanding of flame-flow interactions and helps develop more accurate hybrid models, which serve for instability prognosis and mitigation. This alternative (superior) hybrid framework will model combustor dynamics more accurately (than models derived purely from theory or experiments), even in practical systems, leading to efficient/robust control of oscillations.

Vineeth N Balasubramanian

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Bringing Causal Perspectives to Neural Network Explanations
Field of Study:	Computer Science
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Carnegie Mellon University, PA
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Vineeth N Balasubramanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), and currently serves as the Head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence at IIT-H. His research interests include deep learning, machine learning, and computer vision. His research has resulted in many publications in several top conferences and journals including ICML, CVPR, NeurIPS, ICCV, AAAI, TPAMI, etc. His Ph.D. dissertation at Arizona State University on the Conformal Predictions framework was nominated for the Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation at the Department of Computer Science. His recent awards include: Best Paper Awards at CODS-COMAD 2022, CVPR 2021 workshops on Causality in Vision and Adversarial Machine Learning; Teaching Excellence Awards at IIT-H in 2017 and 2021; Google Research Scholar Award (earlier known as Google Research Faculty award) in 2020; Outstanding Reviewer Awards at ICLR 2021, CVPR 2019, ECCV 2020. For more details, please see https://iith.ac.in/~vineethnb/.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, Dr. Balasubramanian aims to work towards developing trustworthy machine learning models that are implicitly imbued with causal reasoning capabilities. In particular, he plans to understand and develop methods for causal generative mechanisms in real-world data, and bring together perspectives of causality and robustness into explanations of deep neural network models.

Sharmistha Saha

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Community identity, cultural performance and value: politics of intercultural exchange between the ‘west’ and postcolonial India
Field of Study:	Performing Arts
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	New York University Tisch School of the Arts, NY
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Seven months

Brief Bio:

Sharmistha Saha is assistant professor of Performance Studies at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. She completed her PhD from the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany. Erasmus Mundus followed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) funded her doctoral study. Later, she was a DFG postdoctoral fellow at Dahlem Research School, Berlin, Germany. She has been a UGC Junior Research Fellow at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. In the past she has been a Becas MAEC-AECID fellow at the Universidad de Granada, Spain. Her research interests include theatre historiography, performance philosophy, colonial theatre, theories of acting, aesthetics and politics, archive and the arts and critical theory. She is the author of Theatre and National Identity in Colonial India: Formation of a community through cultural practice (Springer/Aakar, 2017). Sharmistha is also a theatre practitioner and some of her directorial work includes ‘Playing to Bombay’ co-created with Sunil Shanbag, ‘Her Letters’ commissioned by the Tagore Centre in Berlin, ‘Romeo Ravidas aur Juliet Devi’ amongst others. She most recently was part of the international inter-medial project ‘Elephants in Rooms’ facilitated by the German-UK based Gobs Squad Arts Collective. She has closely worked with the theatre stalwart Eugenio Barba and his company Odin Teatret in Denmark.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship Sharmistha will be working on the project ‘Community identity, cultural performance and value: politics of intercultural exchange between the ‘west’ and postcolonial India’ at the TISCH School of the Arts, New York University. Her work will focus on politics of community identity, cultural performances as inheritance and its associated value in the context of ‘intercultural theatre’.

Sarbeswar Sahoo

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Pentecostalism and Social Change in India and the United States
Field of Study:	Sociology
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Emory University, GA
Grant Start Month:	March 2024
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sarbeswar Sahoo is working as an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He was Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Erfurt (Germany) and Charles Wallace Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast (UK). He received his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore and has held Visiting Fellowships at University of Groningen (Netherlands), University of Cardiff (UK), University of Muenster (Germany), University of Erfurt (Germany), Roskilde University (Denmark), Queen’s University Belfast (UK), and NUS (Singapore). His research interests include Neoliberalism, Sociology of Development, and Sociology of Religion. He is the author of Civil Society and Democratization in India (Routledge, 2013) and Pentecostalism and Politics of Conversion in India (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, Dr. Sahoo aims to compare the experiences of Bhil Pentecostals in India and Black Pentecostals in the US and discuss how different cultural contexts influence peoples’ lived religious experiences and how Pentecostalism is transforming the everyday socio-political lifeworld of people at the margins. A comparison of the Bhils with the experiences of Black Pentecostals in the US will help us understand not just the “contextual” nature of religious experiences and activities, but also the relationships between religion, state and secularism.

Shiju Sam Varughese

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Affirmative Biopolitics in Post-disaster Societies: Public Engagement with Science in the Context of the Endosulfan Pesticide Disaster in Kerala, India
Field of Study:	Public Policy
Home Institution:	Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Host Institution:	Carnegie Mellon University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Shiju Sam Varughese is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSSTIP) in the School of Social Sciences of Central University of Gujarat (CUG), Gandhinagar. After receiving basic training in biology, he completed his M.Phil research on People’s Science Movements (PSMs) and doctoral research on public controversies over science in media from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Dr. Varughese works on issues related to science and democracy by employing concepts and tools from History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science. He has authored Contested Knowledge: Science, Media, and Democracy in Kerala (Oxford University Press, 2017) and co-edited Kerala Modernity: Ideas, Spaces and Practices in Transition (Orient Blackswan, 2015). His current research interests include public engagement with science and technology, risk governance, new social movements, social history of knowledge, science and technology in popular culture, and regional modernities.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, Dr. Varughese will theorise how the post-disaster societies develop new practices of care to reconstruct their life in the context of the pesticide disaster caused by the aerial spraying of Endosulfan in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod district of Kerala. He will argue that the practices of the community in the post-disaster reconstructive phase will be helpful in developing a new participatory model of risk governance to survive recurrent disasters.

Manjusha V. Shelke

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Interfacial Engineering and Electrochemical Analysis to Probe and Address Failure Mechanism of Metal-Sulphur Batteries
Field of Study:	Chemistry
Home Institution:	CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Purdue University, IN
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Manjusha Shelke is working as Principal Scientist in the Physical and Materials Chemistry division of CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Dr. Shelke is also an Associate Professor at AcSIR. She has completed her Ph.D. in chemistry from CSIR-Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute, Bhopal in 2006. She has worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Institut d’électronique de Microélectronique et de anotechnologie, CNRS, Lille, France during 2007-08 sponsored by Embassy of France in India. She has been awarded a visiting scholarship in chemical sciences by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and worked at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA during 2013-14. She has been elected as Kavli Fellow by National Academy of Sciences, USA in 2015 and as a Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences in 2018. In 2021 Science and Engineering Research Board of Govt. of India awarded her with SERB-POWER Fellowship. She has been invited as a Visiting Faculty at Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) academy since 2020 and on the research advisory board of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Bhopal in 2022. She is a materials’ chemist and her research interests are in the development of high energy electrode materials for storage devices like rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors. She has published 70 journal articles, eight book chapters, six patents granted and 10 invention disclosures filed. 11 of her students graduated with PhD. In 2021, she has founded a spin-off company “Rechargion Energy Pvt. Ltd.” to take research from her lab to the market.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence research fellow, Dr. Shelke aims to understand the failure mechanisms in Lithium-Sulphur rechargeable battery cells, address them with interfacial engineering strategies and develop a working prototype with reasonable cycle life and high specific energy.

Sadhana Naithani

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Teaching)
Project Title:	Colonial Cultural Anthropology and Folklore of Wildlife
Field of Study:	Anthropology
Home Institution:	Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sadhana Naithani is a Professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. She is the Coordinator of the Folklore Unit at JNU, an Honorary Fellow of the American Folklore Society, and the current President of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research.

She did her Ph.D. in the field of German Folkloristics. She has been interested in the transformation of the concept of folklore in different historical contexts-under British colonialism, in Germany after World War II, and in the Baltic countries under Soviet occupation. She is the author of In Quest of Indian Folktales (Indiana University Press, 2006), The Story Time of the British Empire (University Press of Mississippi, 2010), Folklore Theory in Post-war Germany (University Press of Mississippi, 2014) and Folklore in Baltic History, Resistance and Resurgence (University Press of Mississippi, 2019). Her novella: Elephantine (Red Squirrel Press, 2016) is based on her research in colonial forestry led by German scientists in British India. She is on the editorial boards of journals Marvels and Tales, Cultural Analysis, and Journal of the School of Languages.

Dr. Naithani is deeply interested in the relationship of human and non-human beings experienced in cultural-political contexts and expressed in narratives. As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar at University of California, Berkeley, she will explore the narratives of British colonizers about the wild non-human animals of the colonies. She will teach a graduate course in the Fall Semester and an undergraduate course in the Spring Semester around her research theme.

Rishiraj Adhikary

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Scaling Computational Health Using Smart Face Masks
Field of Study:	Computer Science
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Host Institution:	Carnegie Mellon University, PA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Rishiraj Adhikary is a Ph.D. student at the Computer Science Department, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, Gujarat. His research interest is in human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing and sensor-enabled embedded systems that can impact healthcare delivery or pave the way towards making healthcare more accessible. His current research focuses on retrofitting consumer-grade masks with sensors to detect lung health. His prior work has also studied the perception of people around air pollution to aid in risk communication.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he will study how contexts like human activity can be leveraged to implement opportunistic sensing techniques in smart masks. Successful research on context sensing will pave the way to preserve privacy and reduce the energy consumption of a smart face mask.

Mr. Adhikary received his B.Tech. (Electronics and Communication Engineering) from Gauhati University, Assam, where his capstone project was recognised as the best project. He has successfully conducted events targeting school children in the past where he has demonstrated prototyping tools to help students understand the basics of electronics. He also takes a keen interest in teaching undergraduate and school students.

Arya Alvernas

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	“Quilting the Feminine in Kerala: Regional and Transnational Flows of Feminist Sartorial Politics”
Field of Study:	Women’s and Gender Studies
Home Institution:	Central University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Host Institution:	Duke University, NC
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Rishiraj Adhikary is a Ph.D. student at the Computer Science Department, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, Gujarat. His research interest is in human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing and sensor-enabled embedded systems that can impact healthcare delivery or pave the way towards making healthcare more accessible. His current research focuses on retrofitting consumer-grade masks with sensors to detect lung health. His prior work has also studied the perception of people around air pollution to aid in risk communication.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he will study how contexts like human activity can be leveraged to implement opportunistic sensing techniques in smart masks. Successful research on context sensing will pave the way to preserve privacy and reduce the energy consumption of a smart face mask.

Mr. Adhikary received his B.Tech. (Electronics and Communication Engineering) from Gauhati University, Assam, where his capstone project was recognised as the best project. He has successfully conducted events targeting school children in the past where he has demonstrated prototyping tools to help students understand the basics of electronics. He also takes a keen interest in teaching undergraduate and school students.

Priya Gagansingh Thakur

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Gaucher Disease Modelling and Understanding Disease Pathology
Field of Study:	Neurosciences
Home Institution:	CSIR-Institute Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	John Hopkins University, MD
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Priya Thakur is a Ph.D. research scholar at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and integrative Biology, New Delhi, working in the field of disease modelling and CRISPR-cas genome editing. She is working towards modelling Gaucher Disease- the most common lysosomal storage disorder. It is caused due to genetic mutations in the GBA gene and is also the most common genetic risk factor for Parkinson’s Disease. She is interested in understanding the pathophysiological mechanism of the disease using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells can be differentiated into disease affected cell types and can recapitulate the disease. Through the Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship, she will work with field experts to overcome her limitations in achieving her research objectives.

Prior to joining IGIB, she worked as a project junior research fellow, to understand the role of histone proteins in breast cancer, under Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the Tata Memorial Centre-Advanced Centre for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer(TMC-ACTREC), Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. She received her master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from M.S University, Baroda, Gujarat, and her bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Mumbai University, Maharashtra. Apart from working in the lab, she enjoys watching movies, listening to music, and participating in adventure sports.

Balasubramanian Geetha

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Shifting Constructions of the Hero Figure: A Study of Vijay Sethupathi’s Stardom in Tamil Cinema
Field of Study:	Visual Arts
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Michigan State University, MI
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Balasubramanian Geetha is a Ph.D. candidate and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. She has completed her graduate and postgraduate studies in English Literature from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, and Jamia Millia Islamia, respectively. She has received the GV Subramanyam Award and Nelabhatla Memorial Prize for her academic performance in B.A. (Hons.) English. She is also a gold medallist for her highest academic standing in M.A. English.

Geetha’s doctoral dissertation specifically focuses on the emergence of the hero-star Vijay Sethupathi (VJS) to examine the shifts in the cinematic representations of the hero figure in contemporary Tamil cinema. As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, she intends to formulate an alternative framework of stardom to study the figural possibilities of VJS at the intersection of changes in narrative techniques, aesthetic constitution, and digital technologies. Through the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, she plans to engage with this research dimension by gaining infrastructural access to South Asian libraries and archives, audio-visual material, and interacting with a wider intellectual community for expanding her disciplinary knowledge in the field of Cinema Studies.

Geetha’s research interests include Literary Studies, Film and Cultural Studies, Star Studies, and South Asian Popular Culture. She has presented papers at various academic forums such as American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), The Annual Conference on South Asia, and UGC-sponsored national conferences. Her forthcoming book chapter on the anti-caste politics of the Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal (2018) will be published in the anthology titled The Routledge Companion to Caste and Cinema in India (2022).

As a performance poet, Geetha has performed her writing pieces at multiple creative platforms like Poems India, Toronto International Festival of Authors, and Airplane Poetry Movement. She is also the winner of the Delhi Poetry Festival 2015. Further, she has been a part of the theatre group ‘Expressions’ in Jamia Millia Islamia and participated in street plays and proscenium stage performances at the National School of Drama and The Shakespeare Society of India. Finally, her poems have been published in the feminist anthology entitled The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within (2021) and Pixie Dust and All Things Magical (2022).

Simardeep Kaur

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Deciphering miRNome Modulation At Reproductive Stage Drought In Rice Genotypes
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences (Plant-related)
Home Institution:	ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi
Host Institution:	Utah State University (USU), UT
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Eight months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Simardeep Kaur is a doctoral candidate in the Division of Biochemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Her doctoral thesis focuses on deciphering the microRNA related modulations in contrasting rice genotypes under drought stress. Global climate change and associated adverse effects such as drought greatly influence plant growth and development thus, affecting crop yield, quality and agricultural sustainability as well.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow she will be working with bioinformatics experts to further improve her understanding of bioinformatic tools and software for comprehensive analysis of the data generated from the molecular biology related work (mainly drought related) from wet-lab experiments. She will learn to handle large data sets like those for transcriptome, lncRNAs, miRNAs, validation techniques and their analysis so that she can integrate molecular biology with bioinformatics to develop drought tolerant agricultural crops. Therefore, work carried out during the Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship will substantiate and help speed the progression of ongoing research projects towards developing a climate-smart cultivar for sustainable food production in the near future.

She went to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana for her graduation in Biochemistry in 2017 and then attended the graduate school at PAU for her M.Sc. in Biochemistry in 2019. She worked on the Biochemical basis of leaf blight resistance in barley and published her results in a reputed journal. During her master’s, she received a gold medal for excellence in chemistry/biochemistry, a PAU merit Fellowship, the Pyara Singh Parmar award, and also represented PAU at the Indian Students Parliament held in Pune, Maharashtra. She is a recipient of the JRF and SRF from the CSIR in her Ph.D. and also cleared other national level examinations like GATE (Life Sciences), ICAR-NET, ARS-prelims, JNUEE etc.

When she is not working in her lab, Simardeep spends most of her time reading novels, cooking food for family, and exploring new places. A travel enthusiast and hodophile, she feeds her addiction by visiting as many places with her favourite Agronomist as she can.

Chandrika Konwar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Understanding the Role of SIN3 in Cancer Development using C. elegans as the Model System
Field of Study:	Bioengineering
Home Institution:	University of Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Pasadena, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Chandrika Konwar is a Ph.D. scholar at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research (ACBR), University of Delhi, Delhi. Her Ph.D. project explores the impact of gene regulation on cell death and aging which includes extensive experimentation with Caenorhabditis elegans (a nematode worm), molecular biology, microscopy and proteomics in parallel with big data and systems biology.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Konwar is studying the role of SIN3 in cancer by using C. elegans as the model system. This is expected to add new knowledge on cancer development and diagnosis and will help create the prospect of using the nematode as a disease model to elucidate the cellular and molecular markers underpinning tumorigenesis.

Prior to her Ph.D., she completed her B.Sc. (Biochemistry) and M.Sc. (Biomedical Science) from the University of Delhi. She has worked on several research projects including but not limited to finding new drug targets and natural remedies for infectious diseases like gonorrhoea and tuberculosis. She has also done some exciting interdisciplinary research on the social connotations of health and well-being within Indian sub-populations. Most of her findings have been published in reputed peer-reviewed journals and presented in conferences.

Ms. Konwar is a firm believer in open science and interdisciplinary research, and a strong proponent of science communication, public policy and sustainability. Apart from research, she devotes her time towards developing new skills and writing creative articles for different media as well as volunteering for social causes.

Prateek Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Investigating Zika Virus Capsid-Lipid and Capsid-Rna Interaction Hotspots and Inhibitor Discover
Field of Study:	Bioengineering
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
Host Institution:	Purdue University, IN
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Prateek Kumar is a Ph.D. Candidate at School of Basic Science, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. He works on different systems of viral proteins to study their folding/unfolding behaviour, disordered property, protein-protein interaction, and structure-based inhibitor designing. His research is based on understanding the protein dynamics in different environments, modulation upon interaction with lipids, and identification of inhibitors against specified targets using in-silico as well as in-vitro approaches. He has published his research works in reputed and peer-reviewed international journals.

Mr. Kumar earned an M.Sc. in Bioinformatics from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He did his B.Sc. in Zoology from University of Delhi, New Delhi. In 2018, he worked as an intern for two months in his current home institute and worked on structure-based drug discovery on viral (Zika virus, Chikungunya virus) proteins. Since then, he has developed his interest in structure biology and drug designing.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he will investigate the least explored area of capsid protein and RNA interaction of Zika Virus. He will also perform experiments to identify novel druggable molecules.

Mr. Kumar has great interest in computers and likes to learn and implement newly developed technologies. Additionally, he is fond of cooking vegetarian food.

Sourav Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Study of Hydrogeochemical Precursors to Earthquakes in northeast India
Field of Study:	Geography (including GIS and Geology)
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Sourav Kumar is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam. His doctoral research focuses on the evaluation of earthquake-induced changes in groundwater composition, commonly known as hydro-geochemical earthquake precursors (associated with the slow accumulation of tectonic stress in the Earth’s crust) in northeast India.

Mr. Kumar obtained his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, in 2016. He completed his master’s degree in Earth System Science and Engineering under the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, in 2018. He received the MHRD-GATE Fellowship for two years of his M.Tech. in 2016, where he studied the spatio-temporal variability in India’s groundwater storage using GRACE data. As his research expanded and segued into his doctoral research, he has presented his work at international conferences in 2019 and 2021.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, his primary objective is to understand the links between earthquakes and hydrological/hydro-geochemical variation that could be used as basic scientific input required for an impending earthquake prediction at both national and international levels. The proposed study could be used to correlate datasets from northeast India with those from other parts of the world such as Iceland, Japan, Korea, Italy, China, and the United States, that have reported similar earthquake-induced changes in groundwater composition.

In addition to his academic engagements, he also led the cricket team of IIT Guwahati at the ‘All-India Inter-IIT Sports Meet’ during 2017-19 and held several student representative posts at the institutional level throughout his college years.

Chandrashekhar Lakavath

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Shear Behavior of Ultra-High-Performance Post-Tensioned Concrete Beams
Field of Study:	Materials Science (with emphasis on environmental applications)
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Iowa State University, IA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Chandrashekhar Lakavath is a Ph.D. scholar at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-Hyderabad), Telangana. He holds M.Tech. in Structural Engineering from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, in 2018 and a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from JNTUH College of Engineering-Manthani, Telangana, in 2015. He worked as a graduate engineer trainee at Patil Rail Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd and has research experience of one year at IIT Hyderabad under the guidance of Prof. S. Suriya Prakash.

He is interested in developing Ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC), Lightweight concrete, and guidelines for shear design. Currently, he is working on understanding the shear behavior of post-tensioned ultra-high-performance fiber reinforced concrete beams. He also developed a UHPC concrete using locally available materials in India, which is most needed in the construction industry. He has published seven reputed peer-reviewed international journals and four international conference proceedings.

Mr. Lakavath received the best research work awards for two consecutive years at Civil Conclave 2020 and 2021, organized by IIT Roorkee. He received the prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) and National Fellowship and Scholarship for Higher Education of ST Students (NFST) for his doctoral research. Mr. Lakavath has collaborations with Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, IOWA State University, Cleveland State University and the University of Birmingham.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow, Lakavath will be developing a shear capacity prediction model for post-tensioned ultra-high performance concrete beams. It will fulfil the need for both design and research engineers to estimate the shear capacity of bridge girders.

Chinar Mehta

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Interface as Knowledge-In-Practice: A Feminist Analysis of New Media Development in India
Field of Study:	Women’s and Gender Studies
Home Institution:	University of Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Carnegie Mellon University, PA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Chinar Mehta is a doctoral scholar and Research Assistant, working at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad. She has presented at conferences and seminars held by the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), and Frames of Reference organized by the School of Media and Cultural Studies, TISS. In 2021, she was also selected to be part of the Doctoral Colloquium at the annual AoIR conference. As a Research Assistant at FemLabCo, she researches labor conditions in the sanitation sector in Hyderabad. FemLabCo is a research project funded by the International Development Research Centre which research how digital tools can be leveraged by women workers to get better bargaining power in a precarious labor market.

Ms. Mehta’s doctoral research pertains to the people, tools, and practices involved in software development, and what that means for the design new media technologies. For this, she draws from theoretical work in feminist media studies, science and technology studies, and cultural studies. She continues this research at Carnegie Mellon University with Dr Sarah Fox, to get guidance with interdisciplinary research that aims to make meaningful and specific claims about what technologies allow and disallow.

Ms. Mehta received her masters’ degree in Media and Cultural Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences at Mumbai. She has received prior training in Information and Communication Technology through her bachelors’ degree from Dhirubhai Ambani Insitute of Information and Communication Technology. She worked as a software developer for 2 years before joining TISS.

Ankita Nandi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Architectures for Analog Neuromorphic Probabilistic Processor
Field of Study:	machine learning and big data analytics)
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Science, Karnataka
Host Institution:	Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Ankita Nandi is a Ph.D. scholar at the NeuRonICS Lab, Department of Electronic Systems engineering (DESE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. She is interested in designing low power VLSI circuits using digital, analog and mixed signal techniques for error resilient applications. She takes keen interest in computations in the probabilistic domain and is developing circuits which accommodate them. Apart from these, she is also interested in approximate computing, image processing applications and error correction decoders. She has communicated and published her work in prestigious international journals and conferences.

Ms. Nandi has been the 5th rank holder in her pre-university board examinations. She received her B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya with the President Gold Medal and the Institute Gold Medal. She completed her M.Tech. from the Electrical Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar. She has also been selected as the Prime Minister’s Research Fellow (PMRF) in August 2021 and is availing this scholarship instead of the institutional fellowship.

Ms. Nandi wants to design a low power Analog Neuromorphic Probabilistic Processor for real-time deployment in portable and hand-held products during her tenure of Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship.

Additionally, Nandi is an avid orator and holds a diploma in painting. Being a food lover, Nandi also enjoys cooking different cuisines and loves listening to music.

Nijesh P

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Assessment in Groundwater Dynamics in Khulgad Watershed of Kosi Basin
Field of Study:	Geography (including GIS and Geology)
Home Institution:	Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	Pennsylvania State University, PA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Nijesh P is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geology, Centre for Advanced Study, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Nijesh specializes in hydrogeology. He is well-versed in hydrological field investigation, hydrogeochemical analysis, hydrogeochemical modelling, remote sensing and GIS, mineral identification and exploration, and geophysical survey. He has published papers in various reputed national and international journals. The most recent one deals with the study of isotopic characteristics and water quality with emphasis on fluoride in the water-scarce Lalitpur district of the Bundelkhand region in India.

Nijesh holds a master’s degree in Applied Geology from Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where he passed with first class. He has worked as a Junior Research fellow at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, before enrolling into his doctorate program. He is a hodophile and loves to explore new destinations. He also has a keen interest in music and is an amateur guitarist.

Nijesh is pursuing a doctoral program on “Hydrogeological and Isotopic evolution of springs and their management strategies in a micro watershed of Kosi River basin at Kumaun Lesser Himalaya Uttarakhand, India.” He is widening his research data and inferences further at Penn State University through the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship. The research opens a new door toward the methodologies and parameters used in hydrogeology for the study of springs.

Rojalin Padhan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Exploring The Signatures of the Dark Matter and Neutrino Mass Models at The Proposed Muon Collider
Field of Study:	Bacterial Nanowires
Home Institution:	Institute of Physics, Odisha
Host Institution:	University of Pittsburgh, PA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Rojalin Padhan is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Her doctoral thesis focuses on phenomenological implications of beyond the Standard Model theories, the theory of neutrino mass generation, and dark matter. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed international journals, and she has presented at several national and international conferences.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Gangadhar Meher College, Sambalpur, Odisha, and a master’s degree in Physics from Sambalpur University, Odisha. She has qualified in examinations such as the JEST, Joint CSIR-UGC JRF-NET, and GATE. She also holds a Diploma in Advanced Physics from the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Apart from Physics, she has an interest in social work. She enjoys spending time on the beach and in the mountains, as well as gardening. She loves to travel to different places and to meet people of various cultures.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, she is exploring the potential reach of the proposed multi-TeV Muon Collider to search for beyond the Standard Model particles. She is primarily working on collider signatures of models that predict dark matter candidates and address the origin of the observed neutrino masses.

Abhishesh Pal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Development and Enhancement of Real-Time Monitoring Device for in-field testing of Soil Parameters
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences (Plant related)
Home Institution:	Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Telangana
Host Institution:	University of Illinois, IL
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Abhishesh Pal is a Ph.D. scholar at the MEMS, Mechatronics, and Nanoelectronics Lab (MMNE), BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad. Mr. Pal intends to work on point-of-care devices by miniaturization of sensors for its application to detect and monitor soil and environmental parameters. This can facilitate deeper penetration of modern technology at a lower cost of utilization.

Mr. Pal earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, (AKTU), and a master’s degree in Nanotechnology from Karnataka’s National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (NITK). During his master’s degree, he utilized marine resources such as shells and bones of marine organisms to work on a patented process for dramatically lowering the sintering temperature of porous ceramic, which can be employed in biomedical applications such as bone scaffolds. He did an extensive study on the effects of combustible pore formers on biocompatible ceramics and optimized various parameters to develop porous scaffolds with required mechanical properties. During his master’s and ongoing doctoral degree, he published research articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he filed a patent for a device that uses the colorimetric approach to detect and monitor soil macronutrients.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he will enhance the miniaturized device developed by him to detect soil macronutrients and facilitate data monitoring as well by using machine learning approach such that various soil types can be covered. He wishes to develop a simple and low-cost device to bridge the gap between technology and the farming community in the world.

Having stayed in various parts of India he has developed a keen interest in Indian culture and understands six Indian languages. Also, he is a sports enthusiast and likes to spend his free time cooking and watching movies.

Shubham Pande

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	RRAM Device Optimization for Dense Crossbar Array Applications
Field of Study:	Computer Science (including
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Shubham Pande is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Electrical Engineering department of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His doctoral research primarily focuses on the characterization and modeling of Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM). He is also interested in electro-thermal analysis, compact modeling of electronic devices, and BiCMOS process development. He is an awardee of the prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship in 2020.

The proposed work under Fulbright-Nehru grant aims to develop strategies for reducing operating current in RRAM devices. This proposal will attempt to address this challenge by optimizing device structure using Multiphysics simulations, compact modeling, and experimental validation. Successful completion of this work will help set design guidelines and develop a fundamental understanding of the technology.

Apart from research, Shubham’s hobbies include reading, traveling, and watching movies.

Kadiguang Panmei

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Sonic Histories: Archiving the Aural Past of the Zeliangruang (Zeliangrong) Nagas
Field of Study:	Anthropology
Home Institution:	Tata Institute for Social Sciences, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Kadiguang Panmei is a doctoral fellow at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and his research is focussed on the documentation and preservation of Zeliangruang (Zeliangrong) Naga folk music. He holds a master’s degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi university, an MPhil in Social Sciences from TISS Mumbai and is also a certified audio engineer and music producer from ILM academy.

As a member of the tribal community of the Ruangmei (Rongmei) Nagas from Manipur in northeast India, his interests in research include the study of tribal culture from its myriad perspectives on food, the arts, geopolitics and more. He is a recipient of the UGC JRF (2016) for conducting his MPhil-Ph.D. research and was awarded the emerging scholar award at the international food studies conference (2019) held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan for the presentation of his MPhil paper. He was also awarded the Sahapedia–UNESCO Fellowship in 2019 to conduct research on the aural history of the Ruangmei Nagas of Manipur.

He believes that research on music should include a union of both the sonorities of music and the lexical narratives behind its histories and philosophies. His Ph.D. research on Zeliangruang Naga folk music therefore considers not only the important need of the written word but also, the preservation of folk songs and music through recordings and audio archiving.

The Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship for him is a crucial step towards not only completing his Ph.D. research but his vision to document and preserve folk music and to facilitate the recovery of dying oral traditions from the northeast region of India. Through his work, he hopes to add more to the growing stock of research on the people of north east India, uncovering the plethora of ethno-cultural knowledge that this remote region of India has to offer. When he is not reading or writing for his research, he likes to cook, produce music and play the guitar.

Altaf Pasha

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Achieving Photostability in Mixed-Halide Perovskites for Tandem Solar Cells
Field of Study:	Material Science (with emphasis on environmental applications)
Home Institution:	Jain University, Karnataka
Host Institution:	Rice University, TX
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Altaf Pasha is a PhD scholar at the Centre for Nano & Material Sciences (CNMS), Jain University, Bangalore. His research is focused on developing solar photovoltaic materials and devices with a commitment to solve global energy crisis and contribute to India’s renewable energy target. He is working towards making perovskite solar cells a viable technology by focusing on efficiency, stability, and scaling. His research has been published in reputed peer-reviewed international journals and international conference proceedings.

Prior to joining Jain, he received his BSc (Physics) from SSMRV College and MSc (Physics) from National College Jayanagar. After his MSc, he worked as a research scholar at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), Germany on a collaborative project with major photovoltaics industry partners. He later joined Photo and Electrocatalysis Research Group at Jain to focus on fabrication of new generation solar cells.

He has also worked as a part-time (four semesters) assistant professor at Department of Postgraduate Studies & Research in Physics at the National College and has guided a few students in projects leading to multiple publications.

In his Fulbright fellowship, Mr. Altaf is studying phase segregation mechanism in mixed halide perovskites, to fabricate photostable tandem solar cells, with a view to futuristic renewable energy technologies.

Mr. Altaf is an avid STEM communicator. He serves as a part-time curator in BV Jagadeesh Science Centre, he has delivered public lectures and moderated debates on important public policies. He is also a Kannada theatre artist and enjoys interconnecting arts with science.

Zahra Rizvi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Better Futures: Exploring the Political Ecology of the Dystopia
Field of Study:	Language and Literature
Home Institution:	Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
Host Institution:	Yale University, CT
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Zahra Rizvi is a Ph.D. Scholar and Senior Research Fellow at the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her research area is an intersection of 21st Century popular culture, literature and media of the United States and the Americas, Urban Studies, Utopia/Dystopia Studies, Youth Activism, and Game Studies. Rizvi studies the political ecology of urban dystopias at this intersection to transform academia in its orientation towards ‘future studies’. Rizvi has presented papers at numerous national and international conferences and has publications in various online and print journals.

Rizvi holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Delhi, New Delhi, where she graduated as a double gold medallist. She is the founding-member of the Indian chapter of Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). She was the Ministry of Education (MHRD) SPARC Fellow in Digital Humanities at Michigan State University, MI, in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the Electronic Literature Organization Fellowship to work on media archaeology and e-lit practices in South Asia. In 2022, she was awarded the International Youth Library (IYL) Fellowship to conduct research at IYL, Germany, and access their resources, archives and database, for her research in Children’s and Young Adult literary practices and communities, youth activism, and ethical and transformative digital futurisms.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow at Yale University, Rizvi will further her doctoral research considerations and study urban dystopias, their political ecology, and the global/local/glocal responses to the same in contemporary times, especially from South Asian and East Asian perspectives. The Fulbright-Nehru program enables her to study the planetary flows of being and information that underlie the global dystopian condition in contemporary times and explore and conceptualise ‘better futures’ based on safe and sustainable ethics of care.

Meghna Rohit Amin

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Enough Fishy Business, We Are Washing Our Hands Off: Young Mogaveera Women and Intergenerational Occupational Mobility within the Fishing Community of Karnataka
Field of Study:	Anthropology
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	University of Washington, WA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Meghna Rohit Amin is a doctoral candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. Her doctoral research examines the intergenerational occupational shift among the head-loading Mogaveera women who constitute the matrilineal fishing community of coastal Karnataka in India. Primarily based on fieldwork and ethnographic narratives, the study locates the constant deliberation of the Mogaveera women with fishing which is their caste occupation.

Ms. Amin’s dissertation for her master’s degree in Sociology from the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities was also on the Mogaveera women. The research study is titled “Putting Food on the Table: A Period Study on the Head Loading Mogaveera Women.” After her graduation, she joined an advocacy group where she worked as a digital campaigner and ran campaigns for the rights of marginalized communities, combating air pollution, and raising awareness about climate change. She also taught English to high school children in Udaipur, managed a restaurant in Manipal, and served as a barista at a cafe in Bengaluru.

She has been selected for the award of ICSSR full-term centrally administered Doctoral Fellowship for 2021-22. As a Fulbright-Nehru recipient, Ms. Amin is keen to collaboratively interpret ethnographic narratives and accounts at the intersectionality of caste, class, and gender in relation to occupational mobility within the discipline of native anthropology.

Ajay Salunkhe

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Tracing the Gaze- Photographic representations of India in the United States of the 1980s
Field of Study:	History
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam
Host Institution:	John Hopkins University, MD
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Ajay Salunkhe is a doctoral student in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. His doctoral research is located in the intertwined histories of photography, archaeology, and museum movement. His doctoral dissertation titled, Framing the Nation: How Museums Tell Stories of India Through Photographs, enquires into the shifting and layered relationship between museums and photographs in post-independent India. He is interested in the potential of photographs to communicate ideas and establish power relations by telling (or not telling) the story of India through her museums, as well as the dynamics of the interactions between visitors and photographs in museum space.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, his research aims to probe the institutional use of photography in the museum and curatorial practices, both in India and abroad, that contributed to the post-colonial Indian imagination, with special reference to the use of photographs in the Festival of India in the US (1985-1986).

He has several years of curatorial, exhibiting, and education experience as part of a museum’s outreach program, which has lent depth and dialogue to his research. He can be found taking long walks at any hour of the day, catching Pokémon, when he is not reading.

Ms. Sanskriti

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Improving Homology directed repair in Plants using Protoplast Engineering
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences
Home Institution:	National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Punjab
Host Institution:	University of Minnesota, MN
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Sanskriti is a Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPM) fellow at the Agri-Biotechnology Division of National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali, Punjab. She is particularly passionate about changing the perspective of the people of our country regarding genetically modified (GM) crops, making them aware about the potential offered by advanced biotechnological tools and how they can help humanity in the future. She is interested in the cutting-edge technology of CRISPR/Cas, especially because of its potential to generate non-transgenic plants with desired mutations much more quickly than any other breeding practice.

Because of this interest, in her Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Sanskriti is experimenting with the potential of sgRNA/Cas ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) to produce precise mutations in protoplasts of major crops and generate whole plants thereof. The plants will be free from any foreign substances because of the short half-life of RNPs, and therefore have a potential for general public acceptance.

Before joining NABI, Sanskriti received both her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Botany from Panjab University, Chandigarh. She received a DST-INSPIRE Scholarship throughout her B.Sc. and M.Sc. programs. She was a gold medallist in her bachelor’s, and ranked 11th in the CSIR-UGC-JRF, 2017. She availed the UGC Junior Research Fellowship till December 2019. From January 2020, she has been working as an Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPM) fellow at NABI. Her work has been published in reputed international journals and she has also presented her work in multiple reputed international conferences.

Anchal Sharma

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Study of Cognitive Science of Tactile Diagrams
Field of Study:	Neuroscience
Home Institution:	Asian Development Research Institute, Delhi
Host Institution:	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Anchal Sharma is a Ph.D. candidate at IIT Delhi. Her research encompasses tactile perception of objects in the visually challenged. Drawn towards innovations exercising imagination, scientific thinking, and strong user empathy, she has mentored and participated in diverse social innovation projects and won two awards by IISc, Bangalore and IIT-Delhi with her team. She has led and been a speaker in events propagating innovation including those by AIM, NITI AYOG.

She completed her M.Des. in Industrial design (from SPA, New Delhi) and interned at GVIC, PepsiCo, India. She was acknowledged for her thesis work for integrating cultural spatial forms in a unique product using principles of light and shadows to educate children about unity. The project was sponsored by the Design Clinic Scheme by GoI and NID and was featured as a finalist in Toycathon 2021 and TISDC 2018. During her B.Arch. she emerged as a 2nd ranker both for her thesis work on ‘a school for experiential learning’ and overall 5-year academic performance.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, she will analyse how to better convey three-dimensionality in two-dimensional tactile stimuli. Although layered and complex, she believes with continual deep-work and problem-solving acumen, this work can profoundly advance and contribute towards accessible STEM education for those without vision.

She believes in a multi-faceted growth and commends the perseverance sports can bring to life. She has played Throwball at National level and won silver medal (Badminton) at college level. Being perceptive towards life, she exercises self-expression through art, writing, and short videos.

Vaishali Thakkur

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Speeding up Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Simulations For Modelling Enzymatic Reactions
Field of Study:	Chemistry
Home Institution:	Indian institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Vaishali Thakkur is a Ph.D. scholar at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), Uttar Pradesh. Her research focuses on modelling enzymatic reactions using density functional based on the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) technique. As a part of her doctoral thesis, she works with the QM/MM method, along with various enhanced sampling techniques, to study the underlying mechanism for antibiotic resistance. She is also interested in identifying and addressing the bottleneck in these calculations to make them more efficient. Apart from science, she enjoys spending her time learning new languages and playing with her color palette.

Prior to joining IITK as a research scholar, she completed her bachelor’s and master’s in Chemistry from Delhi University and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD), respectively. She has been a recipient of the merit cum means scholarship for her performance at IITD. She also has a year-long experience of working as an online educator and content reviewer at Chegg India Pvt. Ltd.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, she will work with experts to understand and implement a new electrostatic embedding scheme in the existing QM/MM framework. The aim is to develop a model that is accurate and affordable at the same time. The introduction of such a method would be beneficial for people modelling reactions in complex biological systems, where the computation of these electrostatic interactions proves to be time consuming.

Akshay U Nair

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Unravelling the Molecular Circuits Governing Acquired Stress Tolerance in Plants
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences (Plant related)
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
Host Institution:	Pennsylvania State University, PA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Akshay U Nair is a Ph.D. scholar at the Department of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Tirupati. The major interest of research is understanding the molecular mechanisms underpinning the plant acquired stress response(s). He is trying to correlate the key transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic pathways to get a deeper understanding of the stress memory mechanism in plants. Identifying the vital regulatory modules could aid in engineering abiotic stress-resilient crops.

He completed his master’s from the Department of Plant Science, Central University of Kerala. He has been a summer research fellow (2019) of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He has qualified for some of the national-level competitive exams including CSIR-Net, GATE, JGEEBILS.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he will be investigating how the transgenerational inheritance of acquired stress tolerance occurs in plants. The outputs of this research will be helpful in connecting the altered gene regulatory networks with epigenetic modifications induced by specific abiotic stresses in plants.

He spends his non-research hours playing football and venturing into short stories. He is also interested in cooking and exploring new places.

Amal Vijay

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	“RNA breathing” in L7Ae protein–RNA recognition: A Computational Study
Field of Study:	Chemistry
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Amal Vijay is pursuing his Ph.D. from the Computational Chemistry and Biophysics group, Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. His current area of research focuses on studying the mechanism of various biomolecular recognition processes, specifically protein-drug and protein-protein interactions and secondary interactions in nucleotides using advanced molecular dynamics simulation techniques.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the Loyola College, Chennai, India, and his master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. He is a recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is honored by the Rashtrapati Scout award, an award presented by the President of India for his achievement in scouting.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, Vijay is interested in understanding the scope of “RNA breathing” in RNA – protein recognition process using molecular dynamics simulation methods aided by enhanced sampling techniques in computational chemistry. The proposed study project can provide a significant impact on the role of RNA-based drug design for the cure of various diseases.

Aditya Vijaykumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Astrophysical Interpretation of Gravitational-Wave Large-Scale Structure Probes
Field of Study:	Bacterial Nanowires
Home Institution:	International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR), Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	University of Chicago, IL
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Seven months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Aditya Vijaykumar is a Ph.D. candidate in the Astrophysical Relativity group at ICTS-TIFR in Bengaluru, working on various aspects of physics, astrophysics, cosmology with gravitational waves. Before joining ICTS-TIFR, he was an undergraduate student at BITS-Pilani, where he received a dual degree in Physics and Mechanical Engineering in 2018.

As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, Vijaykumar plans to work on understanding gravitational-wave observations from the perspective of cosmological large-scale structure. The advantage of this approach is two-fold: one can confirm existing cosmological inferences from other probes, and independently understand formation environments and mechanisms of the detected gravitational-wave events.

Mr. Vijaykumar is also active in the Bengaluru theatre circuit, as a part of the theatre company StageCraft. Most recently, he was the co-producer of ZOOMED IN!, an online theatre production featuring actors situated across two time zones. He also is an ardent lover of films and runs a film-analysis podcast called Cut to Scene! with a friend.

Sanyogita Chadha

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Jawaharlal Nehru University, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	Pearl Academy, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sanyogita Chadha is a Professor of Fashion Design and the Regional Director at Pearl Academy, Bengaluru, Karnataka. She has a PhD in Anthropometry and has over three decades of experience in the fashion industry and academia. Dr. Chadha has held leadership positions at Karnavati University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and at the Gurukul School of Design, Jaipur, Rajasthan. She is a Board Member of Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, Gujarat, and she is on the Advisory Board at STYLUMIA, an Artificial Intelligence Company that offers analytics solutions for the fashion industry. She has been a jury member for PhD candidates at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, a federal public institute established in 2006.

Home Institution: Pearl Academy is an autonomous institution in the field of creative education with schools of design, fashion, contemporary media, and creative practice. With campuses in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, the institution has received awards and recognition for design education from business organizations and the media. There are currently over 3,000 students enrolled across its four campuses.

Chelliah Thangaraj

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Vignan s Foundation for Science, Guntur, Arunachal Pradesh
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Chelliah Thangaraj was the Director of the National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTR), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, from April 2017 to May 2022. NITTR is an institution under the Indian Ministry of Education. At present, Dr. Thangaraj is an Honorary Distinguished Professor at the Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research (VFSTR) in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Before joining NITTTR, Bhopal, he was the Vice Chancellor at Vignan University. He was also the founding Vice Chancellor of Anna University of Technology, Chennai, a state public university in Tamil Nadu. He has been a Commonwealth Academic Fellow at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom; a DAAD Senior Fellow at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and a Visiting Scientist at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He started his research career in water-power system planning using different techniques, such as, parallel processing, remote sensing, and GIS technologies. His current focus is on real-time system planning using big-data tools and machine learning algorithms. As the Director of NITTTR, Bhopal, he studied the impact of new teaching techniques to improve staff and student performance and the effect of government policy on engineering education in India.

Home Institution: Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research (VFSTR) was established in 2008 and is the third oldest university in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In 2015, the institution received an A-grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, the highest body in India responsible for quality assurance of higher education institutions. The University received the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) recognition for five undergraduate engineering programs and was ranked in the top 100 for the university category by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Indian Ministry of Education. The University offers undergraduate, MA and PhD programs in engineering, science, humanities, business, and pharmacy. Since 2020, the university runs an Institute of Law offering bachelor’s degrees and an integrated law degree.

Rajnish Jain

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rajnish Jain is Secretary at the University Grants Commission (UGC), which is the highest regulatory agency for higher education in India. Under his stewardship, the UGC has made significant advances in promoting quality higher education and implementing the National Education Policy 2020 in areas of multidisciplinary and holistic education, governance and curricular reforms, internationalization, skill education, digitalization of higher education, along with increasing access and promotion of gender and social equity in higher education. For over 33 years, Dr. Jain has made significant contributions as a teacher, researcher, trainer, administrator, and policymaker. Before his appointment as Secretary of UGC, he was a Professor at the Institute of Management Studies at Devi Ahilya University, Indore, and Nirma University, Ahmedabad, among other institutions. He has developed several academic courses and programs and has organized management development and training programs for organization of the public and private sector. His research and publications are in quality education, value-based education, services management, strategic management, and customer experience. He has guided 15 PhD research scholars. He represented India in numerous bilateral and multilateral forums for effective external stakeholder relationships and strategic engagement with foreign countries.

Home Institution: The University Grants Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 1956 and is a statutory body under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Education. The organization is responsible for coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education in the country. India has a large postsecondary education system with more than 1,000 universities and over 42,000 colleges. The number of students enrolled in higher education is currently about 40 million across India. The UGC undertakes initiatives for access, equity, quality, affordability, accountability, excellence, and internationalization in higher education. It provides regulatory architecture, policy frameworks and guidelines, along with financial support to higher education institutions, faculty members and students. The UGC’s main office is in New Delhi, and it has six regional centers in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, and Bengaluru.

Nandakumar Kalarikkal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Nandakumar Kalarikkal is a Professor at the School of Pure and Applied Physics at Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kottayam, Kerala. He serves as a member of the University Syndicate (a statutory body of MGU), the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), the University Research Committee (URC), and the University Centre for International Cooperation (UCIC). His areas of research interest are nanostructured materials and applications; water, food and health security; circular economy; climate change; laser-matter interactions and computational nanoscience, and nanotechnology. He has organized several international seminars and workshops at MGU and delivered lectures at national and international conferences. He is the recipient of a number of national and international research awards and grants and has established state-of-the-art research facilities at MGU. Dr. Kalarikkal has supervised 30 master’s thesis and 25 doctoral dissertations. He holds six patents, and he has authored more than 30 books. He has produced more than 400 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of 43 and 7,000 citations. He received a Master of Science degree in Industrial Physics and a PhD in Semiconductor Physics from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala.

Home Institution: Mahatma Gandhi University is a state public university in Kottayam, Kerala. Established in 1983, the university offers a range of programs at the postgraduate, MPhil and PhD levels. In 2020, MGU wan the Chancellor’s Award for Best University in Kerala, and The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the highest body of assessment and accreditation for higher education in India, granted MGU an A grade. In 2022, the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF) by the Indian Ministry of Education ranked MGU at the 31st position for the “university” category, and 52nd for the “overall” category.

Nithyananda Kallur Venkateshmurthy

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Nithyananda Kallur Venkateshmurthy is a faculty member and Chair of the General Management Program at the Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu (IIM Trichy). He has more than 25 years of experience in teaching and consulting, both in academia and industry. Dr. Nithyananda teaches courses on legal aspects of business, marketing, entrepreneurship, technology management, and strategic management of intellectual property rights (SMIPR) at IIM Trichy. He has been teaching the SMIPR course in France for the last ten years. Before France, he has taught it in Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. He has published extensively in national and international journals, he is the author of three books, and he is currently working on two manuscripts. He has published three case studies in the Harvard Business School Case Repository.

He has trained over 500 executives and more than 1,000 faculty members on various legal aspects of business and intellectual property rights. He is currently establishing a Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office (TTCO) and an Incubation Center at IIM Trichy. He is also a Member of the International Relations Committee at the institute. He is also a Board Member for two private companies, and he serves as a consultant for a number of corporations.

Home Institution: IIM Trichy was established in 2011 by the Indian Ministry of Education. It offers three MBA programs in General Management, Human Resources and Executive MBA, and two doctoral programs (regular full-time PhD and part-time executive PhD). The student enrolment is currently around 1,000 and there are 35 full-time faculty members. IIM Trichy is currently ranked 17th by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Indian Ministry of Education, in the “management” category.

Rachna Khare

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rachna Khare is a Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. SPA Bhopal has been declared an Institution of National Importance conferred by Parliament of India. Dr. Khare has served in several administrative roles at the institution. Her research interests are in the field of universal design and designing for individuals with special needs, which have earned her national and international grants and awards. In 2016, she was conferred the Inspired Teacher recognition by the President of India and was a Scholar-in-Residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, as part of the program. In 2007, she received a Fulbright Doctoral and Professional Research fellowship. Dr. Khare has conducted several sponsored research projects with the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the University Grants Commission, and the Design Innovation Center Project of the Indian Ministry of Education. She has delivered talks in several countries on inclusive design and has more than 50 papers in various national and international journals and conferences. She has written three books and edited more than 15 peer-reviewed journals. She established the Centre for Human-Centric Research (CHCR), an organization that seeks to build a body of knowledge to address the design needs of diverse human populations, historically marginalized by common design practices.

Home Institution: The School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, is an Institution of National Importance founded in 2008. The institute offers quality education in the fields of spatial planning and architecture. Ranked among the top ten in the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF) by the Indian Ministry of Education, the institution offers two undergraduate, seven postgraduate and doctoral programs in architecture, planning, design, conservation, landscape, urban design, urban planning, environmental planning, and transportation planning and management. It has a multidisciplinary faculty, state-of-the-art laboratories and research centers.

Aseem Prakash

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Aseem Prakash is the Deputy Director and Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad. He is also the Coordinator of the International Relations Office (IRO), as well as the Coordinator of the Doctoral Student Office (DSO) at TISS, Hyderabad. Dr. Prakash has more than 20 years of experience in research and teaching, which includes time at the University of Oxford on the Fell Fund Fellowship. He designed the course curriculum of the Master of Arts in Public Policy and Governance at TISS, Hyderabad. His research interests are regulation and institutions, sociology of markets, interface between the state and markets, social discrimination, and human development.

Home Institution: Established in 1936, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences receives funding from the Indian Ministry of Education. TISS has a unique approach to teaching, research, and practice (including community outreach) that supports the application of theory to address real life issues. With four campuses in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Tuljapur, TISS offers three undergraduate, 50 masters, and 18 PhD programs in a range of interdisciplinary areas of applied social sciences. The institute also offers 30 bachelor’s degrees in vocational studies. TISS has more than 50 active collaborations with some of the best universities and institutions across the globe that support research, student, and faculty exchange. After completing their program, students secure jobs with government, civil society, international agencies and corporates.

Sanjita Sharma

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Post graduate Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sanjita Sharma is the Head of the Livestock Production Management and Dean of the Postgraduate Institute of Veterinary Education and Research (PIVER), Jaipur, Rajasthan. The Institute is affiliated with the Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, a state public university in Rajasthan. She has received many prestigious awards and recognition for her outstanding academic performance. She has been involved in teaching, research and extension activities in veterinary and animal sciences for the last thirty years. She has supervised master and doctoral student work in veterinary and animal sciences. She has served as faculty for two years at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Her field of research is livestock in organic farming systems, and milk quality and safety. She has handled various extramural research projects and published peer-reviewed articles in various national and international journals. She has implemented various skill-based initiatives for the promotion of entrepreneurship among students, and has been involved in animal welfare, ethics, and environmental sustainability.

Home Institution: The Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, Rajasthan, is a state agricultural university, with campuses in 22 districts in the state. The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programs in veterinary and animal science, dairy and food science technology, as well as one in applied veterinary and animal science.

Ruheela Sheikh Hassan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Islamic University of Science and Technology, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Ruheela Sheikh Hassan is a Senior Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. She is both in charge of the Documentation, Printing and Publication Centre (DPPC) and the Media Advisor and Coordinator for Community Media and Community Outreach. Dr. Hassan has served as the Deputy Director of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of the IUST. She started the first community newspaper and community radio station in Kashmir and is the founder-editor of the campus newspaper. In her role as a member of the Board of Studies and the Board of Research Studies at IUST, University of Kashmir and Cluster University of Kashmir, she has been involved in drafting the university statutes and curriculum. She regularly contributes Urdu entries to Media Dictionary, an online media literacy initiative. She has more than 20 research publications and she presented in more than 50 national and international conferences. She is associated with the Press Information Bureau, the nodal agency disseminating news from the Government of India to the media and for training journalists. She is also associated with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT-J&K), an organization dedicated to training teacher educators. She has worked with organizations, such as Eenadu Television (a regional language television channel in Hyderabad), Child Rights and You (CRY), and the Agha Khan Development Network. She has submitted four research projects funded by the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), National Council for Rural Institutes (NCRI), Jammu and Kashmir Directorate of Information and Public Relations and IUST.

Home Institution: The Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) is a state public university established in 2005. The university was ranked in the band “performer” category at the national level in the 2021 in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement (ARIIA), an Indian Ministry of Education initiative to rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in the country on indicators related to innovation and entrepreneurship development. The University has been rated as a high-performing institution in the implementation of Rashtriya Ucchatar Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a federal-aid program to boost the performance of state funded universities.

Sulochana Shekhar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sulochana Shekhar is the Head of the Department of Geography, and the Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, at the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN), Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu. Dr. Shekhar is the Registrar (in-charge) and has served as Coordinator of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and Presiding Officer of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at CUTN. Her field of research is urban geography and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. Her expertise is in applying geospatial technology in urban mapping, monitoring and management. She has guided five PhD research scholars in this area. She has participated in geography and geospatial science conferences in India and abroad, she has published more than 50 articles in national and international journals and authored three books.

Home Institution: The Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) was established in 2009. The vision of the institution is to pursue excellence in teaching and research in science and technology, humanities, law, languages, social sciences, performing arts and sports. In 2022, the university was ranked 85 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Indian Ministry of Education. The institution has 27 teaching and research departments spread across 12 schools with 165 faculty members and 4 centers for teaching and research at its Main Campus in Thiruvarur. These schools offer 57 degrees, as well as a few diploma and certificate courses. Currently, the total number of students enrolled is 2,267 and there are 152 research scholars on campus.

Rakesh Vaid

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	University of Jammu, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir
Host Institution:	George Washington University, DC
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two weeks

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rakesh Vaid is Professor, Department of Electronics, University of Jammu, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He has more than 31 years of teaching and research experience. He is a member of various national and international professional organizations. He has served in various leadership positions at the University of Jammu. From 2013 to 2014, he was the general secretary of the Jammu University Teachers’ Association.

Dr. Vaid has received several awards and fellowships during his career, which includes the University Gold Medal for securing first rank in MSc Electronics, University of Kashmir. He has more than 100 publications in national and international journals. He has diverse research interests, which include nano devices, high k dielectrics, device modelling and simulation, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based devices, solar cells and others.

Institutional Statement: The University of Jammu is a state university established in 1969. It is currently ranked 56th in the University category in the 2022 National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Education, Government of India. The institute received an A-grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, the highest body in India responsible for quality assurance of higher education institutions. From the academic year 2005-2006, the University started admission of foreign students by offering few courses that would be of relevance to a global audience. The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs and affiliates and recognizes colleges.

Harssh A. Poddar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Indian Police Service, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	July 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Mr. Harssh A Poddar is an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS) borne on the Maharashtra cadre. He is an Oxford-educated lawyer and a Chevening scholar who has worked in corporate law with a magic circle law firm in London, before returning to India to pursue a career in law enforcement. He is presently posted as the Commanding Officer of the Maharashtra armed police in Amravati.

A recipient of the Best Officer Award and the Home Minister’s Award for National Integration during the IPS training, Mr. Poddar has strived to change the perception of citizens towards the police. His work has focused on youth empowerment and deradicalization. The Maharashtra Police Youth Parliament Project, conceptualized by him, created an outreach of over 200,000 youth for the Maharashtra Police. He is also credited with the launch of an innovative project, Udaan, that provided free career guidance to thousands of students in communally sensitive regions of the state.

In 2018, Mr. Poddar undertook an extensive campaign against mob violence prompted by misinformation in Malegaon. He also led an operation in which a family was successfully rescued from a violent mob in the city. As part of the SMART police initiative, he has been recreating rural police stations with a view towards providing urban standards of police service-delivery in interior Maharashtra. He has successfully headed the investigation of several organized crimes and has also authored a book on the law relating to investment frauds.

In recent years his work on pandemic law enforcement has become a case study in COVID policing. As the Superintendent of Police of Beed district, the effective implementation by his team of the national lockdown ensured that not a single case of infection was reported in the district during the lockdown. During the devastating second wave, the scientific measures he undertook in the armed police have become a template for protecting frontline workers in the face of a pandemic.

Pursuing a master’s in public administration as a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School will help Mr. Poddar to complement the fundamentals of law enforcement policy and global security with his experience in field policing and handling law and order. After completing the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s program, he intends to work at the federal and state level in areas relating to security and law enforcement.

Soumya Anakkavur Katchi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	International Legal Studies
Home Institution:	Project 39A, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Columbia University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Ms. Soumya AK graduated in 2018 from National Law University, Delhi. She worked in a leading all service firm before shifting to a criminal justice reform and litigation center, Project 39A where she has worked for over two years on issues pertaining to mental health and criminal justice in India. As part of her work, she has also worked on death penalty cases with mental health concerns. She has also developed a first-of-its-kind course on forensic mental health in collaboration with Monash University at Australia. Currently, she is working on an empirical study on the insanity defense in India and leads the communications and outreach work at Project 39A.

At Columbia University, she is specializing in the domain of criminal justice and human rights, with a specific focus on examining institutional barriers and development of access to justice mechanisms for the vulnerable and marginalized, from the perspective of the right to a fair and just trial. On returning to India, she intends to continue with her focus on these issues and expects that the master’s degree will inform and enable both her research on these issues as well as advocacy and capacity building with the stakeholders in the criminal justice system.

Megha Bahl

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	International Legal Studies
Home Institution:	Independent Lawyer, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	The University of Texas, TX
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Ms. Megha Bahl has been practicing criminal law in Delhi for the last seven years. Through research and litigation, she has engaged with the legal issues underlying incidents of custodial violence, sexual offenses, the stifling of journalistic freedoms, and the criminalization of the lives of indigenous people and manual scavengers, among others. She has worked with teams on the prosecution and defense sides of the criminal justice system, acquiring an in-depth understanding of the functioning of institutions like courts, police, and prisons.

Before this, Ms. Bahl obtained her master’s degree in sociology from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. This academic training and her long engagement with organizations working on issues concerning the democratic rights of people have helped her identify the socio-political reasons for the occurrence of crimes. She has also understood the operation of power that determines access to justice and the availability of rights to victims and accused persons.

After completing her training under the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship, Ms. Bahl intends to start a research and litigation clinic in India focusing on interventions that impact the constitutional rights of accused persons and victims in the criminal justice system. A synthesis of academic discourse, courtroom observation, and the lived experiences of people will help generate and disseminate meaningful ideas towards developing more humane jurisprudential practices in India.

Aananth Daksnamurthy

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Journalism and Mass Communication
Home Institution:	, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	New York University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two years

Brief Bio:

Mr. Aananth Daksnamurthy is currently pursuing writing, translation, and title acquisitions as a freelancer. As a literature connoisseur, he is closely following the broad contours of Indian vernacular publishing.

His foray into writing happened when he joined the founding team of a Delhi-based news organization, The Print. In his professional journey, he has gathered various experiences in the publishing industry, from a business analyst to a contributing journalist. For a brief period, he was also engaged by the Editors Guild of India. As part of the team that built India’s first academic fellowship for lawyers, he has dabbled in the Indian higher education space for a while. In his latest stint, Mr. Daksnamurthy was a consultant with the Government of Tamil Nadu, leading their media team for the Industries Department. On several occasions, he has also had the privilege of drafting speeches for the Chief Minister and senior bureaucrats.

Born in Tiruchirappalli, Mr. Daksnamurthy graduated with a B. Tech in mechanical engineering from SASTRA University. He also has a postgraduate diploma in liberal arts from Ashoka University as a Young India Fellow. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a Climate Reality Leader.

A graduate program in publishing as a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow will not only help Mr. Daksnamurthy excel in key publishing business functions but also open doors to a vast network of industry executives, publishers, and editors. His objective is to build a space for vernacular languages in public discourse within India and the world.

Zubin Dash

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	International Legal Studies
Home Institution:	Advocate Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Columbia University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Mr. Zubin Dash is an advocate practicing at the Supreme Court, various High Courts, and Tribunals in India since 2016. He has been involved in constitutional and criminal litigation for the enforcement of fundamental rights and civil liberties. He is the youngest researcher to have been awarded the prestigious Lok Sabha Research Fellowship by the Speaker of Parliament and has authored a book on privacy laws in India. He appeared before a Parliamentary Committee, submitted reports, and assisted Parliamentarians with legislative-drafting and policymaking in the areas of privacy law, data-protection, and surveillance-reforms. Previously, Mr. Dash was consulted by the government for suggesting legislative amendments relating to national security. He also worked as Research Assistant to a former Supreme Court Judge.

Mr. Dash graduated from the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) with a gold medal for successfully representing India at the Jessup International Moot-Court Competition, Washington DC, USA and was adjudged ‘Best Speaker’ at a similar competition. He has completed courses from the Hague Academy of International Law and ISIL and is a member of the American Society of International Law and the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association. He was on the editorial boards of the NUJS Law Review and the National Police Academy Criminal Law Review and has seven publications to his credit.

During his LLM at Columbia University, Mr. Dash will focus on constitutional law, civil liberties, and criminal justice. In particular, he plans to study how technology impacts the enjoyment of rights, the changing relationship between the state, citizens, and corporate entities, and comparative constitutional theory.

Aesha Datta

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Environmental Science/ Studies
Home Institution:	Environmental Journalist, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Columbia University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Ms. Aesha Datta graduated in English literature from Hindu College, University of Delhi in 2008 and went on to study journalism at the Asian College of Journalism. She has been a journalist for over 12 years and has worked with publications such as ET Prime, The Hindu Business Line and the India Today Group. Her writing has focused on the intersection of the climate crisis and its impact on society. In her last stint as an Assistant Editor – Environment with ET Prime, she single-handedly steered the environmental and climate coverage for the publication.

In 2017, she was awarded the WWF-India Young Media Climate Fellowship, during which she reported from the Sundarbans and Ladakh on climate-linked migration and community-led climate adaptation.

Her experiences with climate impacts as an environmental journalist, and prior to that as a volunteer for organizations such as Greenpeace India, drives her to keep a people-first approach to her writing and to connect the dots between climate science, policy, economics, and community impact.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow at Columbia University, she is studying the convergence of climate science, equity, policy, law, and business. Upon returning to India, she intends to continue to communicate the ever-intensifying climate crisis and expects that her master’s degree will both improve her understanding of the subject and her ability to articulate the same. She wants to combine her years of practical, on-ground experience with the academic training she receives to work in the public policy and advocacy space.

J. Ganesan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Government of Haryana, Chandigarh, Chandigarh
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Dr. J. Ganesan is a trained dental surgeon from the Tamil Nadu Government Dental College in Chennai. However, his passion in public service brought him into the government. He was a topper in the extremely competitive civil service examination 2005, acquiring an all-India rank of 4, and was allotted the Indian Administrative Service.

Since then, he has held multiple positions with distinction in the state government of Haryana. His conviction in “Antyodaya”, along with a pragmatic approach to governance, has led to him making substantial changes in service delivery across sectors. He has been a harbinger in introducing information technology and designing robust systems adept in delivery. The digital agricultural crop procurement introduced in 2018 modernized the archaic paper-book processes, jettisoned middlemen and ensured direct benefit transfer to one million farmers in Haryana. He received the award of excellence of the Computer Society of India from the Chief Minister of Odisha in 2020 for this project.

Dr. Ganesan is also widely acknowledged for his contribution in the field of school education. In addition, he is the proud recipient of the ‘Good Governance Award-2021’ from the Chief Minister of Haryana for the innovative “Super-100” program that empowers government school children to pursue higher education in premier institutions of the country. Dr. Ganesan is also credited with fronting a major ed-tech project aimed at providing computing tablets, digital content through personalized and adaptive learning algorithms and internet data to 800,000 government school children.

Dr Ganesan intends to move to the Government of India to take up assignments in the information technology and e-governance sectors which he believes have the potential to transform governance in India. A graduate degree in public administration from Harvard University through the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship would give him a fillip in appreciating public policy and positively impact governance through technology.

Praveen Gedam

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Health
Home Institution:	National Health Authority, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

A qualified doctor with an MBBS, Dr. Praveen Gedam joined the Indian Administrative Service in 2002. He has held various important positions in his career. Before coming to the center, he served the State Government of Maharashtra in various capacities. He served as the Transport Commissioner of Maharashtra, where he spearheaded a massive computerization exercise. Dr. Gedam has also served as the Chief Administrator of numerous cities and districts.

At the cutting-edge field level, Dr. Gedam was responsible for critical government interventions concerning socio-economic development, including those in public health. He is known for the turnaround in maternal and child health indicators in Latur, one of the most backward districts in the state, due to targeted interventions, systematic medical check-ups, and massive community mobilization exercises. In 2015, he was entrusted with organizing and managing the mega-event of Kumbhmela in Nashik which is one of the largest human congregations on earth. This has the distinction of having zero missing persons, zero casualties, zero outbreaks.

In his role in the National Health Authority, Dr. Gedam is the Additional Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority, tasked with the policy formulation and implementation of two flagship health schemes of the central government: Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the world’s largest government-sponsored health insurance scheme, and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the mission to develop the digital health ecosystem within India. In the future, Dr Gedam intends to continue working in the field of social development with a particular focus on public health.

Dr. Gedam also pursues his passion for music, hiking, and painting. He has trekked and camped extensively across the Western Ghats and Himalayas and organized numerous cultural festivals.

Amitha Jayaram

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two years

Brief Bio:

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.

Arushi Malik

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Health
Home Institution:	Government of India, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Parul Mehra

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	International Legal Studies
Home Institution:	International Organization for Migration, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Mir Mohammed Ali

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	July 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Taha Mughal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Arts and Culture Management
Home Institution:	Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Kashmir, Srinagar, Kashmir
Host Institution:	Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Mr. Taha Mughal completed his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in 2015. In his six years of professional practice, he has held teaching, research, and professional roles in different organizations. He has been associated with organizations including the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Srinagar, Prince Claus Fund (Netherlands) and Dara Shikoh Centre for the Arts.

Since 2016, he has been working as a Project Architect with INTACH Kashmir – an NGO that primarily works to conserve natural and built heritage in Kashmir. His prime responsibilities at the organization include research and architectural documentation and assisting different conservation and restoration projects in the region. His additional responsibility at the organization includes organizing community engagement programs for heritage promotion.

Mr. Mughal has been awarded the Charles Wallace India Trust Award (2021-22). He was also selected for the Chevening Awards (2021-22). Other awards and fellowships to his credit include the Effective Altruism Fellowship, Cambridge-UK 2021; the Kashmir Fellowship for Peace Building 2019 by The Bridge Institute UK; the Dara Shikoh Scholar’s Fellowship 2019; the International Art Residency Fellowship, 2015; and the International Art Residency Fellowship, 2013, by the Dara Shikoh Centre for the Arts.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellow, Mr. Mughal is pursuing a graduate program in historic preservation that provides interdisciplinary knowledge and skills in architectural history, preservation theory and practice, research, and documentation methodologies, building conservation, and architectural and urban preservation planning. After completing the program, he would like to return to Kashmir and integrate his learnings for the cause of conservation in the region.

Shivam Rawal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Central Square Foundation, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Columbia University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	1.5 years

Brief Bio:

Mr. Shivam Rawal is a domain expert in education measurement, assessments and evaluation and has extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing several large-scale education projects in India. He exhibits a deep passion and commitment to serve the public sector using grassroots insights. Mr. Rawal’s first-hand experience of educational inequality inspired him to join the Teach For India Fellowship, where he taught over eighty students in a low-resource government school in India. Leveraging this experience and creating an impact at scale, he has worked with multiple state governments, nonprofits, and schools to improve student learning outcomes through assessments and the capacity-building of stakeholders at Central Square Foundation and Educational Initiatives. Shivam was nominated as a Global Girls Education Fellow in 2020 by Teach For All, where he learned about best practices in girls’ education as a part of the global cohort of fellows committed to improving educational outcomes for girls and women.

Through the graduate program in economics and education at Columbia University, Mr. Rawal aims to create more inclusive and equitable education systems by strengthening the evidence-based policy practice and processes in India. Learning about quantitative methods, experiments, and data analysis will provide him with a solid methodological grounding for rigorous policy evaluations to improve education programs and interventions. Ultimately, the direct beneficiaries of his work will be education practitioners and policymakers, but the fruit of this investment through the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship will trickle down to millions of students and teachers in India.

Payoshi Roy

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	International Legal Studies
Home Institution:	Independent Lawyer, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Columbia University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Ms. Payoshi Roy has practiced as a criminal defense lawyer since graduating from National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata in 2015. Her practice focuses on representing prisoners on death row and indigent persons sentenced to life imprisonment before the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court. In defending activists and terror accused, she has contested state excesses and abuse of anti-terror legislations in India. She also represents victims in custodial death cases challenging police impunity to ensure prosecution of police officers. Outside of courts, she has taught courses on capital punishment and criminal law in law schools across India.

Through her master’s in law as a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, Ms. Roy is undertaking comparative interdisciplinary research on sentencing, abuse of anti-terror laws, and institutional reform.

Manasi Sahay Thakur

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Government of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Garima Shekhar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Higher Education Administration
Home Institution:	Evolving Being, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Pragyan Srivastava

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Journalism and Mass Communication
Home Institution:	Chalat Musafir, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, NJ
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two years

Brief Bio:

Ms. Pragyan Srivastava is the founder of Chalat Musafir – India’s first travel journalism media house. She initially ideated a multimedia platform bringing together travel writers, photographers, video bloggers, historians, cultural artists and experts to create high quality, high impact, culturally rooted, undiscovered stories of India. She bootstrapped funds to on-board 10 partners (3 Directors, 7+ colleagues) & over a thousand contributors, and set-up a website. She established a unique & thriving community with over a million followers across 3 social media streams, traveled across and stayed in all states of India to capture the real essence of her culture, and forge partnerships with socio-cultural-political leaders, curating over ten thousand impact driven, convergent stories covering topics across domains.

Chalat Musafir has curated original travel and exploration related content, with a sharp focus on frugal travel especially for women, spurring an increased interest among domestic women travelers leading to over fifty percent of stories being contributed by them. Additionally, her team has been redefining the role of travel in journalism through covering impactful, socially relevant stories of change-makers. They also successfully recommended Dr. Yogi Aeron, a philanthropic surgeon from rural Himalayas for the Padma Shree award, the fourth highest civilian award in India; the story catalyzed a lot of public interest in his endeavor of over ten thousand surgeries.

Ms. Srivastava has pursued a postgraduate diploma at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). She has more than seven years of experience working in Indian media. A Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship would allow her to learn from and emulate the bold and transformational work of trailblazing U.S. journalists like Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohay and build an ecosystem of next generation journalists across India and the US who would enrich democracies by giving purpose to and building bridges among diverse people across the world.

V.S. Alagu Varsini

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Government of Telangana, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	July 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

Dr. V.S. Alagu Varsini is a board-certified dental surgeon and a civil servant. As an Indian Administrative Service Officer, she has worked in multiple capacities in the Government of Telangana. As Director, Indian Institute of Health and Family Welfare, she has been working at the forefront of mitigating COVID-19.

Born and brought up in the beautiful rural town of Pollachi, her passion has been inclusive growth. Since her school days, she has worked towards an inclusive society and participatory development. She has organized various camps to educate peers about civil rights and responsibilities enshrined in the Constitution of India. With the guidance of her parents, Dr. Varsini achieved her position in the civil services, eventually earning the distinction of being a gold medalist and TeX Award winner in Public Administration. Her contribution towards challenged children, the inclusion of impoverished women in social sector schemes, girl child education, and natural resource management has created perceived change in societal institutions, thereby encouraging inclusive growth.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, she wishes to acquire academic rigor and understand the utilization of data for a favorable policy outcome. She looks forward to imbibing a more significant global picture to poise herself at the crucial juncture of transformation from policy implementor to policy framer. On her return to India, she looks forward to working with the Government of India in policy formulation capacities for achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Rajan Vishal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Public Administration
Home Institution:	Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Host Institution:	Harvard University, MA
Grant Start Month:	July 2022
Duration of Grant:	One year

Brief Bio:

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.

Chanchal Yadav

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Urban and Regional Planning
Home Institution:	Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of California, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Two years

Brief Bio:

Ms. Chanchal Yadav, an Indian Administrative Service officer, belongs to the 2008 batch of the Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre. A postgraduate in political science from the University of Delhi, she is known for her innovations in public service delivery systems. She has diverse experience working in various capacities in the Union Territory of Daman, the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, the capital city of Delhi and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

As Secretary, New Delhi Municipal Council, she brought substantial improvement in civic services delivery, leveraging technology. She successfully steered the organization towards becoming the first municipal body in country to go cashless. Her concerted efforts towards the cleanliness of the city resulted in NDMC becoming the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) urban local body of Delhi; the organization continuously remained amongst the top cities in the Swachh Sarvekshans by the Government of India.

Under her leadership, the district administration of Changlang more than doubled its annual revenue collection, successfully rolled out livelihood missions and registered a steady decline in insurgency-related incidents. She was conferred the Governor’s Gold Medal for her meritorious public service. As Special Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, Delhi, she effectively coordinated with agencies responsible for the civic administration of the capital and contributed to the drafting of Delhi’s Master Plan Document 2041.

Ms. Yadav is passionate about urban governance and as a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, she aims to gain specialization in the sector and orient her civil services career around it. She loves to be in nature and gardening is her favorite hobby.

Anupam Banerjee

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Stable Mg and Zn Isotopic Compositions Of Carbonatites: Implications For Global Carbon Cycle
Field of Study:	Earth Sciences
Home Institution:	Indian institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	University of Washington, WA
Grant Start Month:	February 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Prof. Anupam Banerjee is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur since November 2021. Prior to this, Anupam was a postdoctoral researcher at Niigata University, Japan. Anupam pursued his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Ramananda Chakrabarti at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and was conferred the degree in 2018. He received an MSc in Geology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2011 and a BSc in Geology from Presidency College Kolkata, University of Calcutta, in 2009.

Prof. Banerjee’s research interest lies in the applications of radiogenic, and non-traditional stable isotopes of magmatic rocks to understanding both Earth’s surface and deep interior processes. He has published several research articles in peer-reviewed international journals. Prof. Banerjee is a recipient of the Institute Medal from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore for the best PhD thesis. He is also a recipient of several grants for attending international conferences which include the SERB Travel support, Student Travel Grant from the American Geophysical Union, GARP Travel Grants from IISc .

Prof. Banerjee’s research during the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship is aimed at elucidating Earth’s deep carbon cycle using novel Mg and Zn stable isotopic compositions of carbon-rich magmatic rocks, called carbonatites. Important corollary questions that will be addressed in this project are: (i) How did Earth’s interior maintain the inventory of carbon with time? (ii) When did Earth’s carbon inventory establish and how did it change over geological time?

Suparna Basu

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Inference on Some Non-regular Estimable Conditions
Field of Study:	Mathematical Sciences
Home Institution:	Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	Bentley University, MA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	12 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Suparna Basu obtained BSc (Hons.) in Statistics from University of Calcutta in 2011, M.Sc. in Statistics from Banaras Hindu University in 2013. She obtained PhD in statistics in the 2018 from Banaras Hindu University under the supervision of Prof. Sanjay K. Singh. She was awarded with the BHU-CRET Fellowship, UGC-NET Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and BSR-JRF during her PhD, although she had availed only the first two. Her thesis work was directed towards estimation techniques for various Time censored situations encountered in life-testing problems for two heavy-tailed distributions. Her research works have been published in journals of international repute. Dr. Basu has served as an Assistant Professor in the University of Burdwan during Feb. 2016 – Dec. 2019 and taught several courses to M.Sc. (Statistics) students, in addition to administrative and research endeavors. Thereafter, she joined Banaras Hindu University and has been actively involved in teaching, research and administration. She was awarded with the IOE-BHU, start-up grant of Rs. 6 lakhs in July, 2020.

Location-shifted Weibull, Gamma and Generalized exponential distributions, fails to meet an important regularity condition of the support being independent of unknown parameters. This impedes derivation of estimation techniques, especially those based on likelihood function like globally consistent estimators for complete/censored situation or any testing criterion to discriminate suitability of two competing models. Dr. Basu would explore some robust statistical estimation techniques for such non-regular distributions and illustrate its applicability on real data sets during her postdoctoral stint supported by the Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

Swati Bishnoi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Novel Multi-Colour Emitting Metal-Organic-Frameworks-Based Ink Technology for Advanced Anticounterfeiting Applications
Field of Study:	Material Science
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Fayetteville State University, NC
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	Eight months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Swati Bishnoi is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Chemical Engineering department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, New Delhi. She received her PhD in Engineering from CSIR-National Physical Laboratory and an integrated B Tech-M Tech from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Dr. Bishnoi has published many high impact articles in reputed international journals and book chapters . She has presented her work in many national and international conferences. She has been awarded the CSIR-SRF (2015) and CSIR-Research Associate Fellow ship (2018). Her other scientific recognitions include the Best Poster Awards at the National Conference on Luminescence and Applications (NCLA-2017) and at the National Conference on “New Trends in Nanotechnology and Applications” (NTNA-2020).

Data protection and counterfeiting of valuable documents, products, or currency is a worldwide concern faced by governments, industrialists and customers. Hence , effective technologies must be developed so that this world-wide issue can be addressed. During her postdoctoral tenure supported by Fulbright-Nehru Fellow ship, Dr. Bishnoi is going to develop highly efficient luminescent nano metal–organic frameworks for formulating luminescent ink for anticounterfeiting applications.

Sneha Gole

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Understanding Feminist Subjectivities in the Times of Intersectionality: Linking Narratives, Memory and Politics
Field of Study:	Women’s and Gender Studies
Home Institution:	Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	TBD, At-Large
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	18 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sneha Gole completed her B A in Political Science from Fergusson College, Pune, Maharashtra, and has a masters’ degree in S ocial W ork from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra. She subsequently completed her doctoral work in 2018 in the discipline of Women’s Studies from the Department of Women and Gender Studies at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, examining the women’s movement in the post 1990 period, mapping new spaces, strategies and issues of the movement. Her research areas are social movements, with a particular focus on women’s movements, gender and development, and gender and culture. She teaches papers on feminisms, feminist research methodology, and gender and popular culture, among others. Her other areas of engagement and research have been gender and higher education, the social history and cultural politics of K athak and the issue of declining child sex ratios. She was awarded the Awaben Wadia Archival Fellow ship by RCWS, SNDT University to work on an archive of life narratives of young feminists, 2017-18.

The present context is one of renewed backlash against feminism, both in India and the US and the increasing erosion of hard-won rights for ‘women’. Dr. Gole’s research funded by the Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow ship titled ‘Understanding feminist subjectivities in the times of intersectionality: Linking Narratives, Memory and Politics’ is an attempt to understand the predicament of the feminist project in the current moment and imagine possible productive futures for it, by bringing insights from memory studies to life narrative analysis and mapping the particular trajectory of the concept of intersectionality in the context of India.

Aasim Khan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Governing with the Internet: Politics and democratic Accountability in Digitizing India
Field of Study:	Political Science
Home Institution:	Dept. of Social Sciences and Humanities- IIIT-Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Brown University, RI
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	11 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Aasim Khan is Head and Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Science and Humanities, IIIT-Delhi. He completed his PhD in Politics and Public Policy (Contemporary India) from the India Institute, King’s College London in 2018 and has an MA from the AJK Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He also completed an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a Bachelor of Science from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. His research and commentaries have appeared in academic publications and popular media , including the India Review, Communication, Culture and Critique, the Economic and Political Weekly, Culture Unbound, Global Policy and Television and New Media. He has also published several book chapters including in a book volume on digital transformations in urban India called DigiNaka (Orient Blackswan, 2020). Prior to joining academia, Dr. Khan was a journalist for several years in the CNN- affiliated national news network CNN-IBN, and also worked in international development as the South Asia officer for Oxfam GB. In 2015, as a Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin , he co-authored a five-country collaborative study on the future of the internet. Since September 2021, he has also been affiliated as an Associate Researcher at the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH Delhi).

Debanjan Konar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Hybrid Classical-Quantum Spiking Neural Networks
Field of Study:	Computer Science
Home Institution:	Independent researcher, Birbhum, West Bengal
Host Institution:	Purdue University, IN
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Debanjan Konar earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) from the University of Burdwan , in 2010, an MTech in CSE from the National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTR), Kolkata , in 2012, and a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in New Delhi , in 2021. He is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany. Prior to this, Dr. Konar served as an Assistant Professor at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim , and SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh . His research interests include quantum machine learning (QML), hybrid classical-quantum neural networks, deep learning, and computer vision. He has authored several papers in prestigious computer science journals, conference proceedings, book chapters, and internationally renowned books. Dr. Konar received a National Scholarship in 2001 and a GATE Postgraduate Fellowship in 2010. He is an IEEE senior member and an ACM member. He also serves as an editor and a reviewer for several esteemed journals and international conferences.

Recently, Quantum Computing (QC) has been leveraged for machine learning with the expectation that the uncertainty inherent in QC may be used to great advantage in stochastic-based modelling , spurring new research on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. To exploit the advantages of stochastic-based modelling in QML research, Dr. Konar has proposed Spiking Quantum Neural Networks using hybrid classical-quantum algorithms with the merits of superposition states and amplitude encoding. Within this Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow ship, the proposed models will be extensively validated on various computer vision applications, including disguised facial recognition using the PennyLane Quantum Simulator with limited quantum hardware and supercomputing resources available at Purdue University, USA.

A Sandeep Kranthi Kiran

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Bioactive and Anti-Infective Strategies for Orthopedic Implants by Various Surface Modification Techniques
Field of Study:	Material Science and Biomedical Engineering
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	University of North Carolina, NC
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. A Sandeep Kranthi Kiran is fortunate to have spent his entire academic journey at IIT Madras i.e. B.Tech (2011), M.Tech (2013) and PhD (2020). During his stay at IIT Madras, he worked on various exciting projects for the biomedical industry. D uring his doctoral studies, Dr. Kranthi was selected for the prestigious IIT Madras and National University of Singapore (NUS) Joint PhD program, which gave him an excellent opportunity to work with Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna at the NUS Centre for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology (NUSCNN). This unique multi-disciplinary research program led to a solid foundation to continue his research career. After his doctoral studies, he worked as a postdoctoral Fellow in the same laboratory and worked on synthesizing antiviral materials. Dr. Kranthi has published several research articles in reputable international journals and also authored a book- An Introduction to Biomaterials Science and Engineering (World Scientific Publications). In 2020 he received the Institute Research Award from IIT Madras in recognition of the quantity and quality of research work done in his doctoral studies. His o ther accomplishments include the B est P aper A ward in 2016 and the Best Oral Presenter award in 2010. His research interests include the fabrication of electrospun nanostructured materials, 3D printing, metallic nanostructured biomaterials, and antimicrobial ceramic coatings.

The performances of these orthopedic implants are negatively influenced by lack of bioactivity and implant-associated bacterial infections. Developing advanced technologies to address these issues is an urgent requirement for metallic implants and devices. To address this issue in his postdoctoral stint supported by the Fulbright-Nehru Fellow ship, Dr. Kranthi is designing materials with such dual function strategy which is considered as a durable next-generation medical device.

Rahul Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Some Contributions to The Theory Of Selberg Class L-Functions, Generalized Hurwitz Zeta And Polylogarithm Functions
Field of Study:	Mathematics
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Host Institution:	Penn State University, PA
Grant Start Month:	December 2024
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rahul Kumar is currently a postdoctoral F ellow at the Center for Geometry and Physics, Institute for Basic Science, POSTECH, South Korea. He obtained his BSc from B S A C ollege, Mathura, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, and his MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He then completed his PhD in October 2020 from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar under the supervision of Prof. Atul Dixit. His research interests are in analytic number theory, special functions, and the theory of partitions. The work of Ramanujan also influences Dr. Kumar’s research. Over the years, he has worked on various topics such as the Lambert series, zeros and special values of certain L-functions, and the theory of zeta and Bessel functions arising from modular relations, etc. He has published several research papers in reputed international journals. He has qualified for IIT-JAM, CSIR-NET, and GATE examinations. Recently, he was selected for the NBHM postdoctoral F ellowship.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow , Dr. Kumar will be joining the Department of Mathematics, Penn State University, University Park, USA. The study of Selberg L-functions has been of great interest to mathematicians since Selberg introduced them. During his stint, Dr. Kumar will also study the theory of these L-functions apart from developing the theory of generalized Hurwitz zeta and polylogarithm functions. The latter two functions have appeared in his (and others) recent works on modular relations and Herglotz functions.

Utkarsh Kumar

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Social Shaping, Agency, Politics of Design and Deployment of Heavy Mining Equipment
Field of Study:	Anthropology
Home Institution:	Independent Scholar, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	International Forum for U.S. Studies, IL
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Prof. Utkarsh Kumar has taught as a guest Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Prof. Kumar received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Delhi in 2019. He was the recipient of the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship. Dr. Kumar obtained his Masters in Social Work from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Previously, during his professional stint in the development sector with PRADAN, Prof. Kumar designed and implemented various livelihood prototypes at the grassroots. His research interests span Anthropology of Care and Caring profession, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and the political economy of mineral resource extraction. Prof. Kumar has several research articles to his credit. I n 2020, Prof. Kumar authored commissioned research documents on the ongoing conflict and negotiations around mega power projects in Jharkhand. He has also offered consultancy for the ‘just transition’ in the e nergy sector to s outh Asia- based advocacy groups, viz. The Research Collective and Public Finance and Public Accountability Collective.

The Heavy Mining Equipment (HME) technology has arguably become a crucial global mediator in resource extractive industrial operations. A multi-site ethnographic field stint expedited by the Fulbright-Nehru P ostdoctoral Research grant is an attempt to understand the designing imperatives of the HME machinery produced in the global North, and to trace social relations fostered and shaped around deployment practices of these machines in the global South. The aim is to capture socio-cultural imaginations and aspirations of social actors and institutions associated with the designing, circulation, and deployment practices of HME technology.

Raj Mukhopadhyay

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Tackling Forever Chemicals in The Water-Soil-Plant Continuum Using Engineered Clay Minerals
Field of Study:	Agricultural Sciences
Home Institution:	ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana
Host Institution:	Stony Brook University, NY
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Raj Mukhopadhyay obtained his bachelor’s degree from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, in 2012 and a master’s degree from Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, in 2014. He received his PhD from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 2018. He is currently working as a s cientist at ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute . His research focused on removal of organic and inorganic contaminants (metals, metalloids and emerging contaminants) from soil and water using surface modified natural clay minerals, biowastes, and nanomaterials. Dr. Mukhopadhyay has published about 25 papers on environmental remediation in journals of national and international repute. He received the IC-IMPACTS (the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability) Summer Institute Award on “Nanotechnologies for Safe & Sustainable Infrastructure, Integrated Water Management and Public Health”, from University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, in 2016 and the Clay Minerals Group Bursary A ward in 2019 from the Clay Minerals Group of Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, UK .

While Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants of global concern and known as ‘forever chemicals’ due to their extremely persistent nature, development of novel, inexpensive and eco-friendly technologies is the need of the hour to tackle the PFAS issues in water and soil systems. D uring Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, he is developing engineered clay mineral adsorbents using naturally available clay minerals and biowastes for removing PFAS from contaminated water and reducing PFAS bioavailability to wheat crop, deciphering an inexpensive and green PFAS remediation method.

Dibyashakti Panda

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Interseismic plate coupling, role of topography, and long-term fault behavior along the Himalayan megathrust
Field of Study:	Geography
Home Institution:	National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha
Host Institution:	University of New Mexico, NM
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Dibyashakti Panda obtained his BSc from Dharanidhar Autonomous College, Keonjhar, in 2014 and MSc from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela in 2016. He then received his Ph D in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Bhaskar Kundu at NIT . His doctoral research involved crustal deformation and seismic hazard assessment of the Indo-Burmese Arc region by using geodetic measurements, which has a huge impact on human society. He was also associated with several other research problems, e.g. earthquakes and v olcano related deformation, g reat earthquakes cycles and related deformation process, p late boundary vs. p late interior deformation process, c limate and tectonic interaction, etc. He has published several research papers in a wide range of international journals. He has been awarded the Institute Silver Medal in MSc Applied Geology (2014-2016) from NIT Rourkela, secured the second position in Science Category during Research Scholars Week 2019, NIT Rourkela, and qualified CSIR-NET 2020 for Lectureship/Assistant Professor with All India Rank 1. He has also received both national and international grants from both the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, and American Geophysical Union Student Travel Grant to attend the AGU Fall Meeting 2018 in Washington D.C. .

During his postdoctoral work supported by the Fulbright-Nehru F ellowship, Dr. Panda will try to provide a clear picture about the interseismic coupling and earthquake potential along the Himalayan arc by considering dense geodetic networks. The present proposal will also provide a novel method to update the kinematic coupling picture of the Himalayas by inverting GPS-derived velocity fields. Further, a realistic and precise 2D and 3D numerical dynamic fault model will be constructed to characterize the long-term fault behavior and earthquake rupture propagations.

Rohit Ravi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Preparing to Establish a National Level Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program in India
Field of Study:	Audiology
Home Institution:	Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal, Karnataka
Host Institution:	National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, UT
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	12 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Rohit Ravi earned his PhD from Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka, under the guidance of Dr. Krishna Yerraguntla & Dr. Bellur Rajashekhar. He is working at the Department of Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, MAHE, Mangalore . His areas of research include pediatric audiology and rehabilitative audiology. He has over 35 peer- reviewed international publications which have been widely cited. He serves as an academic editor for PLOS ONE and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Audiology and Otology. He serves as a reviewer for over 15 peer-reviewed indexed journals in the field of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. He has been successful in receiving funding from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. He is the recipient of the prestigious Audiology/Hearing Research Travel Award by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association. He has also been accepted for the 2022 Audiology Early Career Professionals Program by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association.

Dr. Ravi will be pursuing his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) at Utah State University under the mentorship of Dr. Karl White, who is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on early identification and treatment of hearing loss. His research at NCHAM will help gain experience and expertise from well-established and successful Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) programs in the United States that can help in expanding and improving the implementation of UNHS programs in India.

Surjit Sahoo

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Development of Flexible-Stretchable Microsupercapacitors With High Energy And Power Density: Towards Powering of Wearable Electronics
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Host Institution:	Kansas State University, KS
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Surjit Sahoo is currently working as a National Post doctoral Fellow at the School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He completed his PhD in Mechatronics Engineering from Jeju National University, South Korea. He joined as a PhD scholar in the Nanomaterials System lab in 2016 under the “Brain Korea Fellowship” scheme. His thesis work was focused on the electrochemical energy storage devices (supercapacitors), energy harvesting systems (nanogenerator), and the fabrication of self-powered devices for both energy conversion and storage using nanomaterials (transition metal oxides (TMOs), transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs), and 2D materials. The thesis topic was “Development of Nanostructured Electrode Materials for Self-Charging Supercapacitor Power Cell”.

He received his m aster’s degree in Electronics Science from Jadavpur University, Jadavpur, West Bengal, and b achelor’s degree in Electronics Science from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha . He worked as a junior research Fellow at IIT Bhubaneswar . He has published over 35 research articles as first author and co-author in leading international journals and attended about 40 conferences (both international and domestic) to demonstrate his research experiences. He has a total journal citation count of about 1500, with h-index and i10-index of 24 and 34, respectively.

Dr. Sahoo’s Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research focuses on the “development of flexible-stretchable micro-supercapacitors towards driving of portable and wearable electronics”. The outcome of this work is expected to provide insights into the fabrication of various types of micro-supercapacitors with high performance metrics.

Priti Samyukta

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Women in Quilt Art of the Gull South Region; An investigation into their Contribution to the 21st Century America
Field of Study:	Visual Arts
Home Institution:	Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Auburn University, AL
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	12 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Priti Samyukta completed her bachelor’s d egree from JNTU, College of Fine Arts, Hyderabad, in 2001, and her master’s d egree in Fine Arts from the University of Hyderabad in 2003. She received her PhD in the month of July 2021, under the supervision of Dr. P K Khandoba, from Gulbarga University, Karnataka. Her research topic for her PhD, “A comparative study of Batik and Kalamkari paintings – with special reference to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh”, is a compiled work of a historical overview of the two art forms on fabric and its presence in today’s art context. Dr. Samyukta has published several research papers in reputed n ational and i nternational j ournals, and has attended several seminars and conferences. Dr. Samyukta is also a painter. She has attended art camps and participated in several art exhibitions . She has also curated art exhibitions in India and abroad. She has won several awards, like The Hyderabad Art Society Award (2003 & 2009), HYBIZ TV Award (2021), 9th Faculty Branding Award (2021), Karnataka State Govt , and the BV Halabavi Award (2021). Her paintings are with collectors in India and abroad. Presently, Dr. Samyukta is Head, Department of Painting, College of Fine Arts, JNAFA University, Hyderabad.

The topic for her p ostd octoral thesis, “Women in Quilt Art of the Gulf South Region: An Investigation into their contribution to the 21st Century America”, is to look at the historical overview of the American Narrative Quilt women artists and the Gees Bend community of Alabama and their contribution to uphold “quilt” as an art form in today’s American art. Dr. Samyukta would want to introduce, simultaneously, South Indian textiles to the quilt artists, while practicing quilt with them and researching as well. She would finally bring back the nuances of American Quilt Art to Telangana’s Quilters, enlightening them about how quilts of Telangana can be art specific as well.

Balaji Sedithippa Janarthanan

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	What Makes the Indian Farmers Rich and Poor? A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Resource Heterogeneity, Technology Uptake, Agricultural Policy Support and its Consequences on Income Distribution
Field of Study:	Economics
Home Institution:	ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of Georgia, GA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	12 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Balaji Sedithippa Janarthanan is a s cientist at the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP), New Delhi. His research work revolves around agricultural growth, transformation and development in India. His current work focuses on farmers’ income, governance impacts and agricultural trade. He has been part of the research team contributing to the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income, and has coordinated the research of a network of institutions in the project Structural Transformation, Regional Disparity and Institutional Reforms in Agriculture at NIAP. He obtained his Ph D for his thesis titled ‘Agricultural Growth, Rural Non-Farm Employment and Poverty in India’, from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He was a Visiting Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC. He received R.T. Doshi Award in 2021 and 2018, Young Agricultural Economist Award in 2020, Uma Lele-AERA (India)-AAEA Mentorship Award in 2018, and Best Research Paper Presentation Award in 2015.

As a Fulbright- Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, at the University of Georgia, Dr. Balaji SJ will focus on the means of achieving inclusive income growth in agriculture and reducing poverty among the Indian farmers. He will explore the spatial income characteristics at a highly disaggregated level for about two decades in the country, and will develop a model to explain how technology, resource use, market, and policies shall enhance farmers’ income across space, notably the poor.

Shivani Sharma

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Development and Synthesis of New Functionalized Porous Aromatic Frameworks (pafs) Membranes for Ion Entrapment by Employing Ion-Capture Electrodialysis
Field of Study:	Materials Science
Home Institution:	At-Large, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of California Berkeley, CA
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Shivani Sharma received her BSc (Honors) from Gargi College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, in 2013. After that, she joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER-Pune), for an Integrated MS-PhD program. After completing her MS in 2015, she joined the research group of Prof. Sujit K Ghosh to pursue her doctoral studies. Her work was focused on the design and synthesis of neutral nitrogen donor linker-based metal-organic frameworks with a focus on sequestration and sensing of toxic pollutants. She has published several research articles in reputable international journals. She qualified for the IIT-JAM examination and was awarded the CSIR-SRF research Fellow ship. Her other recognitions include the Best Poster Award at a conference hosted by RSC Porous Materials Group, UK .

She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Dr. Alexander C Forse at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK. Her work is focused on the design of novel sorbents for carbon capture.

For her Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral stint, Dr. Shivani will be working in the research group of Prof. Jeffrey R Long at the University of California, Berkeley, CA. Her project aims to develop new porous materials for the capture of highly toxic ions and the extraction of trace/precious metal ions from various waste/seawater by electrochemical methods. She is passionate about achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including freshwater security and sustainable development.

Manpreet Singh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	A Study Of Algebraic And Geometric Knot Invariants Via Knot Colorings
Field of Study:	Mathematical Sciences
Home Institution:	Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	University of South Florida, FL
Grant Start Month:	October 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Manpreet Singh is a postdoctoral F ellow at Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), Prayagraj (Allahabad). His research interest is in low dimensional topology. Before joining HRI, he was an Integrated PhD student in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali. He received his master’s degree and PhD under the supervision of Dr. Mahender Singh, in 2021. During his PhD, he worked on algebraic and combinatorial aspects in knot theory. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, he will work on exploring connections among algebraic and geometric invariants of knots. He aims at understanding certain colorings of alternating diagrams of prime links using the elements of the first homology groups of cyclic branched coverings of links. In the last two decades, many algebraic structures have been introduced as invariants of (ramified) knots. Dr. Singh is planning to delve into the intricacies of such invariants from a geometric facet.

Richa Singh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Hearing in the Din: Examining the Effect of Noise Pollution on Auditory Neurons in Frog-Biting Mosquitoes
Field of Study:	Neuroscience
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali, Punjab
Host Institution:	Purdue University, IN
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Richa Singh did her PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Dr. Manjari Jain at the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) Mohali, Punjab. Her thesis examines the effect of three important environmental factors (light, temperature and ambient noise) on the acoustic signaling of a nocturnal ensiferan insect, Acanthogryllus asiaticus. After her PhD, she moved to the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi , to monitor bird populations using a machine learning approach. She is currently working as a p roject s cientist at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

Dr. Singh is a recipient of a DST-Inspire Fellow ship and has qualified for the UGC-NET examination. She is an Executive Committee member of the Ethological Society of India and has published her research work in reputed international journals. She has won various travel grants to present her work on international platforms such as the International Bioacoustics Congress Travel grant award from University of Sussex, UK, Association for the Study of Animal Behavior Diversity travel grant award from University of Konstanz, Germany, DST International travel grant, Government of India and Animal Behavior Society Diversity travel grant from University of Illinois, Chicago. She secured third place in the 3MT (3-minute thesis) competition in Behavior Conference at University of Illinois, Chicago, in 2019. She got the best oral presentation awards (National Conference on Behavioral Ecology, Gujarat, 2017 and Young Ecologists Talk and Interact, Assam, 2017) and the best poster presentation awards (Conference on Insect Biodiversity Studies, Kerala, 2016 and National Symposium on Behavioural Ecology, Varanasi, 2014).

Frog-biting mosquitoes and their host are confronted with unprecedented growing anthropogenic noise levels. It is unknown how such novel acoustic conditions will affect mosquitoes in detecting, recognizing, and localizing their hosts. As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow , Dr. Singh will use a neuroethological approach to understand the behavioral responses and underlying mechanisms of organisms under novel noisy conditions. In particular, her research will shed light on the effect of anthropogenic changes on vector-host interactions.

Digvijay Singh Negi

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Designing Effective Crop Insurance Schemes for India using Satellite Imagery and Insights from Crop Insurance Programs in the US
Field of Study:	Economics
Home Institution:	Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Cornell University, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	15 months

Brief Bio:

Prof. Digvijay S Negi is an A ssistant P rofessor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, Maharashtra. Before joining IGIDR, he was a postdoctoral F ellow at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Prof. Negi obtained his Ph D in E conomics from the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, and a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

His introduction to academic research happened at the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research as a research associate. Ever since then, he has been interested in seeking solutions to multiple policy challenges faced by Indian agriculture. His primary research areas are agricultural economics, international trade, risk and insurance, and development economics. More recently, pushed by student collaborators at IGIDR, he has started venturing into other related areas of research which include health and nutrition and issues in cultural norms and gender.

Prof. Negi has published several research articles in reputed national and international journals. He also won a graduate student travel grant from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) to attend the annual AAEA (2018) conference in Washington DC; and travel support from the International Association of Agricultural Economics to attend the 30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (2018), Vancouver, Canada.

For his Fulbright-Nehru project, he plans to study the viability and applicability of satellite imagery and remotely sensed data in designing index-based crop insurance contracts suitable for Indian farmers.

Jayesh Sonwane

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	An engineered Escherichia coli for producing protein nanowires for high throughput fabrication of biomedical and environmental sensors
Field of Study:	Bacterial Nanowires
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	University of Massachusetts, MA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Jayesh Manohar Sonawane obtained his Ph D from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Maharashtra, under the s upervision of Prof. Prakash Chandra Ghosh and the Department of Chemistry, Monash University, Australia under the supervision of Prof. Samuel Adeloju. His Ph D research focuses on the development of conducting polymer electrodes for microbial fuel cells for power generation and wastewater treatment. Dr. Sonawane is a recipient of the prestigious “Excellence Research award 2016-18” from Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.

During his PhD , he was awarded the Shastri Fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and went to Toronto University where he worked on Elucidation electric properties of engineered E. coli with pilA gene from Geobacter sulfurreducens, at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. Later, he joined a postdoctoral researcher in the same department, w here he worked on a hybrid bioelectrochemical treatment process for liquid stream for the “Reinventing the Toilets” project funded by the Bill & Melinda G ates F oundation. Dr. Sonawane is currently working on a microfluidics bioelectrochemical system for understanding electroactive biofilms at Université Laval, Quebec, Canada.

Protein nanowires are a revolutionary green sustainable electronic material with unique physical, chemical, and biological properties that offer substantial advantages over other nanowire materials for biomedical and environmental sensing. The project will explore novel concepts for the large-scale separation of the wires from the cells. High throughput methods will be optimized for the fabrication of sensors specifically designed for four different analytes to demonstrate a range of high commercial relevance in clinical and environmental sensing. Dr. Sonawane is supported by the Fulbright-Nehru F ellowship and is working with scientist Prof. Derek R Lovley at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Shashank Sundriyal

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Rechargeable Zinc-Ion Batteries Facilitated By Metal-Organic Framework/MXenes Heterostructures Using Different Electrolytes
Field of Study:	Energy Studies
Home Institution:	CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Drexel University, PA
Grant Start Month:	March 2023
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Shashank Sundriyal is working as a CSIR-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow at the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, since September 2019. He earned his PhD in August 2019 from the Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (CSIR-CSIO Chandigarh Laboratory), India. His research work focuses on the synthesis and study of various metal-organic frameworks, their derived structures and its various composites with conducting polymers, graphene, metal oxides, TMDs, and biowaste- derived activated carbon for energy storage applications. Dr. Sundriyal has published 30 research articles in reputable international journals with over 800 citations and is also an active reviewer of many journals. He has qualified for the UGC- NET JRF examination in Electronic Science. His other scientific recognitions include various international travel grants from DST, CSIR, Japanese G overnment, RAKCAM UAE, and RSC Grant for Young Scientists. He also got the Associate Membership of RSC, CSIR-NPDF, CSIR-Pool Scientist Grant, Prestigious Green Talent 2021 outstanding young scientist award by the Federal Ministry of Education & Research of Germany, and the Marie-Curie Co-funded PASIFIC Postdoctoral Fellowship of Poland.

As a Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral research scholar, Dr. Sundriyal is joining the laboratory of Distinguished Prof. Michel W Barsoum (co-discoverer of MXenes) at Drexel University, PA. His research proposal focuses on the development of alternative energy storage devices by employing a metal-organic framework and MXene hybrid structures as electrodes for rechargeable zinc-ion batteries. Their synergistic effect can minimize the limitations of each other, such as low conductivity, low surface area, restacking of 2D layers, and limited active sites for redox reactions. The work also involves the integration of anti-freezing gel electrolytes with batteries to make a device that can operate even at very low temperatures.

Senganglu Thaimei

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Collections, Influences, and Comparative Studies of The Proverbs of The Indigenous Communities in Northeast India and North America: A Critical Engagement with the International Proverb Archive (IPA) in Vermont
Field of Study:	Folklore
Home Institution:	Miranda House, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of Vermont, VT
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	12 months

Brief Bio:

Prof. Senganglu Thaimei is an Associate Professor of English at Miranda House, University of Delhi, New Delhi. She is currently a fellow at The Highland Institute in Kohima, Nagaland. She received her PhD from the English Department, University of Delhi. Her specialization is folklore studies. Dr. Thaimei has worked on many projects at the Centre for Archiving and Academic Translation, University of Delhi, that involved archiving of tribal oral materials from Northeast India. Her published works appear in folklore journals such as Folklore and Folkloristics. Dr. Thaimei is also a visual artist and a published illustrator. Her illustrations are featured in Easterine Kire’s novels, Songry (2021), Journey of the Stone (2021), published by Barkweaver. She is a member of the Art for Change Foundation, an arts organization based in New Delhi. She has recently ventured into a pluralist approach involving research along with artistic illustration – an attempt to present a confluence of scientific survey, folk knowledge, visual art, and literature .

Akhila Vimal Chenicheri

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Where the Hand goes…? Towards Practice Based Dance Pedagogy for Blind and Low-Vision Performers.
Field of Study:	Performing Arts
Home Institution:	Independent Scholar, Kochi, Kerala
Host Institution:	University of California Los Angeles, CA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Akhila Vimal Chenicheri is a trained dancer, and a Performance and Disability Studies scholar. She completed her PhD in Theater and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her thesis was titled ‘Performing Disfiguration: Pain, Affect and Staging of Relationalities in Classical and Ritual-Healing Performances of Kerala’. She obtained her master’s and M Phil degrees from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and has a B A (English) from Maharajas College, Ernakulam, Kerala .

As a trained dancer who identifies as disabled, owing to partial and recurrent vision loss, Dr. Chenicheri’s research is located at the intersection of performance and disability and disabled dance pedagogy. Methodologically, she is committed to ‘Practice as Research’ and her research interests include disfiguration, relationality of disability, gender, and caste in the Indian textual and performance practices and ritual performances. This research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. In 2021, she received the inaugural International Federation of Theatre Research New Scholars Award in Disability Performance. Akhila has been a fellow at the prestigious Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation at Harvard University in 2016.

Her Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research project is to develop a practice- led dance pedagogy for blind and low- vision performers. The pedagogy aims to collectively initiate collaborative learning through somatic engagement with blind and low- vision performers, including the cultural unlearning of the expectations that come with dance training and sensibility.

Anita Yadav

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Project Title:	Investigation of Ultrafast Solvation Dynamics in a Various Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Microemulsions: A Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopic Investigation
Field of Study:	Physical Chemistry
Home Institution:	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab
Host Institution:	The University of Texas at Austin, TX
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	24 months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Anita Yadav obtained her BSc from Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi, in 2009 and her m aster’s degree from the Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, in 2011. She obtained her M.Tech in ‘ Molecular Engineering: Chemical Synthesis and Analysis’ from the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D), New Delhi, in 2014. She then received her PhD in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Siddharth Pandey at the Department of Chemistry, IIT-D . Her research focuses on the investigation of various excited-state aggregation and complexation processes within Ionic Liquids, Deep Eutectic Solvents and their judiciously selected cosolvent mixtures. Dr. Yadav has published several research articles in reputable international journals. She has qualified in the CSIR-UGC NET and GATE examinations. Her other scientific recognitions include the 2018 CAS Scifinder Future Leaders Award from American Chemical Society. She also received a Research Excellence Travel Award from IIT Delhi, Government of India, to attend the 27th Conference on Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids – EuCheMSIL, Lisbon, Portugal (2018); and an International Travel Grant Award from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, to attend the International Conference on Enhanced Spectroscopies (ICES), LMU, Munich, Germany (2017). She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow under Dr. Arijit Kumar De at the Department of Chemical Science, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Punjab.

One of the longest-standing problems faced by the scientific community and chemical industries is their continued dependence on huge volumes of hazardous, toxic, flammable, and environmentally damaging organic solvents. To address this issue, in her postdoctoral stint supported by the Fulbright-Nehru Fellow ship, Dr. Yadav is exploring deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as an emerging class of solvents as compared to commonly used organic solvents and ionic liquids due to their low cost, high biodegradability and low vapor pressure. The centerpiece of the proposed activities is to explore the ultrafast laser techniques to uncover details about structure and solvation dynamics in various DESs containing microemulsions.

Sumit Baudh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair Program at Emory University (Research and Teaching)
Project Title:	A Comparative Review of Civil and Human Rights in India and the United States of America—from a Critical Race and Dalit perspective
Field of Study:	Civil and Human Rights
Home Institution:	O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana
Host Institution:	Emory University, GA
Grant Start Month:	January 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Sumit Baudh (they/them or he/him) is a Professor of Law at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. Dr. Baudh received their Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from the University of California, Los Angeles, CA (UCLA) School of Law, Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the London School of Economics, London, UK, and a Bachelor of Arts and Laws with Honors (B.A. LL.B. Hons.) from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

As a former British Chevening scholar, Dr. Baudh has held prestigious Fellowships including the University of California Human Rights Fellow, Berkeley, Michael D. Palm Fellow of the Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Fellow of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, Columbia Law School, and the Transnational Law Institute Fellow, King’s College London. Dr. Baudh is qualified to practice law as an Advocate in India and enrolled as a Solicitor with The Law Society, England and Wales. As an independent consultant, Dr. Baudh has advised national and international organizations including the US based Arcus Foundation, the United Nations Development Program, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and the Norway-based LLH.

As the first Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair at Emory University, Dr. Baudh’s research is titled ‘A Comparative Review of Civil and Human Rights in India and the United States of America. —from a Critical Race and Dalit perspective’; amidst other sources, the research is informed by classroom instructions of a taught course on Critical Race Theory and Caste.

Srinivas Chokkakula

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair Program at University of Massachusetts Amherst (Research and Teaching)
Project Title:	Interstate River Water Governance: Federal responses in India and the USA
Field of Study:	Public Policy
Home Institution:	Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of Massachusetts, MA
Grant Start Month:	September 2022
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Srinivas Chokkakula is the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) Research Chair – Water Conflicts and Governance, at Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. He leads the TREADS (Transboundary Rivers, Ecologies and Development Studies) group founded by him at CPR. His research interests extend to the broader area of water policy and governance, federalism, politics of infrastructure development in India and South Asia.

Dr. Chokkakula is a recognized voice in national debates and discourse on water policy and governance. His work on interstate river water disputes and transboundary water governance has received extensive attention from policy makers, and informed public debate and discourse in the country – including those over the Interstate River Water Disputes Amendment Bill, 2019. He is a member of the Drafting Committee for National Water Policy formulated by the Government of India.

His efforts as the MoJS Research Chair have led to an MoU between CPR and NMCG for collaborative research and knowledge production towards the broader goal of rejuvenating rivers in India. Under this MoU, TREADS at CPR will be working closely with NMCG to improve the outcomes of the NMCG’s Namami Gange programme and contribute to policy thinking about rejuvenating India’s rivers.

He has an interdisciplinary training in human geography, planning and engineering with a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a postdoctoral at SOAS, London. Apart from several other fellowships and scholarships, Dr. Chokkakula has been the British Council’s Chevening Scholar in its Young Indian Environmental Managers programme, 2000.

As the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, he will be teaching and conducting research on federal responses to the emerging challenges of interstate river water governance in India and the USA.

Kritika Dhiwahar

Grant Category:	Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers
Project Title:	Play’s the Thing: Targeting (language) learning outcomes through story and drama-based learning
Field of Study:	English
Home Institution:	HLC International School, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Host Institution:	Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Kritika Dhiwahar is an English language facilitator at HLC International School, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. With a distinction in Cambridge International Diploma in Teaching and Learning (CIDTL) and training in drama from the National School of Drama, New Delhi, Ms. Dhiwahar uses storytelling and drama techniques to create an inclusive learning environment. She holds a master’s in English literature and a bachelor’s in education and has over a decade of experience in classroom teaching and teacher training. She also works as a freelance teacher educator for Srikriti, the Teacher Education Centre, and for leading publishers—Macmillan Education and Scholastic, India.

Ms. Dhiwahar’s Fulbright DAI inquiry project, “Play’s the Thing: Targeting (language) learning outcomes through story and drama-based learning”, focuses on exploring pedagogical applications of storytelling and drama. She aims to understand how these methods are implemented in U.S. schools to advocate their increased use in the Indian ELT context. Through her project, she seeks to establish the educational value of drama and storytelling. Ms. Dhiwahar plans to conduct seminars and workshops to inspire her fellow educators to embrace storytelling and drama as pedagogical tools in language learning classrooms. She believes that bridging the gap between a theoretical understanding of language and its practice will enhance language acquisition and the overall educational experience of Indian students.

Mohammad Imran Khan Mewati

Grant Category:	Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers
Project Title:	Developing an android app to ensure equal reach to educational content
Field of Study:	Mathematics English and Science
Home Institution:	Government Varishth Upadhyay Sanskrit School, Alwar, Rajasthan
Host Institution:	University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Mohammad Imran Khan Mewati, an Indian teacher and mobile app developer, has made significant contributions to the field of education and technology. As a school teacher in the Sanskrit Education Department in Alwar, Mr. Khan’s passion for education and his understanding of the transformative power of technology led him to develop over 100 educational mobile applications. These apps have garnered millions of users, providing free educational content to students from rural and marginalized communities.

Mr. Khan’s advocacy for digital learning and equal access to technology gained national attention when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned him during a speech at Wembley Stadium in 2015, “My India is in Imran Khan of Alwar.” His dedication and impact on education have been recognized through numerous prestigious awards, including the National Teacher Award, National ICT Teacher Award, and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. He has developed notable apps, such as the PRASHAST app for disability screening in schools for the Indian Ministry of Education and Project Dishari, Geervani, and DevVani for the Government of Rajasthan.

During his Fulbright DAI project, Mr. Khan is developing an advanced educational app that incorporates pedagogical principles and utilizes cutting-edge technology. The app aims to deliver engaging educational content, enabling students to learn easily using smartphones.

Ravi Kumar Kola

Grant Category:	Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers
Project Title:	Enhancing English language skills and cross-cultural competence through collaboration
Field of Study:	English
Home Institution:	ZPHS Panthini, Hanumakonda, Telangana
Host Institution:	Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Ravi Kumar Kola is Teacher of English at Zilla Parishad High School Panthini, Hanumakonda, Telangana. He has 24 years of teaching experience, master’s in English and zoology, and a Ph.D. in zoology. Dr. Kola was awarded the National ICT Award for School Teachers by the Ministry of Education, Government of India for extensive integration of technology with content and pedagogy. He is also a state resource person for SCERT Telangana. A constant learner, he has completed online courses from prestigious institutes like US Embassy’s Regional English Language Office (RELO), New Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Through his participation in the Fulbright DAI program, Dr. Kola is enhancing his teaching skills and gaining insights into innovative pedagogical approaches. Upon returning to India, he intends to utilize his refined English language skills to develop tailored English language programs for rural students in Telangana. By equipping rural students with strong English language abilities, he aims to empower them to access better educational opportunities and improve their employability as well as to bridge the linguistic gap between rural and urban areas in the state. As an active member of various English forums, Dr. Kola wishes to share knowledge gained from his Fulbright project with the English fraternity of Telangana.

Benny Varghese

Grant Category:	Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers
Project Title:	Toy-based pedagogy for enjoyable mathematics learning
Field of Study:	Mathematics
Home Institution:	Navodaya Leadership Institute, Canacona, Goa
Host Institution:	Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Benny Varghese is Research and Publication Officer (Post Graduate Teacher Mathematics) at Navodaya Leadership Institute, Canacona, Goa—one of the seven teacher training institutes for Navodaya Schools run by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. With 25 years of teaching experience in senior secondary schools, Mr. Varghese was honored with the National ICT Award by the Government of India in 2016 in recognition of his effective and innovative integration of ICT in promoting students’ learning. During 2020-22, he served as an institute advisory board member of the Central Institute of Education Technology, a constituent unit of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Government of India. He holds a master’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in education.

At times, the abstractness of mathematics makes its teaching and learning a dull experience for many. Through his Fulbright DAI project, ‘Toy-based pedagogy for enjoyable mathematics learning’, Mr. Varghese aims to transform the traditional methods of teaching and learning Math by means of gamification. Given children’s fondness for games, he intends to design and use mathematical games to teach and reinforce math concepts. Upon his return to India, he intends to share his enriching Fulbright DAI experience and his pedagogical findings with Navodaya school teachers. He further aims to implement the findings of his project in Navodaya schools and in other educational organizations in the country.

Aanchal Aggarwal

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Indira Gandhi University, Rewari, Haryana
Host Institution:	Boston University, Boston, MA
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Aanchal Aggarwal is pursuing her Bachelor of Education from Indira Gandhi University, Rewari, Haryana. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Delhi. In her postgraduation, she closely studied, researched, and analyzed Hindi language at various levels of language aspects. Her immense interest in language learning and teaching has helped her in earning certificates of excellence from British Council and NPTEL.

Ms. Aggarwal teaches English as a foreign language. She has more than five years of experience teaching young and adult learners coming from diverse linguistic, cultural, and ethical background. Currently, she is providing language and soft skills training through online platforms, Enguru and Spark Studio. She has been a part of ‘Project Spoken English 2019’, which was a partnership project in collaboration with the Directorate of Education Delhi, Macmillan Education, and the British Council. Trinity College, London observed closed sessions for the project. Apart from being a language trainer, she has been associated with several private and non-profit organizations as a training coordinator, annotator, writer, mentor, and campus ambassador.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Aggarwal will teach Hindi at Boston University. She aims at cultivating her knowledge about the rich cultural and educational pedagogies practiced across the world and aspires to evolve into an accomplished language trainer. She is ambitious and hard-working and yearns to be an inter-cultural conduit of knowledge sharing in this program.

Vikas Audumbar Kadam

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Malla Reddy University, Hyderabad, Telangana
Host Institution:	Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Vikas Audumbar Kadam works as an assistant professor in the Department of English, Malla Reddy University, Hyderabad, Telangana. He has taught many courses in English language communication, business communication, and soft skills at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has a PhD in English language education from The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad. He has done M.Phil. in English language studies from the University of Hyderabad. He has also completed a postgraduate diploma in the Teaching of English (PGDTE) and a B.Ed. in English from EFLU Hyderabad.

Dr. Kadam has published his research in international and national journals and presented at several national and international conferences in the areas of language assessment and testing, pedagogical and collaborative assessment, critical thinking, and teacher education. His recent publication includes a research article on Tertiary Level Teachers’ Research Engagement in a Scopus indexed international journal ‘IUP Journal of English Studies’. Dr. Kadam is associated with the Regional Institute of Education (RIE- NCERT), Bhopal, and SCERT Andhra Pradesh as a course content developer and teacher trainer.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, he will teach Hindi at Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, Mississippi. In the world of globalization and technological advancements where spatial boundaries get thinner each day, Dr. Kadam, through his foreign language teaching assignments and other academic and cultural events, will attempt to establish an intercultural bond between his home culture and the local culture in the U.S.

Stuti Benal

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Panjab University, Chandigarh, Chandigarh
Host Institution:	University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Stuti Benal is a teacher of foreign languages and has been teaching French at Alliance Française de Chandigarh. She recently completed her master’s in English from the department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. In addition, she also holds a master’s in journalism and mass communication from the School of Communication Studies, Panjab University.

Ms. Benal has worked in France as an English language assistant as a part of the prestigious Asisstant de Langue program for two years where she taught high school and college students while sharing her culture with them and developing her teaching methodologies. She has written for magazines and university newspapers in the past and continues to be an avid writer. Passionate about languages, she is currently learning Spanish and also working towards perfection in her native language, Pahari.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Assistant and cultural ambassador at the University of Notre Dame, Ms. Benal aspires to share her language with the students through innovative teaching strategies while incorporating the culture of her country in the classroom through music, food, literature, and films. She looks forward to enhancing her understanding of this increasingly multicultural world, which for her finds its reflection in the manifoldness of the Indian experience.

Priyanka Chakraborty

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Priyanka Chakraborty is a PhD candidate in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She has submitted her doctoral thesis, which explores the pluralities of Tibetan identity and their articulation in contemporary Tibetan literature. She completed her master’s in English and Comparative Literature from Pondicherry University. She also holds a master’s degree in women and gender studies. She has presented her works in various international conferences and has been awarded best paper in two events. Last year, she attended the summer training school organized by Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on the Integration of Migrants in Europe at University of Tuscia, Italy. Her recent publication is a study of the journeys of texts and humans from India to Tibet.

Ms. Chakraborty has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students in two Banaras Hindu University affiliated colleges. As a faculty of English literature, she has taught several courses on poetry, drama, fiction, translation studies, gender studies and language. She regularly engaged her students in various academic and cultural activities. She is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Chakraborty will teach Hindi at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. She will develop language adaptability of students through language usage in their respective cultural environment and uses blended methods of language teaching. As a cultural ambassador she will use every opportunity to familiarize the students with her culture while developing their language skills. She believes in an equal, inclusive, and multicultural society and preaches the goal of a symbiotic, holistic and eco-friendly existence.

Kritika Dhyani

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:
Home Institution:	Unison World School, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Host Institution:	Yale University, New Haven, CT
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Kritika Dhyani is working at Union World School in Dehradun. Prior to this, she worked as an assistant professor of English in the Department of Humanities at Shivalik College of Engineering, Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun. She conducted several courses in English language, literature, and linguistics in classrooms of varied sizes and language competencies. She completed her MA and BA from Hansraj College, University of Delhi. She worked as a teaching volunteer with National Service Scheme instructing underprivileged children. She has a level A2 certificate of proficiency in German from Doon University, Dehradun. She is a gold medallist in her M.Phil. degree in English Language Teaching from Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan. She is pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Translation Studies from Indira Gandhi National Open University.

In her academic oeuvre, Ms. Dhyani has read papers in various seminars and conferences. She considers her paper Media, Nudity, and Gender- Interactions a superlative articulation. Her M.Phil. dissertation is titled Rhetoric of Political Speeches: A study of Donald Trump’s Political campaign. Her areas of interest include deconstruction, gender studies, intersectionality, reader-response criticism, and cultural studies.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Dhyani will teach Hindi at Yale University. Apart from teaching, she will focus on the exchange of the practices which are an assortment of social, cultural, religious, and regional facets informing language. She aims at utilizing the opportunity to situate and start a dialogue to bring a shift in the dominant narrative about local practices, enhancing mutual understanding of spatial and cultural discourse.

Faaizah Ghazi

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Faaizah Ghazi is a Junior Research Fellow at the Centre for Spanish and Latin American Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She completed her postgraduation in English literature from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in Delhi in 2019. She also holds an advanced diploma in Spanish from the University of Delhi. She has received various academic accolades throughout her school and university education. She recently qualified for the Delhi Subordinate Service Selection Board examination for Post Graduate Teacher of English.

Ms. Ghazi has as a teacher in multiple projects with the Delhi Government, the Tripura Government, British Council, and Macmillan Education. She has been a part of the ed-tech platforms Mastree and PlanetSpark where she taught and mentored students of various ages and backgrounds across India and the Middle East. She has also taught English to undergraduate students at the University of Delhi’s Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB).

She is selected for the national annual Gurukul program of 2022 by The Foundation of Universal Responsibility wherein she will be culturally immersed in Tibetan and Buddhist philosophy, arts, and the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

As a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Ghazi will teach Hindi at the University of Utah. She is interested in using languages and literature to promote cultural pluralism and transgressive ideation in pedagogic discourse. She hopes to achieve this not only through collective discussions but also through individual logotherapy sessions.

Aishwarya Gupta

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	The English and Foreign Languages University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Host Institution:	Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Aishwarya Gupta is a PhD candidate at the Department of Linguistics at the English and Foreign Languages University, Lucknow. Her doctoral research focuses on Mahatma Gandhi’s language use to address social issues, diverse language movements, and linguistic choices. Her research explores the cause-effect relationships of human interactions across socio-political contexts, focusing on interdisciplinary studies of discourse analysis, rhetoric, cognition, educational pedagogy, and international relations. She has a gold medal in her master’s in linguistics from the University of Lucknow. She is a member of the Linguistic Society of India and America. Her works have been published in reputed journals and featured in several national and international conferences.

As a language teacher, Ms. Gupta has worked closely with the staff and students at a primary school and for underprivileged Kasturba girls. She has developed many language proficiency pedagogies to enhance their communication skills. She is also passionate about contributing to society through sustainable development. She has drafted the United Nations UNCTAD Youth Declaration 2021 alongside being a facilitator and speaker of its Youth Network, amongst other interactions with the ambassadors of many countries.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Gupta will teach Hindi at Michigan State University. Considering cross-cultural linguistic knowledge as a global factor, Ms. Gupta seeks to use her Fulbright experience to give impetus to existing language methods that offer possible solutions and build innovative ways of effective communication towards problem-solving conversations to better establish language understanding, fostering cultural exchange and developing as a future educator.

Rimjhim Kumari

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	V.B. College of Education, Rohtak, Haryana
Host Institution:	Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Rimjhim Kumari is working as a team member for RESPIN project in the Spire Lab in IISc, Bangalore. She excelled in academic by bagging a gold medal in her bachelor’s and achieving a first class in her master’s in English at Patna University. She served as the student representative in the Departmental Council, a student library representative, and on editorial board of the students’ journal Iris and the department newsletter WhatsHapp during her master’s degree.

Ms. Kumari actively participates in conferences and seminars and has helped organize lectures, workshops, and a national seminar in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences on Cultural Practices of Labour in Migration during her masters. She also presented a poster in the 2nd International Conference on Indigenous Languages: Towards Sustainable Multilingualism, held at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. She has also published a few articles and academic papers. She has been a part of several private and social organizations in the capacity of a writer, editor, and annotator. She recently completed her Bachelor of Education and has a good command in Hindi, Magahi, and English language.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Kumari is teaching Hindi at Wake Forest University. She believes that her skills and experiences of Indian cultural ethos would amplify her understanding of numerous cultures and identities across the globe.

Reetika Negi

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Delhi
Host Institution:	Brown University, Providence, RI
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Reetika Negi is an independent researcher and has a keen interest in the role of language in education and knowledge building, preservation, and dissemination. Currently, she is researching on the status of the regional languages like Kumaoni and Garhwali at the school level and in higher education.

She has completed her PhD and master’s in linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She received UGC NET-JRF scholarship in linguistics from 2015 to 2020. Her PhD thesis focused on aspects of representation, identity, and agency of Kumaoni women in folklore and literary/oral traditions of the region. It explored the relation between language and gender and presented a sociolinguistic assessment of women’s linguistic/cultural practices and traditional knowledge systems.

As a teaching assistant at the Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, she taught an introductory course on linguistics to undergraduate students. She has worked as a linguist with Panlingua Language Processing LLP on audio transcription and corpus building on Kumaoni and Hindi languages. She is also an active member of Linguistic Society of India and the Society for Endangered Languages, India.

As a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Negi will teach Hindi at Brown University. She is keen on getting a hands-on experience of the higher education system in the U.S. and learn more about American culture. At the same time, she wishes to teach students more about the nuances of Hindi, India’s linguistic and cultural diversity and work towards expanding her scholarship and teaching skills.

Harshita Srivastava

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi
Home Institution:	Independent Scholar, Kolkata, West Bengal
Host Institution:	University of Michigan, , MI
Grant Start Month:	August 2023
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Ms. Harshita Srivastava is an independent scholar from Kolkata. She completed her master’s in English in 2021 from St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata and received the Britto Gold Medal for securing the first rank at the university. She has also received a Junior Research Fellowship. In her undergraduate years at Loreto College, she received the Madhumita Mitra Memorial Award for responsibility and sincerity; Nirmal Sharma Memorial Award for securing the highest marks in Hindi; Bibhas Roy Award for overall excellence; and certificates for proficiency in political science, French and Hindi. She has served as the Secretary of the Literary Society both at her undergraduate and graduate institutions; and has been on the editorial board of the college/university magazines.

Ms. Srivastava has authored a volume of poems titled ‘Corona Diary, Before and Beyond’ published by Writers Workshop. She has translated a volume of Hindi poems to English titled ‘Wheel of Creation’ authored by Dr. Rakhi Roy Halder. Her research interests mainly include the Divine Feminine in Hinduism and partition literature. She has presented and published research papers on these topics.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Srivastava is teaching Hindi at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She aims to make the experience of her students as meaningful as possible by highlighting the cultural nuances as an integral element of the language learning process. In addition, she hopes to imbibe the teaching pedagogy of the U.S. so that new ideas may be formed and used in her teaching career.

Aadil Zeffer Sofi

Grant Category:	Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Hindi and Urdu
Home Institution:	Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab
Host Institution:	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Mr. Aadil Zeffer is a PhD candidate in English at Lovely Professional University, a private university in Jalandhar in the state of Punjab. He has two master’s degrees — in English from Central University of Kashmir and in Urdu from Maulana Azad National Urdu University. He was an English trainer for three years at a technical and vocational college in Saudi Arabia. He earned Cambridge certified CELTA and took courses in learning Spanish, Italian, and French.

Mr. Zeffer is an author of a book An Educational Supplement. His second book Convergence, which will be published soon focuses on uniting our collective spirit. He is also working on a book on Postmodern Gothic which is his thrust area. He has published several research papers in international as well as UGC care-listed journals.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he will use innovative teaching methods aiming to improve the linguistic ability of foreign language learners and this endeavor in turn, will enrich his pedagogical skills. He believes that the Fulbright FLTA program provides a wonderful platform for teaching learning experience and cultural exchange. He plans to use this Fulbright experience in his future academic and teaching assignments.

Kalpana Hulluru

Grant Category:	Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Humanities English Literature and Gender Studies
Home Institution:	Pondicherry University, Puducherry, Puducherry
Host Institution:	Metropolitan State University, Denver, CO
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Ten months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Kalpana Hulluru is a Professor in the Department of English, Pondicherry University (PU), Puducherry, India. She strongly believes that literature provides critical thinking skills that will help students/scholars to live life meaningfully. Her strengths are strategic approaches to teaching mixed groups of students and innovative teaching methods. She has successfully completed three research projects with an ongoing SPARC project. She has many awards and fellowships to her credit. A few notable ones are the USA’s ‘Study of Institutions Award’ (2007) and the SICI’s ‘Faculty Mobility Grant’ (2016). She was an invited keynote speaker for the Open National Science Day (2018) at the University of Debrecen, Hungary. She has to her credit several publications and has contributed a chapter on the Tamil language Classic, Silappadikaram to A Companion to World Literature (Wiley, 2019). She is an able research guide and is recognized as an outstanding teacher at her institution.

At Metropolitan State University, Denver, CO, Kalpana, besides teaching upper-division Literature courses, would offer courses on Women’s Writing and Feminism that would be cross-listed with the university’s Gender Institute. As part of the outreach, she would be delivering the annual Gandhi Memorial Lecture sponsored by Denver Sister Cities International and also interact with high school students at the Denver Centre for International Studies. Further to teaching and outreach programs, she intends to research Asian American Children’s literature concerning gender. By the end of her stay, she hopes to develop an MoU between the universities to link online courses, foster student-scholar exchanges and initiate collaborative research.

Geeta Nair

Grant Category:	Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program
Project Title:	N.A.
Field of Study:	Economics and Higher Education
Home Institution:	H. R. College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	New Jersey City University, New Jersey, NJ
Grant Start Month:	August 2022
Duration of Grant:	Four months

Brief Bio:

Dr. Geeta Nair is Professor and Head of Department of Business Economics at H. R. College of Commerce & Economics for over 3 decades. She is also Director of Research Initiatives, Chair of Board of Studies in Business Economics, HSNC University, and member of Board of Studies in Business Economics at University of Mumbai. She is the Centre Head of PhD Centre in Business Economics and has successfully guided 5 students, with 7 new students registered under her.

She has been awarded 5 Minor Research Projects of the University of Mumbai, 1 Major Research Project of the UGC, 2 Post-doctoral Indo-French collaborative research projects jointly by FMSH, Paris and the ICSSR & UGC, Delhi. She has been invited to several prestigious international conferences at the London School of Economics, UNESCO, SUNY-Cortland, Salzburg Resilience & Decent Work Conference; and has over 100 reputed publications with 4 books published by Palgrave Macmillan, UK. She is also listed in the ‘Marquis Who’s Who’ list in Economics.

During her Scholar-in-Residence Program Fulbright Fellowship for 4 months at New Jersey City University, she will start a new course on the Indian Economy and enrich the existing Economics syllabi by covering the developing country’s perspective. She will also conduct research in the area of “Cost-Benefit Analysis of Online Learning in Higher Education in the US- Learning Lessons for India”.