Current Fellows

Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Awards (Research)

Name and Home Institution	Field of Study	Specialization/ Project Title	Host Institution/ Duration of grant and Date/Month of arrival
Dr. Nina N. Asher Chair and Professor Department of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education and Human Development University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN Flex Grant	Education	Examining the Intersections of Globalization, Privatization, and Education after Two Decades of Economic Liberalization in India	Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai, Maharashtra Duration: 4 months September 2014 & April 2015
Ms. Carey R. Clouse Assistant Professor Department of Art, Architecture and Art History College of Humanities and Fine Arts University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA Flex Grant	Architecture	Climate Change Adaptation in Zanskar	The Energy and Resources Institute (U niversity), Delhi Duration: 4 months September 2014 & 2015-16
Dr. Jennifer J. Daubenmier Assistant Professor Department of Medicine Osher Center for Integrative Medicine San Francisco, CA	Medical Sciences	Meditation and Health: Buddhist and Western Sciences of the Body	Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh Duration: 9 months March 2015
Dr. Paula S. Dominguez Director Legislative Research Office Rhode Island General Assembly Barrington, RI	Education	Perspectives on Community Colleges Among Maharashtra’s State Policy-Makers: A Stakeholder Analysis	University of Mumbai Mumbai, Maharashtra Duration: 9 months August 2014
Dr. Paul B. Donnelly Associate Professor Department of Comparative Cultural Studies College of Arts and Letters Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ	Religious Studies	A Study of the Nako Pilgrimage Route	University of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Duration: 4 months July 2014
Dr. Karlyn K. Eckman Senior Research Associate Department of Forest Resources College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences (CFANS) University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Saint Paul, MN Flex Grant	Environmental Sciences	Shifting Cultivation and Water Conservation in Mizoram, India	Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram Duration: 4 months December 2014 & 2015-16
Dr. Mark A. Eiteman Professor Driftmier Engineering Center College of Engineering University of Georgia Athens, GA	Engineering	Engineering Sustainable Biotechnology	Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Duration: 5 months August 2014
Dr. Christine R. Finnan Professor and Director Department of Teacher Education School of Education, Health and Human Performance College of Charleston Charleston, SC	Education	Educating the “Poorest of the Poor:” A Study of a Residential School for India’s Tribal Children	Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha Duration: 6 months September 2014
Dr. Jana Fortier Lecturer Department of Anthropology University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA	Anthropology	Finding Food Security with the Native Foods of North India	Navdanya, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Duration: 6 months October 2014
Ms. Katherine E. Freeze Musician, Composer/At-Large Seattle, WA	Music	Strings at the Roof of the World: Renewing the Folk Music Tradition of Ladakh and Western Tibet	Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, Leh, Jammu & Kashmir Duration: 9 months September 2014
Dr. Radha S. Hegde Associate Professor Department of Media, Culture, and Communication Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development New York University New York, NY	Communications	Communicating Aspirations: The Cultural Politics of English in India	University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Duration: 9 months October 2014
Dr. Brian E. Hemphill Associate Professor Department of Anthropology College of Liberal Arts University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK	Anthropology	A Dental Morphometric Examination of the Distinctiveness and Affinities of Austra-Asiatic- and Tibeto-Burman-speaking Ethnic Groups of South Asia	North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya Duration: 9 months August 2014
Dr. Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram Professor and Head Department of Biomedical Sciences Assistant Dean for Research College of Medicine at Rockford University of Illinois - Chicago Rockford, IL	Medical Sciences	Evaluating the Current Immune Status of Subjects Against Lymphatic Filariasis Infection in India and Assessing the Need for a Prophylactic Vaccine	Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Maharashtra Duration: 5 months July 2014
Dr. Suneeta Kercood Associate Professor Department of Special Education College of Education Butler University Indianapolis, IN *Flex Grant*	Education	A Study of the Health Behaviors of Children and Adults with Disabilities, and the Socio-cultural Factors that Influence their Healthy Lifestyles	Samvaad, Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 4 months November 2014 & 2015-16
Dr. Sarah K. Khan Journalist/ Independent Academic, Writer/At-Large Madison, WI	Environmental Sciences	Indian Women Farmer’s Stories in a Changing, Challenging, and Globalized Environment	Institute for Trans-disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (FRLHT) Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 9 months September 2014
Dr. Claire F. Komives Professor Department of Biomedical, Chemical and Materials Engineering College of Engineering San Jose State University San Jose, CA	Engineering	Development of Low Cost Therapy for Biological Toxins for Rural India	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi Duration: 6 months October 2014
Dr. Swaminathan Krishnan Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Division of Engineering and Applied Science; Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA	Engineering	A Rupture-to-Rafters Simulation Platform for the Mega-City of Delhi	Indian Institute of Technology (Madras), Chennai, Tamil Nadu Duration: 9 months July 2014
Dr. Challa V. Kumar Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs, CT Flex Grant	Chemistry	DNA-Based Light Antennas For Solar Energy Capture and Conversion	Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 4 months December 2014 & 2015-16
Dr. William F. Kuracina Assistant Professor Department of History College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts Texas A&M University Commerce, TX	History	Delayed Victory or Illusory Success? The Congress Socialist Party, 1934-1948	Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi Duration: 4 months July 2014
Dr. Matthew M. Kurtz Associate Professor Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences Wesleyan University Middletown, CT Flex Grant	Psychology	A Study of Functional Disability in Schizophrenia in Southern India	Schizophrenia Research Foundation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Duration: 4 months September 2014 & 2015-16
Mr. Andrew J. McGlathery Instructor/ Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Department of Psychiatry School of Medicine New York Medical College Valhalla, NY Flex Grant	Nursing	Case Histories of Tradition Tibetan Medicine Efficacy, a Longtitudinal Study	Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh Duration: 4 months January 2015 & 2015-16
Dr. Subadra Panchanadeswaran Associate Professor School of Social Work Adelphi University Garden City, NY	Social Work	Sex Work and Cell Phone Technology: Challenges and Opportunities for HIV Prevention	College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, Maharashtra Duration: 4 months January 2015
Dr. Sandip Patel Associate Professor Department of Information Science and Systems School of Business Morgan State University Baltimore, MD	Information Technology	Smart Farming with SCADA-Sensor Based Irrigation for Coastal Areas of Gujarat State, India	Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat Duration: 6 months July 2014
Mr. Matthew J. Rahaim Assistant Professor Department of Music College of Arts and Sciences University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	Music	Voice Cultures: Indian Traditions of Resounding Virtue	University of Pune Pune, Maharashtra Duration: 4 months August 2014
Dr. Lucinda Ramberg Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology and Program in Feminist, College of Arts and Sciences Gender & Sexuality Studies Cornell University Ithaca, NY	Anthropology	Dalit Conversion and Sexual Modernity	Institute for Social and Economic Change Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 9 months October 2014
Dr. Rajesh Rao Associate Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering College of Engineering University of Washington Seattle, WA	Computer Sciences	Neural Mechanisms of Action Selection: Computational Models and Applications in Brain-Computer Interfacing	Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 5 months August 2014 & 2015
Ms. Cynthia A. Siegel Adjunct Faculty Department of Ceramics Visual and Performing Arts Division Cabrillo College Aptos, CA	Arts	Clay, Community and Collaboration: Research in Traditional and Contemporary Indian Ceramic Sculpture	Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal Duration: 7 months August 2014
Ms. Jael M. Silliman Retired Professor New York, NY	Social Sciences	Recalling and Retelling Jewish Calcutta	Jadavpur University Kolkata, West Bengal Duration: 8 months August 2014
Dr. Cassandra L. Thiel Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Swanson School of Engineering University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA	Engineering	Environmental Life Cycle Impacts of Cataract Surgery in India	Aravind Eye Hospitals & Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Puducherry Duration: 4 months November 2014
Ms. Wendy R. Weiss Professor and Director Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design College of Education and Human Sciences University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE	Arts	Documentation and Design Development of Ikat Weaving: Digital Frontier	The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat Duration: 9 months October 2014
Ms. Julie K. West Publications Specialist Office of Research and Economic Development University of North Texas Denton, TX	Communications	Tale of the Bengal Tiger: Integrating Stories of Environmental Journalism, Wildlife Conservation, and Folkloric Wisdom	Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Duration: 9 months August 2014
Dr. Andrew C. Willford Associate Professor Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences Cornell University Ithaca, NY	Anthropology	Sacred Groves, Urban Depression, and Biomedicalizing Mental Health Care in South India	National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka Duration: 9 months August 2014
Dr. Jeffrey H. Withey Associate Professor Department of Immunology and Microbiology School of Medicine Wayne State University Detroit, MI	Biology	Establishing the Zebrafish Model for Cholera in India	National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, West Bengal Duration: 5 months November 2014