Environmental Science/ Studies Archives

Anchal Sharma

Ms. Anchal Sharma is a PhD candidate at CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR-CSIO), Chandigarh, India. Her doctoral research focuses on the photocatalytic degradation of indoor air pollutants, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs), using 2D material-based heterostructures. As an INSPIRE Fellow, she is driven to develop efficient, sustainable solutions to improve indoor air quality through innovative materials engineering.

Anchal completed her bachelor’s degree from Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla, followed by a master’s degree in physics from Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh. She was a recipient of the DST Scholarship for Higher Education during both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. During the master’s program, she worked on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials for photocatalytic and photovoltaic applications. She received the university gold medal for outstanding performance.
As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Connecticut, USA, Anchal is investigating 2D material-based heterostructures for VOC degradation under varying operational conditions such as humidity, initial pollutant concentration, and catalyst loading. Her work further delves into mechanistic insights using advanced characterization techniques, including in-situ DRIFTS and EPR spectroscopy, to identify reaction intermediates and elucidate the role of reactive species.
Anchal’s work aims to address critical challenges in indoor air quality through advanced materials design and sustainable remediation strategies for real-world applications, including self-cleaning coatings, photocatalytic air filtration systems, and portable air purification technologies.

Anam Sabir

Ms. Anam Sabir is a PhD candidate at the Satellite and Aerial Remote Sensing Lab, Department of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore. Her doctoral research focuses on the development of statistical change detection algorithms using time-series data. She applies these algorithms for efficient deforestation alerts, forest-fire scar monitoring and forest carbon monitoring.

Anam is an electronics and telecommunications engineer by training and has been awarded MTech degree in remote sensing and GIS with a specialization in satellite image analysis and photogrammetry from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing – ISRO, Dehradun, in 2022. Anam likes singing and sketching in her leisure time and likes to explore and experiment with world cuisines.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, Anam is working on 3D forest degradation mapping. She is using NASA’s LiDAR onboard Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) and NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) to monitor vegetation dynamics. Her study aims at combining the two powerful active remote sensing techniques for 3D monitoring of the forests.

Prachi Shrikant Thatte

Dr. Prachi Shrikant Thatte earned her PhD from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, in 2018, where her research examined how multiple wildlife species move through human-modified landscapes. She holds a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Mumbai and an MSc in health science from the University of Pune.

Dr. Thatte received the 2019 Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award. She worked as the Lead for Connectivity Conservation with WWF-India between 2019 and 2025. She spearheaded the creation of the Coalition for Wildlife Corridors, a multi-organization network dedicated to advancing connectivity conservation in India. Since 2025, Dr. Thatte has been working as an independent consultant on various wildlife conservation projects.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Thatte is examining the factors that influence the success or challenges of landscape-scale conservation initiatives. She is assessing social and institutional characteristics across initiatives at different stages to identify governance and collaboration practices that support effective conservation.

Hasan Raja Naqvi

Dr. Hasan Raja Naqvi is an Assistant Professor of geography at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), New Delhi. He earned his PhD on “Watershed Management for Soil Conservation: A Case of Nun Nadi Watershed” in 2013 from the Department of Geography at JMI. He completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees in geography from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. His academic background comprises physical geography, environmental systems, and geospatial analysis.

Dr. Naqvi’s research interests include climate resilience, natural hazards, watershed management, air pollution, and geospatial technologies. He has published more than 50 research articles in national and international journals and presented his work in the United States, China, Taiwan, and Ethiopia. He has also completed an Indo-Taiwan collaborative project funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research and received the Scientific High-Level Visiting Fellowship for France in 2024.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Naqvi is working on an interdisciplinary project which applies advanced GeoAI and climate analytics to improve flood-risk assessment, resilience planning, and sustainable watershed management in vulnerable regions of India and the United States.

Sarthak Arora

Mr. Sarthak Arora is a researcher based in Delhi, working at the intersection of environment and machine learning. His research looks at river remediation, wildfire risk-prediction, biodiversity monitoring, and remote sensing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Ramjas College, Delhi University, and a PG Diploma in Machine Learning from Plaksha University.

Having worked with corporations such as Nearbuy, Paytm, Disney+ Hotstar, and Indifi as a Data Analyst/Scientist in the past, Sarthak pivoted to academia to pursue interdisciplinary research with universities and non-profits. As a part of Collaborative Earth’s Ganges Lab, led by Dr. Anthony Acciavatti, he has been engaged in developing a comprehensive River Remediation strategy for the Ganges River. At Wuuii Inc, he designed computer vision architectures using multi-modal earth observation datasets to improve wildfire risk assessments.

Sarthak is pursuing a master’s program in environmental studies to further engage with spatio-temporal ecological systems, especially how they are impacted by climate variability. After that, he plans to undertake projects which will focus on designing scalable, resource-efficient modelling approaches for active environmental challenges in the Global South. As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Sarthak is aiming to integrate data-driven insights with environmental justice and policymaking to help guide global conservation practices. The scope and scale of interdisciplinary research needed to address the complexities of environmental resilience requires access to global networks, which he is eager to leverage during the fellowship period.

Aesha Datta

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.

Snehal Donde

Dr. Snehal Donde is the dean of administrative affairs at the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre, University of Mumbai, located at Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), Palghar, Maharashtra. She is also the chief research officer of GEV, which has been awarded a United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) award in 2017. She has more than three decades of administrative, teaching, and research experience. She holds a double PhD in zoology and management studies and has successfully guided nine PhD students.

Dr. Donde has received several research grants for projects including one on Ganga River pollution, erosion and sedimentation studies. She has chaired sessions at many prestigious international conferences and has over 80 peer-reviewed research publications to her credit, including nine books. She received the Green Crusader award from the UNEP and India’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. She is a member of the advisory council of People’s World Commission on Droughts and Floods, Ulrika, Sweden.

In her four months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the City University of New York’s Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY, Dr. Donde will teach courses on environmental science in the Departments of Chemistry, Earth Science and Environmental Sciences. She will also work with the Department of History, particularly with the faculty offering courses on human geography, and provide students with newer perspectives on rural India. She will conduct collective social learning workshops, and seminars on various sustainability initiatives centered around water quality and scarcity, rural development, and climate change resilience.

Vivek Tejaswi

Mr. Vivek Tejaswi is a public policy research and governance practitioner with a strong background in technology, social science, and climate change mitigation. He has dedicated over a decade of his career to studying and working on interdisciplinary aspects environmental science and sustainability, and collaborating with private, government, and non-governmental organizations at the sub-national level.

As a Founding Member and De-facto Director, Mr. Tejaswi has led the Centre for Studies on Environment and Climate at the Asian Development Research Institute, a prominent social sciences research think-tank in Bihar. His work in Bihar, particularly on policy framing and implementation was supported by major philanthropies such as the World Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Tata Cornell Institute, and Oxford Policy Management. In his brief professional stint, he has led several other projects and team in this prior professional instant, specially with institutions such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (Government of India), and the Department of Finance (Government of Bihar). Prior to his involvement in policy research, he was worked with major grassroots organizations like Tata Trust, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), and Selco Foundation. Mr. Tejaswi’s dedication to community development and sustainability is exemplified by his recognition as a State Bank of India Foundation’s Youth For India Fellow. During this fellowship, he implemented a project that positively impacted over 500 households in remote regions of Madhya Pradesh, providing them with access to basic energy sources and farm-based technology.

Academically, Mr. Tejaswi received training in ‘Development’ with a specialization in ‘Sustainability’ from the Azim Premji University, Karnataka. He also holds a degree in ‘Electronics and Communication Engineering’, from Ranchi University, Jharkhand. He is trained in applied technology design and installation, focusing on areas such as robotics, small-scale wind energy turbines, and decentralized solar energy systems. As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Mr. Tejaswi aims to gain international exposure and receive comprehensive training in climate change science, policy, and leadership to better address the socioeconomic impacts of climate crisis. After his return from the Fulbright-Nehru grant, Mr. Tejaswi envisions continuing his work in critical thinking and strategic policy dialogues related to climate change mitigation and resource sustainability at the regional scale. He intends to bridge alliances between the international research community and regional practitioners, aiming to strengthen evidence-based policymaking, planning, and implementation tailored to the specific needs of the region.

Ranjit Kumar

Ranjit Kumar, a nautical science graduate, has extensive experience of sailing. He has traveled around the world as a merchant navy officer, learning about the complexity and diversity of the marine environment and picking up a wide array of survival skills. For his leadership and managerial skills, he was appointed as chief cadet captain. As a member of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), he has been dealing with critical interventions in development and regulatory administration for the past 16 years. For his all-round performance, he was awarded best ‘District Collector’ by the Government of Maharashtra.

As the district collector of Gadchiroli, an area severely affected by left wing extremism, Ranjit has laid extra emphasis on socio-economic development to further the cause of peace. For his innovative approach and effective contribution, he has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

Currently, as director of National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ranjit is engaged in policy formulation and implementation of the National Jal Jeevan Mission, one of the largest programs in the world, related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6). He believes inclusive and rapid economic development with ecological sustainability is a major challenge. A study of environmental management and policy analysis will equip him with the necessary knowledge and skills to work on this challenge and help improve the quality of life of millions of citizens. Ranjit is a marathon runner, an excellent swimmer, and a sports enthusiast.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Ranjit hopes to gain valuable cross-cultural exposure, a chance to learn from diverse professionals, and an opportunity to befriend multi-talented individuals.