Field of Study USA: Psychology

Sruti Mohankumar

Sruti Mohankumar is a recent graduate from Texas A&M University, where she earned her BS in psychological and brain sciences with certificates in behavioral health and the psychology of diversity. Throughout her undergraduate years, Sruti was involved in numerous research endeavors that centered on understanding how marginalized communities navigated barriers in education, employment, and access to care.

As a student in Texas A&M University’s Health, Empowerment, & Advocacy Lab (HEAL) led by Dr. Nguyen Nguyen, Sruti coauthored a paper (currently under review) exploring how the role of accents, which are often denoted as a key social marker, influence individuals’ perceptions of their own academic and professional capabilities, especially in a world where English is quickly becoming the dominant language in cross-cultural communication.

Sruti is set to begin her PhD in counseling psychology from Texas Tech University, where she intends to continue examining the intersection of linguistic marginalization and vocational psychology. As a future clinician, she hopes to work closely with South Asian communities, and believes that an immersive experience in India will deepen her understanding of culturally grounded perspectives on mental healthcare and help-seeking.

In her Fulbright-Nehru research project, Sruti is extending her previous research and employing a qualitative interview method to explore the nuanced responses to how regional dialects and accents within India influence both self-perception and social judgment. Given India’s vast linguistic diversity, she is particularly interested in how intranational variation in dialects and accents, which is often overlooked in discussions on language bias, affects educational and vocational outcomes.

Vunnathi Ankem

Vunnathi Ankem is a community-oriented researcher and student leader. She graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a BS in psychology. For her honors thesis project, conducted through qualitative interviewing and thematic coding under the guidance of her mentor, Dr. Christopher Murphy, she researched how the South Asian diaspora conceptualized intimate partner violence (IPV) and unhealthy relationship dynamics. She presented this research at a conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) in 2025 and at the 2026 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). She has served as a government intern where she engaged with research produced on family violence, online abuse, and child maltreatment. She was also a research assistant in the Gender-Based Harms and Abuse Prevention Lab where she worked on projects regarding the effectiveness of intervention in IPV cases, IPV amongst international graduate students, and IPV prevention strategies on college campuses.

In her free time, Vunnathi enjoys highlighting the importance of civic action and engagement. In one such campaign, she and her team of student leaders helped raise over USD 6,000 for local Baltimore charities. And, through the Maryland Y Youth and Government program, she volunteered to support teens in their journey with civic engagement. Vunnathi has tutored elementary public school students in Baltimore City to keep up their love for learning. She has also co-led an exploration of a long-term collective civic action around health and patient care equity in Baltimore City. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vunnathi facilitated difficult conversations regarding mental health concerns, organized multiple school events for mental health awareness, conducted counseling programs, and created space for students struggling with community issues through a mental health club she started with her friend in association with Our Minds Matter. She aspires to become a clinical-community psychologist, combining her interest in collective action, love for community work, and passion for IPV prevention and mental healthcare.

Vunnathi’s Fulbright-Nehru project is about how young people in India perceive and talk about unhealthy relationship dynamics. Working with Dr. Padmaja Gadiraju at the University of Hyderabad, she is interviewing students in a semi-structured one-on-one interview format. The interviews are identifying expectations of social behavior, the role of social networks, and the social discourse around IPV to analyze cultural influences on relationship dynamics. The findings will inform future efforts to tailor culturally relevant IPV prevention and response programs for students of South Asian descent.

Ashley Walsdorf

Dr. Ashley Walsdorf is an assistant professor of couple and family therapy at Alliant International University. She received her PhD in human development, family science, marriage, and family therapy from the University of Georgia in 2019, with a specialization in immigration policy and working with multicultural communities. In addition to her work at Alliant, Dr. Walsdorf is a licensed, bilingual marriage and family therapist and an AAMFT-approved supervisor in the state of Texas, the director of family programming at a residential treatment center, and a research affiliate of the Latino Research Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. Clinically, she has been practicing therapy in English and Spanish with individuals, couples, and families for nearly 15 years, specializing in work with immigrant families, multicultural communities, and addiction and recovery. Her research has examined ethnic-racial socialization, the effects of U.S. socio-political climate on mental health among Latino communities, affirmative clinical work with LGBTQ communities, and critical race theories. She has authored over 25 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and presented her work at more than 50 national and international conferences. Dr. Walsdorf’s connection to India and international work is both professional and personal: her husband and stepdaughter are from Kerala, and her blended, cross-cultural family informs her commitment to systemic and culturally responsive family therapy. She loves traveling and cooking with her family and eating her mother-in-law’s seriously spicy food.

Dr. Walsdorf’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining the relevance of systemic family therapy in the South Indian context. Based at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kochi, Kerala, she is collaborating with graduate students and faculty in psychology and social work through coursework and participatory research that assess Western family therapy theories and models for “cultural fit”, while developing adaptations for local family and community contexts. Her project aims to create culturally responsive frameworks that strengthen the relational elements of mental health education while honoring South Indian social and familial dynamics, in addition to fostering India–U.S. academic partnerships.

Alexandra Mouangue

Alexandra Mouangue is an emerging researcher and practitioner in the field of mindfulness and holistic mental health. She is particularly interested in somatic (body-focused) interventions for trauma and anxiety. In 2024, Alexandra graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in psychology and a minor in economics. Her honors thesis, “Beyond Social Class: A Mixed Methods Exploration of Resource Predictability, Uncertainty, and the Factors Influencing Temporal Discounting”, reflects her commitment to understanding how sociocultural contexts shape psychological well-being and decision-making. Her current work expands on this subject and explores the intersections of mind, body, and culture in mental health.

Alexandra’s lived experience as an African immigrant informs her research on how emotions and trauma are embodied, and how movement, breath, and meditation can facilitate healing. Within her academic and personal ventures, Alexandra has steadily pursued community-based mindfulness research. She has had a stint at Drexel University as a research coordinator co-leading educational support groups for adolescents, focusing on behavioral and acceptance-based interventions for eating disorders and weight loss. Her extensive research experience and volunteer work has instilled in her a deep passion for establishing equitable mental health care, particularly for low-income and immigrant populations. Fluent in English, French, and Spanish, Alexandra is also an aspiring yoga teacher and herbalist. Her overarching goal is to set up her own holistic mental health clinic where she can integrate the wisdom of the body and the land into evidence-based practice.

Through the Fulbright-Nehru project, Alexandra is deepening her expertise in mind–body therapies in order to contribute to the development of interventions addressing the mental, emotional, and physiological needs of diverse communities. Her project is focusing on co-regulation- and mindfulness-based group therapy, alongside explorations of yoga, acupuncture, and massage throughout South India. The aims of the study are to: examine the effectiveness of somatic practices in reducing anxiety, depression, and hyperarousal; explore the roles of co-regulation and community-building in mental health outcomes; investigate the impact of interoception and trait mindfulness on treatment outcomes; and gain valuable insights from practitioners on the application of holistic practices worldwide.

Shagun Gandhi

Shagun Gandhi is a 2025 graduate of Georgetown University, where she earned her BSc in human science with a minor in disability studies. Her academic and professional interests lie at the intersection of oncology, public health, and psychosocial care. As a medical scribe at George Washington University’s Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery Department, she works closely with surgeons, speech pathologists, and patients, which has deepened her understanding of the lived experience of head and neck cancer survivors. She is concurrently engaged in molecular genetics research at Georgetown, where she investigates DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms that contribute to genome instability and cancer. Her work contributed to a peer-reviewed publication in PLOS Genetics.

Shagun was selected as a Laidlaw Scholar and a SMURF Fellow through which she conducted independent research, mentored younger scholars, and presented findings at national conferences. Her leadership also extended to service initiatives, including her role as president of the Georgetown University Oncology Patient Support (GU-OPS) group, which works to improve the quality of life of patients at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. These experiences allowed her to develop expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, as well as gave her a multidimensional perspective on cancer care delivery.

Her broader interests include global oncology, disability advocacy, and medical humanities. She is passionate about building bridges between clinical medicine and research, with the ultimate goal of becoming a physician-scientist dedicated to improving survivorship outcomes for underserved populations.

Shagun’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is investigating the psychosocial experiences of head and neck cancer survivors in India. Partnering with the Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai and the Government Cancer Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, she is conducting focus group discussions and interviews with survivors to explore themes such as emotional well-being, social support, and barriers to rehabilitation. Using thematic analysis and the NVivo software, she aims to identify culturally specific survivorship needs and thus inform patient-centered care models. Her work will generate actionable insights for oncology providers and also contribute to the development of long-term psychosocial support frameworks for cancer survivors in India.

Anuj Gandhi

Anuj Gandhi is a passionate mental health advocate and researcher who leads with love and light. He takes an interdisciplinary approach to build community-driven programs rooted in research, education, and storytelling.

Anuj has worked as a youth mental health advocate in several organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, WE ARE SAATH, The Steve Fund, The Trevor Project, and the Mental Health Literacy Collaborative. He is most proud of his work in improving mental health resources at his alma mater, Saint Louis University. He recently founded MyJyoti, a South Asian mental health advocacy, storytelling, and media platform and community organization.

Along with his commitment to advocacy and activism, Anuj is an experienced community-based researcher. His research interests broadly encompass community-driven mental health interventions, cultural identity and humility, complementary practices, and global mental health. He recently worked as a research specialist at the Institute of Juvenile Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago and as a Program Facilitator for Lurie Children’s Hospital. In these roles, he facilitated educational programs for youth of color, focused on civic engagement, activism, racial justice, health equity, and mindfulness as part of clinical trial interventions for youth well-being.

Anuj’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is examining how globalization-based acculturation influences young Indian adults’ attitudes toward mental health and treatment; in this context, he is also comparing Western psychiatric care and traditional Indian medicine (Ayush). Using a sequential explanatory design, the study is conducting a quantitative survey and focus group discussions with treatment seekers, practitioners, and advocates. The findings aim to inform culturally responsive mental healthcare and provide an educational toolkit for globalized Indians.

Anjali Brown

Anjali Brown is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a BA in philosophy while completing a rigorous pre-medical curriculum. A multiple-year James B. Angell Scholar, Anjali pairs humanistic inquiry with empirical research to address global mental health inequities. At Michigan Medicine, she worked under Dr. Maria Muzik on the NIH-funded prenatal stress and postpartum studies, performing EEG acquisition, clinical intakes, and longitudinal data analysis on mother–infant dyads. Previously, she had co-led a 3,000-participant wearable-sensor study of resident physicians in the Sen Lab to produce actionable insights into disability and burnout in medical training.

Beyond the laboratory, Anjali directs evidence-based service initiatives. As a peer counselor, she delivers one-on-one psychological support to fellow students, and as the volunteer team lead for Michigan Medicine’s Hospital Elder Life Program, she trains volunteers and designs engagement protocols that reduce delirium and isolation in older inpatients. She has also co-developed a biodegradable menstrual pad for women in rural Peru. Anjali has won top honors at the Center for Global Health Equity pitch competition and has authored an illustrated menstrual-health guide for girls at the Chinmaya Vijaya Orphanage, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Anjali aspires to become a psychiatrist-researcher who integrates culturally responsive clinical practice with policy-relevant scholarship to advance maternal mental health worldwide.

Anjali’s Fulbright-Nehru project is investigating how maternal depression shapes mother–child interactions in urban India during five years of the postpartum period. Working with Dr. Prabha Chandra at NIMHANS, she is coding and statistically analyzing 300 video recordings from the Bangalore Child Health and Development Study to illuminate how maternal depression shapes mother–child interactions. She is also holding caregiver interviews to supply the sociocultural context. In parallel, she is conducting a systematic study on adolescent perinatal mental health and the impact of neighborhood violence during pregnancy in order to identify policy gaps. Her findings will inform culturally attuned interventions that strengthen community-based maternal mental health services in low-resource settings.

Christopher LaMountain

Mr. Christopher LaMountain is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he pursued a double major in Religious Studies and Music Performance Studies. After being awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant from Northwestern in 2018, Mr. LaMountain completed a multi-media research project comparing gynecological texts of Mediterranean Antiquity with Marian narratives of the New Testament Apocrypha. In the latter portion of his collegiate career, Mr. LaMountain conducted research on devotional music at seven of the eight continental Baha’i Houses of Worship as the 2019 Northwestern Circumnavigator grantee. Having sung in choirs and as a classically trained tenor soloist, Mr. LaMountain also sung with the musicians of Baha’i Temples around the world and subsequently produced his honors undergraduate thesis comparing the musical styles and presentation forms of devotional music at the different Baha’i Temples. With the help of his colleagues from the Bienen School of Music, Mr. LaMountain has also presented two concert lectures on his comparative Baha’i musicological studies, which featured musical excepts from his worldwide research trip. Interested in inter-religious musicology and cross-cultural studies, Mr. LaMountain has achieved proficiency in French, Italian, and Hindi, passed upper-level courses on various traditions of the major world religions, and studied musical traditions, such as Negro Spiritual, Western Classical, Hindustani, Ugandan traditional, and Nueva Cancion Chilena musical styles. Mr. LaMountain aspires to pursue a graduate degree in sacred music studies, become a religious studies and musicology professor, and continue singing in choirs over the course of his life.

With his Fulbright-Nehru project, Mr. LaMountain is both observing and participating in the process of devotional music making at the prayer services of the Asian Baha’i House of Worship, called the Lotus Temple. In comparing both these observed musical styles and presentational forms of the Lotus Temple with other faith spaces in Delhi, for example Akshardham and ISKCON Temples, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Myanmar Buddha Temple, and Moti Masjid, Mr. LaMountain is determining the manner in which local worship music from religious traditions outside of the Baha’i Faith influences intonation of the Lotus Temple.

Rhône Grajcar

Mr. Rhône Grajcar graduated from Whitman College in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies. At Whitman he explored South Asian religions and US foreign policy, culminating in eight months spent in India on a David L. Boren Scholarship. He has followed his interests to internships at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the South Asia Practice at the Albright Stonebridge Group. He is eager to deepen his understanding of South Asia religions and contribute to the study of shrines during his Fulbright-Nehru grant.

Mr. Grajcar’s Fulbright-Nehru project involves ethnographic field work at Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki Dargah in New Delhi and Dargah Yousoufain in Hyderabad, within the dargahs’ compounds. By engaging the dargah attendees in conversation, the project seeks to understand how COVID-19 and its impacts on daily life have affected the sense of community dargahs are renowned for. These shared spaces rely on crowded gatherings and communal food during langar to build their inclusive potentialities, which will present challenges in a post-COVID world. Situating the project in the understanding of dargahs as discursive, rather than fixed spaces, Mr. Grajcar hopes to help capture how these resilient institutions and their exploratory authority weather the disruptions of the pandemic.

Sarah Levenstam

Sarah Levenstam is pursuing a doctoral degree in the anthropology of religion at the University of Chicago, Divinity School, in Chicago, Illinois. She holds an MA in religious studies, also from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, and a dual BA in religious studies and anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis. Sarah’s doctoral dissertation examines ideas and practices of dog management and care across India and Britain against the backdrop of imperial and national public works projects, international humanitarianism, and transnational animal welfare movements from 1857 through the present.

At the University of Chicago, Sarah’s research has been generously supported by the Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS), the Nicholson Center for British Studies, and the Divinity School. She has received Critical Language Scholarships, Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships, COSAS Fellowships, and an American Institute of Indian Studies Scholarship for language studies in Bangla, Urdu, and Sanskrit. She has previously worked in international education at World Learning, in historical and archival research for Hudson Institute, and in accessibility advocacy and community outreach with Rubin Museum of Art and the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. She also fosters dogs for an animal shelter in Chicago.

Sarah’s Fulbright-Hayes research is tracing the transformation of the legal status of free-roaming dogs from straying “ferae naturae”, contained and culled in 19th-century colonial Calcutta, to legally-recognized “street dogs” who have accrued material and moral value in today’s Kolkata. She is looking at how dogs have inhabited this changing city and how the metrics of evaluating them as valuable or disposable have changed with time. She is also studying what the connected histories of dogs and humans together navigating this city’s public spaces reveal about cross-species hierarchies, practices of place-making, and claims of belonging in Kolkata.