Eshan Gupta
| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program |
| Project Title: | Barriers to Solar Microgrid Usage in Rural Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Field of Study: | International Relations |
| Home Institution: | Georgetown University, Washington, DC |
| Host Institution: | Indian Institute of Technology, Madurai, Delhi |
| Grant Start Month: | August 2023 |
| Duration of Grant: | Nine months |
Brief Bio:
Eshan Gupta is a recent graduate from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. He graduated with a BS in science, technology, and international affairs with an emphasis on energy and environmental issues. During his time at Georgetown University, he worked on clean-energy procurement for a private-sector consulting company and was also involved in various climate-related government initiatives in the legislative and executive branches. Eshan has extensive experience in international development, both on the funding and implementation sides. He is excited to begin the next chapter of his professional and academic journey with this Fulbright grant to India which he sees as a culmination of his academic and professional experiences thus far, allowing him to explore his research interests, while also expanding his knowledge about the fast-growing clean-energy field.
In his free time, Eshan enjoys singing, Bollywood dancing, and biking.
Eshan’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is working towards understanding why the current deployment of solar microgrids in rural India has not yielded the clean-energy and economic impacts that were promised. In order to study the several educational, social, and technological barriers to solar microgrid usage, Eshan is conducting interviews and policy analysis with various communities to understand how the government can better support rural deployment of solar microgrid to maximize usage; he is also examining the positive developmental and technological outcomes associated with solar power.