Gulshan

Ms. Gulshan is an educator passionate about language education, multilingualism, and creating equitable learning opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds. Her interests include multilingual pedagogies, curriculum design, teacher development, and culturally responsive teaching. She holds a bachelor of elementary education degree from the University of Delhi and a master’s in English literature from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. She is a beginner-level Spanish learner and has earned a Certification of Achievement in Content and Language Integrated Learning from the Regional English Language Office, US Embassy, New Delhi, reflecting her commitment to innovative language teaching.

Gulshan has worked extensively with children from low-income and marginalized communities, including many first-generation learners, through the Teach For India Fellowship and later as Lead Teacher at Hope School. She has led curriculum development aligned with India’s National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2022), designed competency-based learning materials and assessments, mentored teachers through structured professional development programs, and contributed to improving foundational learning outcomes. She is particularly interested in strengthening multilingual classrooms where learners’ linguistic identities are recognized as assets.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Gulshan is assisting with the teaching of Hindi language and culture. Gulshan hopes to apply her Fulbright experience to advance inclusive language education, multilingual pedagogies, and teacher development initiatives in India.

Shivani Sharma

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.