Host City India: Cambridge

Sheetal Mary Arockiamani

Ms. Sheetal Mary Arockiamani is a higher education professional based in Chennai, with extensive experience across diverse facets of the education sector. Over the past eight years, her work has encompassed pre-service teacher education, language and literacy program implementation for primary school students, and academic program management.

Sheetal has played a pivotal role in building two emerging higher education institutions in Tamil Nadu and has contributed significantly to shaping their academic journeys. As a founding team member at Sai University, Sheetal played a crucial role in establishing the Admissions Office and the Academics Office. At Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, she managed the Academics Office and facilitated a communication skills lab for students. Sheetal earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Anna University and completed the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University.

As a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship, Sheetal is exploring the factors that drive student success in higher education. She is committed to fostering inclusive educational environments and creating impactful learning experiences that empower students to achieve their full potential.

Renu Raj

Dr. Renu Raj is a medical doctor and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, currently serving as Director of the Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Government of Kerala. She has held key roles, including District Collector of Wayanad, Ernakulam, and Alappuzha, as well as Director of Kerala’s Urban Development Department. Her work spans governance, development, and public health, with a focus on welfare programs for over 3,300 tribal settlements, implementing the Aspirational Districts Program, urban infrastructure projects under AMRUT, and managing COVID-19 responses effectively.

Dr. Raj earned her MBBS degree from Government Medical College, Kottayam, and an MA in Public Management from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has also completed leadership and governance training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, which honed her administrative capabilities.

Recognized for her outstanding contributions to governance, Dr. Raj has received several honors, including a Good Service Entry from NITI Aayog and the GFiles Governance Award. She was ranked second in the 2015 UPSC Civil Services Examination and featured in India Today’s prestigious List of Doers and Makers, highlighting her impactful career.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Dr. Raj is pursuing a Master’s in Public Health. She seeks to combine her expertise in public administration and medicine to strengthen global healthcare systems, bridge public health and policy gaps, and improve healthcare access worldwide.

Nivedhitha Kalyanaraman

Nivedhitha is a Lawyer specializing in Constitutional Law. She graduated with a BA LLB from Alliance University, Bangalore in 2014, where she secured the gold medal for academic excellence.

She served as a Law Clerk and Research Associate to Dr. Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the former Chief Justice of India, for nearly four years. She worked on crucial constitutional issues. She assisted the Chief Justice on the cases relating to the challenge to Electoral Bonds, the sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes, the right to marriage of queer persons, the special status of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University, the challenge to the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and the ban on Media One, among others. During her clerkship tenure, she also worked on drafting the Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes and the Sensitization Module for the Judiciary on LGBTQIA+, both published by the Supreme Court of India. She is currently working on a project on electoral democracy at the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy, New Delhi.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Nivedhitha is studying constitutional law and philosophy with a focus on the law of democracy. She wishes to identify the social, political, and legal structures that dilute electoral democracy during her study in the United States. After returning to India, Nivedhitha plans to work towards strengthening the democratic process through impactful legal and policy interventions.

Anviti Chaturvedi

Ms. Anviti Chaturvedi is an officer of the Indian Foreign Service, with over 10 years of work experience in law, policy and diplomacy. Currently, she is posted as Political & Media Officer in the Embassy of India, Tokyo.

Anviti graduated with a BA LLB from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Thereafter, she worked as a senior analyst with PRS Legislative Research, New Delhi, supporting Members of Parliament with research across a range of sectors including external affairs, defense and home affairs.

As part of her diplomatic duties, Anviti was deployed as Liaison Officer at the G7 Summit, Hiroshima, and the G20 Summit, New Delhi, in 2023. She also had the opportunity to be a part of the Indian delegation in various high-level bilateral (India-Japan) and Quad (Australia-India-Japan-US) dialogues in Tokyo. Concurrently, with her role as Political and Media Officer, she served as the officer-in-charge of bilateral relations with the Republic of the Marshall Islands. While posted in Tokyo, Anviti also studied the Japanese language, and attained a high-level of proficiency.

Under the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship, Anviti is pursuing an LLM focusing on the intersection of law of the sea, technology regulation, and national security law. After completing the course, she intends to work in areas relating to international law and India’s policy initiatives in the Indo-Pacific region, while serving with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan

Dr. Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan is a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Gerd Bacher at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany since 2021. He obtained his integrated B.Sc., B.Ed., and M.Sc. in physics from the Regional Institute of Education, University of Mysore in 2014. He then received his Ph.D. in 2021, under the supervision of Prof. Ranjani Viswanatha, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru. Dr. Ramakrishnan’s doctoral work focuses on the design of quantum dots for optoelectronic applications.

Dr. Ramakrishnan received a fellowship under the Walter-Benjamin Program from the German Research Foundation. His research grant focuses on magneto-optical spectroscopy of single perovskite nanocrystals. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals. He is the winner of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards (GYTI 2020) in the field of nanoscience and engineering. He qualified the GATE examination 2015, with an all-India rank of 74, and secured first rank in the country in the national entrance examination conducted by NCERT in 2008. His other scientific recognitions include the “Best ePoster Content and Discussion” award at the 2020 online conference Light Emission in Organic and Hybrid materials (LightEm) organized by nanoGe, and another best poster award at an In-House symposium 2018, JNCASR. He is also a winner of the Sony World Photography Awards, 2023.

Inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are in high favor among recent energy materials. However, the necessary inclusion of lead, a toxic element, raises a critical concern for future commercial development. Dr. Ramakrishnan is addressing this issue during his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship. He is designing and synthesizing doped lead-free double perovskites and studying their spin dynamics using ultrafast magneto-optical spectroscopy. This project provides a promising avenue for lead free perovskite nanocrystals for use in high performance photophysical applications.

Pallavi Rachel George

Pallavi is a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where she specializes in the Public Systems Group (PSG). After three years of working as a policy researcher in the development sector, she turned to academia to follow her passion for research, teaching, and mentoring.

Pallavi’s research examines climate resilience in coastal cities with a focus on developing inclusive planning mechanisms and outcomes. Her work stands at the intersection of public policy, urban planning, and climate sciences, viewing coastal cities as socio-ecological systems with complex interdependencies that must be captured in urban climate resilience planning and policymaking. In her research, Pallavi utilizes various quantitative and qualitative methodologies, such as social network analysis, computational online text analysis, structural equation modelling, policy document analysis, and statistical methods.

As a Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellow, Pallavi is studying select coastal cities in the U.S. and India to comparatively examine resilience planning processes and outcomes to further the common goal of achieving inclusive resilience in our cities. She did her bachelor’s in economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and her master’s in public policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Her studies in Singapore were supported by a scholarship from the Li Ka Shing Foundation. She has presented her work at various conferences, both national and international. In her free time, Pallavi enjoys practicing Bharatnatyam, playing badminton, painting, and travelling.

Ashish Tiwari

Ashish Tiwari graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, West Bengal with a BTech and MTech in computer science and engineering in 2007. A 2012 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Ashish has held positions of ASP Jhansi, SP rural Varanasi, SP Mirzapur, SSP Etah, SP Jaunpur, SSP Ayodhya, Founder Commandant-Special Security Force (SSF), SP Election (Uttar Pradesh), and SSP Firozabad. He was recognized as one of the 40 promising global leaders in policing by the IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S.A.), who mentioned him in their ‘40 under 40’ list in 2022. He also received the Young Alumni Achiever award from IIT Kharagpur.

Ashish is passionate about SMART (simple and sensitive, moral and modern, accountable, reliable and responsive, trained and technical) policing. He believes in technology, innovations, and entrepreneurial government with a people-centric approach. He has launched multiple technology initiatives to realize SMART policing, which have been institutionalized at the state level and have impacted millions of citizens. He is also a member of various committees, and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences on modernizing policing using technology. To empower women, Ashish has constituted a ‘green group’ of rural women to fight problems of drugs, alcohol, gambling, and domestic violence in various districts. Leveraging technology, under ‘Operation Smile’ in west Uttar Pradesh, Ashish has reunited hundreds of missing children and victims of child trafficking with their families. His innovative strategies in community policing, countering fake news, and digital governance have received public and professional appreciation and widespread media coverage. Ashish has received numerous accolades, including the FICCI smart police officer award, the SKOCH award, the gFiles governance award, triple DGP Commendation (silver, gold, and platinum) discs, and the State Award for Best Electoral Practices.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Ashish is engaged in developing innovative solutions for smart governance and smart policing at the intersection of technology, security, and development. He intends to work at both the federal and the state level to apply new technologies in security and governance.

Anchal Sharma

Ms. Anchal Sharma is a Ph.D. candidate at IIT Delhi. Her research encompasses tactile perception of objects in the visually challenged. Drawn towards innovations exercising imagination, scientific thinking, and strong user empathy, she has mentored and participated in diverse social innovation projects and won two awards by IISc, Bangalore and IIT-Delhi with her team. She has led and been a speaker in events propagating innovation including those by AIM, NITI AYOG.

She completed her M.Des. in Industrial design (from SPA, New Delhi) and interned at GVIC, PepsiCo, India. She was acknowledged for her thesis work for integrating cultural spatial forms in a unique product using principles of light and shadows to educate children about unity. The project was sponsored by the Design Clinic Scheme by GoI and NID and was featured as a finalist in Toycathon 2021 and TISDC 2018. During her B.Arch. she emerged as a 2nd ranker both for her thesis work on ‘a school for experiential learning’ and overall 5-year academic performance.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, she will analyse how to better convey three-dimensionality in two-dimensional tactile stimuli. Although layered and complex, she believes with continual deep-work and problem-solving acumen, this work can profoundly advance and contribute towards accessible STEM education for those without vision.

She believes in a multi-faceted growth and commends the perseverance sports can bring to life. She has played Throwball at National level and won silver medal (Badminton) at college level. Being perceptive towards life, she exercises self-expression through art, writing, and short videos.

Vidya Viswanathan

Ms. Vidya Viswanathan is an environmental policy researcher. She consults with multiple state agencies and NGOs as a domain expert. Currently, she is working with Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research (SAFAR) leading their national initiative of building accountability and transparency for common resource governance. In the past, she led the Environmental Justice Program at the Center for Policy Research (CPR), a leading policy think tank in Delhi. Ms. Viswanathan was CPR’s youngest Program Director. Under her leadership, the program restored common resources through improved regulatory compliance, thereby protecting farmlands and water bodies from industrial contamination in over 150 energy and infrastructure projects. She has also worked with the government through her engagement with the Ministries of Labor and Employment and of Rural Development.

Ms. Viswanathan is the co-author of several articles and papers that discuss the efficacy of environmental regulations in protecting ecology and managing social conflicts induced by land use changes on the ground. Her research interests include methods of strengthening environmental governance, including regulations, with a focus on building better and collaborative interfaces between citizens and regulators to promote India’s ecological security.

Ms. Viswanathan graduated top of her class and received numerous awards for her academic and non-academic achievements at the postgraduate level. She holds a Master of Arts in social work with a specialization in community organization and development practice from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Delhi.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Ms. Viswanathan aims to acquire specialized skills in policymaking and soft skills of leadership and advocacy. She is excited about experiential learning from a diverse and accomplished cohort that will help her refine the pathways of documenting, articulating, and building compelling insights from the grassroots into environmental policy design.

Vikram Vishal

Dr. Vikram Vishal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and an associate faculty in the Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai. He leads the ‘Computational and Experimental Geomechanics’ group at IIT Bombay. Dr. Vishal worked at IIT Roorkee over 2013-16, during which he pursued the Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Vishal also serves as the Convener of the DST-sponsored ‘National Centre of Excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilization’ at IIT Bombay. He is a recipient of two national awards and holds the young scientist recognition from all major science academies in India. He is currently a member of the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Vishal’s research interests are in the domains of geomechanics, carbon capture and sequestration, enhanced petroleum recovery and unconventional hydrocarbon systems.

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship at MIT, he aims to develop an integrated risk assessment framework using experimentally validated simulations for CO2 storage in a mature oilfield in India. This research work will build on evaluating the storage readiness of specific fields in an onshore sedimentary basin. Detailed understanding of the barriers and their elimination will be key to successful deployment of carbon capture and storage in India, and advance their readiness levels.