Host City India: Pasadena

Mawonthing Ngashangva

Dr Ng Mawonthing is an independent scholar whose research centers on Tangkhul proverbs as vital expressions of cultural knowledge. Her doctoral work involved the systematic documentation and analysis of these proverbs, with particular attention to their rhetorical structures, social functions, and embedded worldviews, contributing to the preservation of an endangered linguistic and cultural heritage. She earned her BA and MA in English from the English and Foreign Languages University, Shillong, and was awarded PhD by the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in 2025.

Dr Mawonthing’s broader academic interests include paremiology, folklore studies, and digital humanities, particularly community-driven approaches to cultural preservation.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary, California, Dr Mawonthing is developing a bilingual dictionary of Tangkhul-English proverbs, envisioned as a resource for both scholars and the wider public, making ancestral knowledge more accessible to younger generations while fostering cross-cultural understanding and dialogue.

Pranjit Hazarika

Dr. Pranjit Hazarika has a PhD from IIT Kharagpur and is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geological Sciences, Gauhati University. He was a recipient of the prestigious Young Scientist Medal of the Indian National Science Academy in 2020.

Dr. Hazarika applies elemental and isotopic compositions of rocks and minerals to study ore deposits, their formation mechanisms, and evolution. Dr. Hazarika and his research group at Gauhati University combine forward thermodynamic modelling with elemental mass balance and stable isotope fractionation calculations to comprehend origin of ore-forming hydrothermal fluids and petrogenesis of crustal rocks in diverse tectonic settings.

At Caltech as a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellow, Dr Hazarika is testing results of thermodynamic modelling against elemental and isotopic data of natural samples from the Himalayas to distinguish between some possible models of crustal melting in the Himalayan Mountain belt. He will further assess the conditions that may result in critical metal enrichment during crustal melting and fractional crystallization of magma in orogenic belts.

Sehajpal Singh

Mr. Sehajpal Singh is a PhD candidate at the Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, IIT Bombay. His doctoral research focuses on studying water and dry ice’s impact in Martian climate using modeling and data analysis. He is a planetary science enthusiast and believes one should explore the cosmos, for there might be a compelling reason for its vastness. He is also a Board Member at OpenPlanetary, an international non-profit organization.

Sehajpal holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala, Punjab. He also co-founded the Thapar Amateur Astronomers Society, a TIET student club dedicated to the love of space and astronomy. This keen interest in space science motivated him to pursue an MTech in remote sensing and GIS (specialization: water resources) from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), ISRO, Dehradun. In his MTech research project, he studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of Mars’ north polar ice cap and subsurface water ice detection on Mars.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech, Sehaj is understanding the role of volatile ices in the Martian climate. His research will characterize the substrate and frost surrounding the araneiforms (spider-like features) present near the south pole of Mars. The study strives to contribute to the knowledge of araneiform morphologies and their correlation with local environmental conditions, which can provide insight as to whether there is ground ice within the topmost layer of the substrate.

Chiranjit Das

Chiranjit Das is a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, under the supervision of Prof. Ravi Kumar Kunchala. He is working on improving understanding of the current state of carbon dioxide exchange among biosphere-atmosphere-ocean and its spatiotemporal evolution using a wide variety of observation and state-of-the-art modelling methodologies. He has published various research articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented his work at national and international conferences and workshops.

Chiranjit has completed his master’s from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, and was an IASc-INSA-NASI summer research fellow at the Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. He has a bachelor’s in physics from Barasat Government College, West Bengal.

As a Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellow at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Chiranjit is evaluating the role of fire in perturbing atmospheric carbon dioxide budget and its adverse effect on ecosystems across global tropics. The expected results from this study will improve carbon road map policy, ecosystem management, and emission mitigation strategy for stakeholders. Chiranjit hopes to go on treks in Pasadena while he is there. He enjoys playing badminton and volleyball, and is enthusiastic about exploring new places.