Host City India: Providence

Indu Poornima Sasidharan Vasantha Kumari

Ms. Indu Poornima is a PhD candidate at the Center for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru. Her doctoral research focuses on the social transformations from the introduction of large infrastructure projects among local communities, particularly those that depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. She studies the coastal community of Vizhinjam in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, where India’s first deep-water transshipment port is being built as a private-public partnership project. Using ethnography, she explores how the local fishing community experienced and adapted to various livelihood changes while negotiating with the state and private actors. Indu has presented her work at international conferences, including the Regional Studies Association Annual Conference in Florence where she discussed her work on disaster relief labor of Kudumbashree women in Kerala. She has also been selected for travel grants by the Ireland India Institute and the European Feminist Research Conference.

Indu has an interdisciplinary background with a master’s in development studies and a bachelor’s in social sciences from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). In 2020, she was awarded the UGC-NET Junior Research Fellowship in sociology.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Fellow at Brown, Indu is examining how context-specific policies respond to demands for large infrastructure projects by comparing Vizhinjam with a setting in the United States. In the rare moments she resurfaces from the depths of her data, she can be found taking photos, devouring seafood, or fighting a losing battle trying to rediscover ‘reading for fun’.

Debarati Mondal

Ms. Debarati Mondal is a PhD candidate at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. Her doctoral research work focuses on identification and characterization of novel antifungal phytomolecules against one of the human fungal pathogens Candida glabrata. As a student of molecular biology, she is passionate about telling the stories of biological macromolecules in a simple, engaging way through her creative scitoons (scientific cartoons) which have been featured in Science Reporter, a popular science magazine, and recognized by INSA-INYAS international sci-art competition.

Debarati holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), West Bengal. However, her keen interest in the fascinating world of biological molecules led her to take biochemistry as a specialization in Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. In her MSc project, she studied how starch types of two staple grains (pearl millet and rice) differ and interact with dietary lipids, particularly in relation to glucose release.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Debarati is studying the process of adaptation of Candida glabrata to antifungal compounds. Her research will unravel how the fungus responds to selective pressure imposed by an antifungal compound derived from plant sources. This study aims to provide valuable insights into its resistance mechanisms, associated genomic alterations, gene expression patterns, and phenotypic plasticity with underlying potential evolutionary trajectories. Overall, this project will offer a comprehensive picture of how C. glabrata, or similar infectious microbes, adapt to changing environmental conditions within human hosts.

Asad Tariq

Asad Tariq is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He completed his MA in economics with distinction from Jamia Millia Islamia, and BA from the University of Allahabad. His research interest lies at the intersection of development economics, politics, and religion. His work aims to document the discrimination against marginalised groups in India and investigate possible policy measures that aid their upliftment and development.

During his Ph.D., he has been awarded the Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship in 2023 which sponsored 12 months of research at the Imperial College London. He is also a recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission, India. He has presented his work at multiple national and international conferences. He has also been a part of multiple research projects under the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India) and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research among others.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Brown University, Providence, RI, Asad is evaluating the influence of Members of Legislative Assembly from religious minority backgrounds in India on the provision of public goods targeted towards minorities. He also hopes to compile a collection of essays employing econometric methods to illuminate the challenges faced by Indian marginalized groups. When he is not crunching numbers using econometric models, Asad can be found at a picket, savouring nihari-paya in the labyrinthine alleys of Purani Dilli and Okhla, or reading Allama Iqbal’s poetry.

Reetika Negi

Dr. Reetika Negi is an independent researcher and has a keen interest in the role of language in education and knowledge building, preservation, and dissemination. Currently, she is researching on the status of the regional languages like Kumaoni and Garhwali at the school level and in higher education.

She has completed her PhD and master’s in linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She received UGC NET-JRF scholarship in linguistics from 2015 to 2020. Her PhD thesis focused on aspects of representation, identity, and agency of Kumaoni women in folklore and literary/oral traditions of the region. It explored the relation between language and gender and presented a sociolinguistic assessment of women’s linguistic/cultural practices and traditional knowledge systems.

As a teaching assistant at the Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, she taught an introductory course on linguistics to undergraduate students. She has worked as a linguist with Panlingua Language Processing LLP on audio transcription and corpus building on Kumaoni and Hindi languages. She is also an active member of Linguistic Society of India and the Society for Endangered Languages, India.

As a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Negi will teach Hindi at Brown University. She is keen on getting a hands-on experience of the higher education system in the U.S. and learn more about American culture. At the same time, she wishes to teach students more about the nuances of Hindi, India’s linguistic and cultural diversity and work towards expanding her scholarship and teaching skills.

Aasim Khan

Dr. Aasim Khan is Head and Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Science and Humanities, IIIT-Delhi. He completed his PhD in Politics and Public Policy (Contemporary India) from the India Institute, King’s College London in 2018 and has an MA from the AJK Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He also completed an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a Bachelor of Science from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. His research and commentaries have appeared in academic publications and popular media , including the India Review, Communication, Culture and Critique, the Economic and Political Weekly, Culture Unbound, Global Policy and Television and New Media. He has also published several book chapters including in a book volume on digital transformations in urban India called DigiNaka (Orient Blackswan, 2020). Prior to joining academia, Dr. Khan was a journalist for several years in the CNN- affiliated national news network CNN-IBN, and also worked in international development as the South Asia officer for Oxfam GB. In 2015, as a Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin , he co-authored a five-country collaborative study on the future of the internet. Since September 2021, he has also been affiliated as an Associate Researcher at the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH Delhi).

Sathesh Mariappan

Dr. Sathesh Mariappan is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He completed his Bachelors at Madras Institute of Technology, 2007 (University First Rank) and obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 2012, both in Aerospace Engineering. Before joining IIT Kanpur, he worked in the German Aerospace Center, Goettingen as a Humboldt Post Doctoral fellow. He is a recipient of Young Engineer Awards from the Indian National Academy of Engineering and Institution of Engineers. He is also recognized internationally through the Humboldt Fellowship and International Exchanges award (co-applicant) from The Royal Society – London. His research focuses on understanding and mitigating combustion-driven oscillations in gas turbine engines.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Dr. Mariappan will specialize in applying physics informed neural network (PINN): a machine learning method, to study combustion driven oscillations in combustors of gas turbine engines. PINN is an emerging tool, having the striking advantage to synergize experimental data and physics-based models. This synergy brings a new understanding of flame-flow interactions and helps develop more accurate hybrid models, which serve for instability prognosis and mitigation. This alternative (superior) hybrid framework will model combustor dynamics more accurately (than models derived purely from theory or experiments), even in practical systems, leading to efficient/robust control of oscillations.

Yatin Batra

Mr. Yatin Batra is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi. His doctoral research is interdisciplinary in nature and focuses on the identity aspects of the Siraiki (Bahawalpuri/Multani) and Sindhi communities through the written and oral narratives of Partition (1947) migrants and eyewitnesses. His fieldwork includes recording Siraiki folk traditions and the narratives of Siraiki partition survivors dispersed across India.

Mr. Batra graduated with an honors degree in English literature from Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi. He has a master’s (with a gold medal) and an M.Phil. in Comparative Indian Literature from the University of Delhi. His areas of interest include comparative literature, partition studies, gender studies, folklore, and culture studies. He has presented papers at numerous national and international seminars on diverse topics.

Mr. Batra is a recipient of the Tata Trust – Partition Archive Research Grant (2021) at the 1947 Partition Archive based in Berkeley, CA, where he is also a certified Citizen Historian. He received the Likho Citizen Journalism Fellowship (2020) from the Humsafar Trust (NGO for LGBTQ rights). He has worked with NGOs such as Katha and Kitaab Club to impart education to underprivileged students.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Mr. Batra aims at building cross-cultural connections between Indianness and Americanness through his creative strategies of teaching language. As a cultural ambassador, he is imbibing culture in a pluralistic way through the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

Mallika Chatterjee

Dr. Mallika Chatterjee is Assistant Professor at the Amity Institute of Neuropsychology and Neurosciences, Amity University, NOIDA. Her lab focuses on identifying molecular mechanisms underlying various neurodevelopmental phenomena and disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

Dr. Chatterjee completed her B.Sc. in human physiology from Presidency College, Kolkata, her M.Sc. in genetics from Calcutta University, Kolkata, and her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Connecticut Health Center (UConn Health), USA. During her Ph.D., she explored the genetic mechanisms underlying the development of the mouse thalamus – a sensory relay center in the brain. As a Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Early Career Fellow (2013) at TIFR, she gained experience on in-vitro culture systems in addition to utilizing her in vivo expertise in determining signaling factor roles in forebrain development. Dr. Chatterjee joined Amity University in 2018. She has been developing a zebrafish facility there to understand neurodevelopment combining neurobehavioral, biochemical, and histological techniques. She has received Young Scientist awards from the Society for Neurochemistry, India and the Singapore Neuroscience Association. She has a keen interest in neuroscience outreach and has held brain awareness sessions on depression in Delhi-NCR schools, funded by an IBRO-DANA grant.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship project, Dr. Chatterjee is utilizing her expertise on zebrafish tracking to develop a high-throughput neurobehavior imaging facility in India. Specifically, her project is working to identify carbohydrate roles in neurobehavior to potentiate further studies for the amelioration of various neurodevelopmental disorders. She is also involved in teaching related graduate courses at Brown University.

Tuba Tasneem

Tuba Tasneem is a literature enthusiast with an academic background. She is currently working as a consultant at Unifye, where she creates curriculum and content for vocational and educational courses, enhancing the efficiency for companies through innovative storytelling. She has also served as an educational content writer at Hurak, London where she created over 25 courses. Her dedication to education extended to her role as an assistant professor at Villa Marie Degree College for Women, Hyderabad where she taught English and organized literary events to engage students.

Tuba holds a master’s in English literature from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She completed her bachelor’s in English from Patna University. Tuba has qualified the National Eligibility Test for assistant professorship in English.

Tuba weaves her passion for medical humanities through diverse pursuits. She completed the course ‘International Women’s Health and Human Rights’ from Stanford University and explored medical narratives in contemporary literature through a faculty development program. In 2023, her TEDx talk at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) conference in Hong Kong illuminated the poignant intersection of women’s rights, history, and postpartum depression.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at Brown University, Providence, RI, Tuba is dedicated to fostering cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and India through innovative language teaching strategies. She embodies the Fulbright mission of promoting mutual understanding and international cooperation, enriching both educational systems with her diverse experiences and expertise. Tuba aspires to redefine educational paradigms, aiming to inspire future generations to embrace diversity and global citizenship.