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Shreya Suresh

Shreya Suresh graduated summa cum laude from Lafayette College in May 2025 with a BS in neuroscience and a minor in music. During her undergraduate career, she had the incredibly rewarding opportunity to spend a semester abroad in India as part of the School for International Training’s public health, gender, and sexuality program. In India, Shreya conducted an independent study focused on examining youth community mental health initiatives and the democratization of mental well-being in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In April 2025, she presented the findings of this study at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As an aspiring mental health practitioner, Shreya acknowledges that her Indian heritage will undoubtedly influence her clinical practice, and therefore understands the value of understanding this cultural perspective while contributing to the field of public mental health in India.

Shreya has had a variety of other experiences that have strengthened her passion for public mental health. She built on her background in public health through the Public Health 360 Program run by Global Health and Education Projects. As part of this comprehensive public health training, she attended speaker sessions hosted by public health professionals, practiced her writing and communication skills, and collaborated with a global team to develop and present a grant proposal to combat food insecurity in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Shreya’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining the efficacy and experiences of community mental health workers under a task-sharing model, which involves training community members to provide basic health services within their communities. She is also examining the reciprocal benefits of task sharing for both health workers and their communities by assessing the following: the training received by community mental health workers; mental health care access/utilization in their communities; psychological/social impact on community mental health workers; the relationship between these community providers and formally trained mental health practitioners; and the necessary next steps to further democratize mental well-being.

Siddarth Seenivasa

Siddarth Seenivasa is a clinical research coordinator and biostatistician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he contributes to neuroimaging and proteomics research focused on eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). Siddarth’s academic foundation includes a double major in biology (molecular genetics) and mathematics from the University of Rochester. He holds a master’s in biostatistics from Boston University, where he also investigated the intersection of mental health, bullying, and neuroimmune disorders. Siddarth’s research interests encompass psychiatry, neuroimmunology, and computational biology, with a particular focus on immune system dysfunctions in pediatric populations. He has developed statistical models to examine neurobiological differences across patient populations, most recently patenting a model to distinguish between PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections), OCD, and various eating disorders; this model is currently awaiting validation from a larger cohort. Siddarth has authored and co-authored publications on neuroinflammation, including his latest work exploring estrogen’s role in the mesolimbic pathway in women with eating disorders. He has also presented his research at academic conferences, such as at the Digestive Disease Week and to that of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Siddarth plans to begin his MD-PhD journey upon returning to the U.S., with the goal of further integrating clinical practice and psychiatric research to deepen the understanding about mental health and neuroimmune disorders.

Siddarth’s nine-month Fulbright-Nehru project is seeking to develop a culturally adaptive screening tool for Indian youth to identify PANDAS, a condition for which no such tool currently exists. Toward this, he is working with Dr. Suvarna Jyothi at Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai, and conducting clinical interviews to evaluate the eating habits, medical history, and mental health of at-risk adolescents. The objective is to create a diagnostic tool that incorporates the sociocultural nuances of Indian youth, thereby facilitating early intervention and addressing the underdiagnosis of PANDAS due to limitations of Western diagnostic methods.

Hansini Bhasker

Hansini Bhasker is a Tamil (ethno)musicologist, multi-genre vocalist, performer, composer, and improviser from Connecticut who deploys embodied music-making and movement for socio-ecological healing and change. She recently received her master’s in music (performance and ethnomusicology) from Wesleyan University. Earlier, she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in music (composition and musicology) from Princeton University, with certificates in vocal performance, cognitive science, entrepreneurship, and finance. She is a YoungArts winner in Voice and winner of the concerto competition of Wesleyan whose musical practice and research bridge across Karnatak, Western classical opera and early choral repertory, French chanson, jazz, pop, musical theater, gospel, R&B, Kazakh folk, Javanese gamelan, and experimental soundscape and extended vocal techniques. Her master’s thesis explored cross-cultural contrasts, evolutions, and interactions in the use and control of vibration, timbre variation, and pitch oscillation in vocalization. Following her Fulbright year, she will be pursuing a PhD in ethnomusicology, dwelling further on questions related to performers’ identity-making through interactions related to the physical environment, accessibility, and legal and sociocultural contexts. She is an avid lover of food, languages, reading, biking, and “musicking”.

Hansini’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is examining how Karnatak performers in Chennai navigate relations between mind, body, ability, and self; the study is based within three distinct contexts: the Tamil Nadu state; the nation of India; and U.S. diasporic organizations. She believes that the current inflectional moment – which celebrates local artists with disability by combining Indian concepts of disability with Western ideas introduced through migratory diasporic engagement – offers an exceptional and timely case study to explore how people negotiate legal and sociocultural conditions in framing and claiming their identities.

Carsten A. Ullrich

Dr. Carsten Ullrich is a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri. He obtained his PhD in theoretical physics in 1995 from the University of Würzburg, Germany, under the supervision of Professor E.K.U. Gross, and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Professor Walter Kohn (winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). In 2001, he joined the University of Missouri as an assistant professor; in 2007, he received tenure; and in 2013, was promoted to full professor of physics. Dr. Ullrich’s main area of research is in theoretical and computational condensed-matter physics; specifically, he is interested in describing light–matter interactions and magnetic excitations using first-principles quantum mechanical approaches. For this purpose, he develops and uses methodologies based on the density functional theory. He has authored over 120 journal publications and a textbook on time-dependent density functional theory. In 2015, he was named a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Meera Sitharam

Dr. Meera Sitharam is professor of computer science and affiliate professor of mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville. After her BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in computer science and held positions at Kent State University and Purdue University. She was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bonn, a Fields Institute Fellow, and an ICERM Fellow. Her research and over 100 peer-reviewed publications range from pure mathematics (discrete geometry) and theoretical computer science (algorithmic foundations and complexity theory) to the development of open source mathematical software (computational geometry) and geometric modeling in the natural and social sciences and engineering (soft-matter and biophysical modeling, algorithmic game theory, computer-aided mechanical and microstructural design). Her research group’s alumni include at least 15 doctorate holders now in academia, industry and entrepreneurial positions. As a vocal advocate for public higher education, Dr. Sitharam is currently chapter president and chief negotiator for the United Faculty of Florida at the University of Florida. Her academic outreach activities include: faculty advisorship of the Asha for Education chapter, where she works closely with grassroots partners in Tamil Nadu working toward education access and quality; and founding STEM women researchers’ development (Steward@IITM) to mentor and address the barriers faced by women researchers.

She is a graded All India Radio veena artist and engages with a broad range of music.

Dr. Sitharam’s Fulbright-Nehru project, “Exploring Connections: Rigidity, Flexibility, Complexity, and Applications of Geometry Constraints”, aims to leverage the host institution’s unique combination of expertise – on parameterized complexity and derandomization of algorithms, configuration space topology, and soft-matter modeling – to conduct research on Geometric Constraint Systems (GCS), a vibrant, intuitively accessible area that bridges mathematical communities. The GCS lens also intends to spur progress on fundamental theoretical science at the host institution. The expected project outcomes include several peer-reviewed articles, an international workshop, grant proposals for joint US–India programs, seminar series at the host institution, and addressing of research underrepresentation.

Ranjana Mehta

Prof. Ranjana Mehta is the Grainger Institute of Engineering Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she serves as the director of the Neuroergonomics Lab. She earned her PhD in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech in 2011 and her BTech in production engineering from the University of Mumbai in 2004. Her ongoing research program in human factors focuses on understanding and improving human performance and trust in safety-critical work settings, especially when interacting with emerging technologies like robotics and AI, and under challenging psychophysiological conditions, including stress and fatigue. Her groundbreaking research, which examines the intersection of brain and behavior in human–machine teaming, has attracted more than $19.8 million in external funding, resulting in over 200 peer-reviewed publications. She has been awarded several recognitions, including the Early Career Research Fellow award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the NASA IDEAS Fellow award, and the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering from the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), as well as multiple innovation and early career honors from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), where she became a fellow in 2023. As a member of the IISE and HFES communities, she has shown exceptional external service at both national and international levels through numerous elected and appointed roles within these professional societies. She currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the IISE Transactions of Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors. She has also served as a member of various technical standards committees, including the American Petroleum Institute, ASTM F48.02 on Exoskeletons and Exosuits, IEEE Human–Robot Interaction Metrics and Test Methods, and ISA84.00.04 on Systematic Failure.

By employing a social neuroergonomics modeling approach, which utilizes the neurobiological foundations of social processes and behaviors in the design, engineering, and evaluation of human–AI systems, Prof. Mehta’s Fulbright-Nehru project is set to enhance understanding about trustworthy human–AI teaming across diverse team cultures and configurations. The project also aims to strengthen trustworthy AI research through collaborative community building.

Amy Allocco

Prof. Amy Allocco is professor of religious studies and director of the Multifaith Scholars Program at Elon University which she joined in 2009. She is the 2019 recipient of the university’s Ward Family Excellence in Mentoring Award. In 2021, Elon’s College of Arts and Sciences honored her with the Excellence in Scholarship Award, while in 2012, she received the Excellence in Teaching Award. Professor Allocco teaches courses on the religions of South Asia, particularly Hinduism. She earned her PhD from Emory University, MTS from Harvard Divinity School, and BA from Colgate University.

Prof. Allocco is an anthropologist of religion who studies contemporary Hindu ritual and religious practices in Tamil Nadu. Her book project, Living with the Dead in Hindu South India, focuses on ceremonies to honor deceased relatives in which ritual drummers summon the spirit, convince it to possess a human host, and beg it to come home as a permanent family deity. Fellowships from Fulbright-Nehru and the American Institute of Indian Studies supported Professor Allocco’s research for her “domesticating the dead” project, which features in an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Besides her co-edited volume, Ritual Innovation: Strategic Interventions in South Asian Religion (SUNY Press, 2018, with Brian K. Pennington), she co-edited a 2020 issue of the journal Fieldwork in Religion on the theme “Shifting Sites, Shifting Selves: The Intersections of Homes and Fields in the Ethnography of India” (with Jennifer D. Ortegren) and has another co-edited volume under contract with SUNY titled Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping Hindu Practices (with Xenia Zeiler).

Prof. Allocco’s Fulbright-Nehru project is an ethnographic study analyzing the ritual, musical, and storytelling practices of three generations of Tamil Hindu drummer-priests called pampaikkārar to understand a performance tradition in transition. Through eight months of fieldwork in Tamil-speaking South India, she is exploring the creation, transmission, and refashioning of this family’s musical and ritual repertoires, and is examining what these dynamic processes reveal about shifting religious sentiments, aesthetic preferences, and socioeconomic conditions. She is also focusing on the co-constitutive nature of the drummer-priests’ ritual efficacy and musical virtuosity as well as on intergenerational learning and social media experimentation. Her resulting ethnography will delineate how changing religious, narrative, and visual tastes and relationships with technology are reshaping the contours of Tamil devotional performance culture.

Ravindra Duddu

Originally from India, Dr. Ravindra Duddu got his BTech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Subsequently, he obtained his MS and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University. After that he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics and Columbia University in the City of New York. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University, with secondary appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Dr. Duddu’s research interests and work experience are in the area of computational solid mechanics with an emphasis on fracture mechanics and multi-physics modeling of material damage evolution. His research is interdisciplinary and spans the disciplines of engineering mechanics, earth and environmental sciences, applied mathematics, and scientific computing. Specific application interests include: fracture of glaciers ice and ice shelves, delamination of fiber reinforced composites, and corrosion/fracture of metal alloys. He is an author on 35 peer-reviewed journal articles with more than 1000 citations, and has a h-index of 16. He has generated more than $1.5 million in grants from federal agencies and industry, and has mentored several post doctorate, graduate and undergraduate students in his research group.

Dr. Duddu is a recipient of the US National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Royal Society International Exchanges travel award. He also received the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship at Vanderbilt University and the US Office of Naval Research Summer Faculty Fellowship. He is a member of ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Geophysical Union, and United States Association for Computational Mechanics.

The goal of Dr. Duddu’s Fulbright-Kalam project is to expand and strengthen collaborations between his research group at Vanderbilt University and the faculty and students of the Center of Excellence (CoE) on Subsurface Mechanics at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM). The project’s research aim is to develop state-of-the-art computationally efficient schemes for solving fracture mechanics problems encountered in Earth, Environmental and Energy Sciences, through a combination of teaching (seminars and short-courses) and research activities (involving PhD students) at the CoE. These schemes will be tailored to study the plausible mechanisms triggering ice-rock avalanches and identify the vulnerabilities of Himalayan glaciers.

Lumina S Albert

Dr. Lumina Albert is an Associate Professor of Business Ethics and Management, a Daniels Ethics Fellow, and the OtterBox Faculty Fellow in the College of Business at Colorado State University. She also serves as the Executive Director of the CSU Center for Ethics and Human Rights. Her research seeks to extend knowledge of social justice, ethical behavior, and interpersonal relationships in the business world. She has an MBA (with a dual specialization in Marketing and Human Resource Management) and a PhD in Business Management. Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Albert received the prestigious AAUW International Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her research at the Department of Psychology at Stanford University and at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. She is an award-winning teacher and has been honored with the College of Business Excellence in Teaching Award and the ‘Best Teacher of Colorado State University’ Award, which is given to outstanding educators at CSU by the CSU Alumni Association and Student Alumni Connection. Her research has been published in scholarly journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Ethics, Human Resource Management Review, Organizational Psychology Review and Group & Organizations Management. Dr. Albert’s service at CSU and to the Northern Colorado Community has been recognized with the College of Business Outstanding Service Award, CSU Multicultural Distinguished Service Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Office of International Programs at CSU. She has served as a consultant with organizations such as Procter & Gamble, International Justice Mission, and Child Relief & You (CRY) on issues ranging from strategic public relations to organizing social marketing campaigns. She serves on the Board of Advisors of New Horizons House, an international organization providing holistic restoration for survivors of human trafficking and sexual abuse. She is also a central organizer of the Northern Colorado Human Trafficking Symposium, a premier and distinctive conference that seeks to engage and educate on the issue of human trafficking through research, training, and collaboration. In her spare time, Dr. Albert enjoys cooking for her friends and family, interior designing, and traveling around the world!

The proposed Fulbright-Nehru project focuses on the ethics and human rights impact of corporates on people and communities in India. The project intends to examine the macro- and micro- level aspects of the ethics and human rights practices of global business organizations. Specifically, this research utilizes a norms-based framework to assess how corporate ethics practices impact the emergence of individual behaviors and community outcomes. Areas of research and teaching include how these businesses impact their stakeholders (i.e., consumers, employees, workers, the environment, and the community in which they operate).