Arizona State University Archives

Pradip Das

Mr. Pradip Das is a consultant in the Inclusive Financial Systems team at the Gates Foundation, India, where he focuses on advancing digital financial inclusion for underserved communities. His work spans BC (business correspondent) agent network strengthening, digital merchant payments, and financial services for women, encompassing grant oversight, impact assessments, and the design of new financial inclusion initiatives in partnership with the Government of India.

Prior to the Gates Foundation, Pradip served as a Resident Representative at the World Bank Group, providing technical assistance to the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), a flagship initiative under the Ministry of Rural Development implemented in partnership with the World Bank and IFC. Earlier, he led a nationally recognized, CSR award-winning financial inclusion project at CRISIL Foundation in Assam and served as Mission Executive at the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission where he developed state-level policies and launch strategies for community development programs.

Pradip holds a postgraduate diploma in environmental management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Pradip is pursuing a Master of Science degree in economics at Arizona State University. His studies will sharpen his analytical skills to design and evaluate evidence-based digital finance interventions to improve formal credit access for underserved and women entrepreneurs in rural and low-income communities in India.

Makepeace Sitlhou

Makepeace Sitlhou is an independent journalist, who has been working in the media and communications field for over a decade in India. Makepeace has been covering India’s Northeast for several leading news publications like Vox, The Baffler, The Daily Beast, Nikkei Asia, The British Medical Journal, Vogue Business, Middle East Eye, Foreign Policy, The Juggernaut, Asia Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Fair Observer, Popula, BBC, Vice World News, Sojourners, and TRT World.

Her freelance work has been widely recognized by awards in national and international forums. More recently, she was jointly awarded the prestigious Red Ink Award by the Mumbai Press Club in the Lifestyle category for a story she wrote for CNN International.

In 2017, she received the UNFPA sponsored Laadli Media award for gender sensitivity for her coverage of tribal women’s protest in Manipur for The Ladies Finger. Her story on Black rice in Manipur published in Popula won the South Asian Journalism Association Award in the Business category in 2019. In 2020, she received the National Media Award for her coverage of coal mining in Meghalaya post the National Green Tribunal ban.

Her work has been supported by organizations like Google News Initiative, Center for Financial Accountability, National Foundation for India, Zubaan Books in collaboration with Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Humsafar Trust, and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Makepeace completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Psychology from the University of Delhi. She has previously worked with leading civil society organizations like Amnesty International and Breakthrough India and as a staff writer with The Alternative (Sattva Media) and The Print.

As a Humphrey fellow, she wishes to learn in-depth about the US immigration laws and policy, and their implementation along the US-Mexico border. She’d like to study the parallels between the Indian and American immigration systems from the angles of national security, human rights, bureaucracy and citizen-centric politics.

Sushmita Gouraha

Sushmita Gouraha is pursuing her Ph.D. from the Department of Hydrology at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, under the guidance of Prof. D. S. Arya and Prof. Piyush Srivastava. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of urbanization on changing rainfall patterns over a complex/ mountainous terrain. She completed her BE from the Government Engineering College Raipur, Chhattisgarh, and M. Tech from the National Institute of Technology Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Growing up in a small town, surrounded by its vibrant tribal culture and natural beauty, Sushmita felt deeply connected to her roots and harboured a desire to serve the community by understanding and addressing environmental challenges. As a Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellow at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Sushmita is researching on critical concerns associated with urban dynamics, especially processes related to the impact of urban precipitation, using a numerical modelling approach. Her research will help in a better understanding of the urban processes responsible for altering precipitation patterns in complex terrains. In her free time, Sushmita enjoys exploring new places, learning about different cultures, and indulging in local games.