Host Institution India: University of California

Ria Sen Gupta

Ms. Ria Sen Gupta is a Ph.D. candidate and a Prime Minister’s Research Fellow at the Department of Materials Engineering, IISc Bangalore. She is advised by Prof. Suryasarathi Bose. Her research interests span all aspects of structure-property relationships in polymer nanocomposites. A general theme underlying her current research projects is the engineering of bioinspired membranes for water remediation from interpenetrating polymeric networks (IPNs). She is also broadly interested in water remediation, polymer nanocomposites, and EMI shielding materials. Her research has appeared in several reputed international journals. She has also delivered talks and presentations at various national and international conferences, workshops, and forums.

Before joining IISc, Ms. Sen Gupta completed her M.Tech. and post-B.Sc three-year B.Tech. in polymer science and technology at the University of Calcutta, and her B.Sc. (Hons.) in chemistry at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. In her free time, she loves singing, cooking, reading books, painting, and watching movies.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Ms. Sen Gupta is exploring antifouling MXene composite membranes with photocatalytic self-cleaning abilities for synergistically enhanced water treatment. In particular, she is leveraging “photocatalysis” and “membrane separation” technologies to design and fabricate broad-spectrum multifunctional membranes with improved antifouling attributes and superior membrane performance. She is synthesizing composite membranes endowed with self-cleaning and antifouling features using photocatalytic two-dimensional (2D) etched metal carbides (MXene) heterostructures. She aims to ensure that the membranes can liquidate the inhomogeneity and impaired compatibility between photocatalytic nanoparticles and the 2D heterostructures membrane-based separation layer for cost-effective membrane performance and improved shelf-life.

Sana Imtiazbhai Jindani

Ms. Sana Imtiazbhai Jindani is a Senior Research Fellow at CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI), Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The focus of her doctoral research encompasses theoretical understanding of stereo-electronic interactions and their role in an interplay between structure and reactivity of organic- and bio-molecules. She combines a variety of computational tools to gain a full understanding of these subtle but decisive interactions. Apart from her thesis work, she enjoys collaboration and has published collaborative work in peer-reviewed international journals.

Ms. Jindani graduated in inorganic chemistry from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat. As a part of her M.Sc. dissertation, she focused on developing ruthenium complexes as DNA binders. Before joining her Ph.D., she worked as Assistant Professor at C U Shah University, Gujarat, where she delivered lectures to B.S. and M.S. students on topics in inorganic chemistry.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Ms. Jindani is working on overcoming the reactivity/stability trade-offs of click reagents for biorthogonal reactions through strain reinforcement and stereo-electronic stabilization. These biorthogonal reactions will be utilized for bio-molecular labelling without interfering with natural biological processes. In addition to her research work, Ms. Jindani hopes to encourage and promote Indian traditional yoga practices at her host institution for an active and healthy lifestyle.

Utpalendu Haldar

Mr. Utpalendu Haldar earned his bachelor’s and master’s in geology from Jadavpur University and subsequently started his career as a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is working under the supervision of Prof. Ramananda Chakrabarti and is exploring the chemical evolution of earth’s continental crust. Towards this end, he has been using novel isotopic tracers on unique archives, such as komatiites, loess and glacial diamictites. He has been working in collaborations with both national and foreign universities during his tenure as a doctoral candidate.

Mr. Haldar is enthusiastic towards promoting science in all sections of society and dedicates his leisure time towards this goal. He firmly believes that co-curricular activities help nurture the best in us and has represented IISc in cricket in multiple national events. Thus, he considers the Fulbright-Nehru fellowship an opportunity to learn about and cherish the culture of the American west coast.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Mr. Haldar is working to enhance the understanding of crust-mantle interaction and magma chamber processes. He is investigating fluid inclusions in basalts from the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) to further his doctoral work.

Kashish Dua

Ms. Kashish Dua is a doctoral candidate in English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and Assistant Professor, Department of English, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. Her Ph.D. examines the intersections of queerness, personal narratives, and citizenship in the context of post-Independence India. This project aims to expand the current theorizations on citizenship in India by interrogating the forms citizenship takes in the case of queer individuals. It particularly focuses on the construction of the subject and the process of subjectivation in personal narratives in print by queer individuals of Indian origin. She has an M.Phil. with distinction in English from Jamia Millia Islamia and a master’s and bachelor’s in English from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. Her research interests are queer studies, gender and South Asian literature, and partition literature.

Ms. Dua has conducted several workshops and delivered talks on queer theory and queer literature, including a panel discussion at the first Awadh Queer Literature Festival, Lucknow in 2019. Some of her publications include an edited critical edition of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It published by Prentice Hall India in 2019; a co-authored encyclopedia entry on “LGBTQ and Hinduism” for Oxford Bibliographies, published online by the Oxford University Press in 2022; a chapter titled “Rainbow Waters: Towards a Queer Coalition between India and Botswana” in a Routledge India book Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought (2023) edited by Dilip Menon and Nishat Zaidi; and an article on “Ismat Chughtai’s Obscenity Trial” forthcoming in The LGBTQ+ History Book by DK London. Ms. Dua was a member of the organizing committee of an international conference titled “Language Ideologies and the ‘Vernacular’ in South Asian Colonial and Post-colonial Literature(s) and Public Spheres” in 2021 that was organized through the collaborative efforts of the University of Heidelberg, Germany and the SPARC project on “Debating and Calibrating the Vernacular in Colonial and Postcolonial South Asian Literature and Culture” by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Ms. Dua is striving to decolonize the genre of queer memoirs through a comparative study of queer personal writings in India and the “coming out” narratives of the Global North.

Vaivab Das

Vaivab Das is a UGC Senior Research Fellow in sociology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi. They have interdisciplinary training in Human Rights Law (NLSIU, Bangalore), Women and Gender Studies (TISS, Hyderabad), and English Literature (Ravenshaw University). They are interested in looking at the role of data cultures, law, gender and sexuality in the making of histories and policies for LGBTQIA+ persons in India.

They are an activist academician, who firmly believes that their academic goals are interwoven with fostering social change. They have worked towards the recognition of diverse gender and sexual minorities as protected categories, building gender-affirming infrastructures, and creating community spaces for LGBTQIA+ sensitization and awareness in various institutions. Recently, they worked on a writ petition for the horizontal reservation for transgender persons in public education and employment opportunities submitted to the Telangana High Court. In the past, Vaivab has worked as a technical expert on projects on gender-based violence, inclusive and accessible quality education, state welfare programs and livelihood schemes for the World Bank, Oxford Policy Management, Stanford University, and the Government of Odisha.

Vaivab’s Ph.D. project is an anthropological exploration of the bureaucratic, institutional, and socio-cultural barriers that impact the participation of transgender persons in democratic processes like elections in India. The project examines the conflict between law (legal rationality) and identity in the experiences of citizenship, along with the historical trajectories and political technologies that underpin the politics of the body and the body of politics in plural democracies.

During Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellowship, Vaivab is focusing on drawing a comparative understanding of how transgender persons navigate citizenship and elections as voters, candidates, and political representatives in the USA and in India.

Ashish Kumar Srivastava

Dr. Ashish Kumar Srivastava is Scientific Officer-G at Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. In addition, he is permanent faculty at Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai and visiting faculty at the Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, University of Mumbai.

His research work is focused on developing strategies for enhancing crop resilience towards different abiotic stresses. The stimulatory potential of thiourea has been demonstrated for enhancing stress tolerance and crop productivity through lab and small-scale field experiments. Further, using the “multi-omics” based systems biology and genome-wide association mapping, Dr. Srivastava has delineated the molecular basis of thiourea-mediated action. In addition, he has worked on peaceful application of radiation and demonstrated that gamma-irradiated chitosan can boost the productivity of different crops under realistic field conditions. He is a recipient of various national and international awards/fellowships, including Young Scientist Award of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Allahabad, 2018; Newton-Bhabha International Grant from DBT-BBSRC, 2018; President International Fellowship from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 2016; Young Scientist Medal from Indian National Science Academy (INSA), 2014; Young Scientist Award from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), 2014 and EMBO Short-Term Fellowship, 2011. He has also edited books for reputable publishers, like Wiley and Springer.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence tenure, Dr. Srivastava is working to reduce arsenic accumulation in rice, using a combination of chemical and genetic approaches. The findings will help in developing arsenic-free rice, which is safer for human consumption.

Tushar Kanti Dutta

Dr. Tushar Kanti Dutta is working as Senior Scientist at the Division of Nematology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Uttarbanga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (UBKVV), Cooch Behar, West Bengal. He obtained his master’s (2005-2007) and doctoral (2007-2010) degrees from IARI. During his doctoral program, he visited Rothamsted Research, UK for 10 months under the aegis of UKIERI fellowship funded by the British Council. He has been a regular faculty member at IARI since the last 12 years. His research interests include investigating the molecular basis of plant-nematode interaction using RNA interference and CRISPR-Cas9 strategies. Additionally, he has characterized a number of novel bacterial toxins from insect-parasitizing bacteria that symbiotically associate with nematodes.

He has been conferred with Associateship from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and has received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award (ICAR) in addition to several other young scientist awards from different academic societies.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Dutta aims to exploit a multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 toolkit, targeting multiple susceptibility or S genes, to confer root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) resistance in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato via loss of host compatibility. Knowledge gained about the function of S genes in nematode-infected plants can be translated into future research endeavors on other plant-pathogen interaction models.

Upendra Harbola

Dr. Upendra Harbola is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He received his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He was a Marie-Curie Senior Fellow at the University of Freiburg, Germany. His research interests are aimed at formulating theoretical models to study transport processes in molecular junctions, photoionisation dynamics in molecules and quantum effects in supercooled liquids. He has authored more than 60 publications in internationally reputed journals.

Dr. Harbola’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence project focuses on understanding how and in what ways a quantum source of light can be used to control transport in molecular junctions. Quantum light consists of photons that are entangled with one another and has been used to explore non-classical responses from molecules at equilibrium. Interaction of quantum light with molecular junctions, which operate in out-of-equilibrium conditions, pose interesting challenges that are explored in this study.

Kashif Hanif

Dr. Kashif Hanif is a Principal Scientist in the Department of Pharmacology at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He received his postgraduate degree (1998-2000) from Jamia Hamdard and completed his Ph.D. (2001-2006) from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi. He has been a faculty member at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute since 2006. His primary research interest revolves around the patho-physiology of Pulmonary Hypertension (PH), which is quite common at high altitude and in lung disorders, especially in women. He developed the rodent model of PH and standardized techniques to study right ventricular pressure and pulmonary vasorelaxation. Over the past decade, he has explored the role of Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1, Fatty Acid Synthase, Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase -2 (MK2) and estrogen receptors in PH.

Dr. Hanif was awarded the Dr. DN Prasad Memorial Oration Award, Indian Council of Medical Research in 2019 and Prof. Suresh C Tyagi Award, Indian Academy of Cardiovascular Research in 2017 for his work in PH. He has received six competitive research grants from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Hanif aims to understand right ventricle hypertrophy, a common problem of PH in lung diseases in women. Therefore, he is developing a rodent model of right ventricle hypertrophy by pulmonary artery banding (PAB). He is further exploring the role of estrogen receptors in right ventricle hypertrophy by using Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). This approach will help to clinically repurpose SERMs for cardio-pulmonary complications in women.

Prashant Ram Jadhao

Dr. Prashant Ram Jadhao is a postdoctoral researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Previously, he worked as a project scientist at the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology, Hyderabad. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra. Subsequently, he pursued his master’s and doctoral degrees at IIT Delhi.

Dr. Jadhao has received the prestigious Gandhian Young Technological Innovation appreciation award. Additionally, in 2022, he was conferred the Sumant Sinha Sustainability Leadership Award by IIT Delhi for his outstanding contribution to research in the domains of sustainability, environment, and climate change. His research endeavors have garnered recognition on both national and international platforms.

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Jadhao is developing eco-friendly technology for recycling of spent batteries. The exponential increase in the use of electronic devices and electric vehicles has resulted in increased battery production, leading to a significant volume of spent batteries. These spent batteries contain valuable metals and potentially hazardous materials. Ensuring the sustainable management of spent batteries is crucial for resource recovery, conservation, and the mitigation of environmental hazards.