University of Connecticut Archives

Anchal Sharma

Ms. Anchal Sharma is a PhD candidate at CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR-CSIO), Chandigarh, India. Her doctoral research focuses on the photocatalytic degradation of indoor air pollutants, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs), using 2D material-based heterostructures. As an INSPIRE Fellow, she is driven to develop efficient, sustainable solutions to improve indoor air quality through innovative materials engineering.

Anchal completed her bachelor’s degree from Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla, followed by a master’s degree in physics from Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh. She was a recipient of the DST Scholarship for Higher Education during both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. During the master’s program, she worked on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials for photocatalytic and photovoltaic applications. She received the university gold medal for outstanding performance.
As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Connecticut, USA, Anchal is investigating 2D material-based heterostructures for VOC degradation under varying operational conditions such as humidity, initial pollutant concentration, and catalyst loading. Her work further delves into mechanistic insights using advanced characterization techniques, including in-situ DRIFTS and EPR spectroscopy, to identify reaction intermediates and elucidate the role of reactive species.
Anchal’s work aims to address critical challenges in indoor air quality through advanced materials design and sustainable remediation strategies for real-world applications, including self-cleaning coatings, photocatalytic air filtration systems, and portable air purification technologies.

Rinni Singh

Dr. Rinni Singh is a Scientific Officer at Uttar Pradesh Council of Agricultural Research, Lucknow, with over a decade of experience spanning research, policy integration, and institutional management. She plays a pivotal role in advancing sustainable agriculture through the coordination of high-impact initiatives, including the Uttar Pradesh Millet Revival Program and international R&D collaborations with organizations such as ICRISAT, Hyderabad.

As Nodal Officer for UPCAR-SEED Incubation Centre, Dr. Singh leads the development of a vibrant agri-startup ecosystem in the state. She has spearheaded over 200 outreach-capacity-building events and serves as a core mentor to agri-tech startups and incubator communities. Her expertise in innovation management is underpinned by advanced training from SINE IIT Bombay, Venture Center Pune, and Nexus Startup Hub at American Center, New Delhi. Her insights on strengthening incubation models were featured in U.S. Embassy’s SPAN Magazine, reflecting her growing influence in this space.

Dr. Singh additionally serves as Member Secretary on Board of Directors of the ANDUAT Incubation Centre, Ayodhya, and contributes to a diverse portfolio of projects ranging from skill development under PMKVY 4.0 to climate-resilient crop variety research.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Singh is aiming to develop a comparative biotech incubation framework that bridges India’s frugal, mission-driven innovation with United States’ advanced university-led institutional innovation ecosystems. She aims to co-design a leadership curriculum and a bilateral incubation toolkit to equip the next generation of agri-entrepreneurs with skills and networks needed to drive transformative change.

Sushruth Ravish

Dr. Sushruth Ravish is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, before transitioning to philosophy. He completed his MA in Philosophy in 2015 at Savitribai Phule (SP) Pune University and in 2021, he was awarded a PhD in Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Dr. Ravish’s areas of specialization are in metaethics and epistemology. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals, and currently serves as Associate Editor of the journal AI & Society. He has been awarded the Naik and Rastogi Award for Excellence in PhD Research at IIT Bombay (2020–22), the SS Barlingay Prize and the KA Dattatray Prize for the highest marks in MA Philosophy at SP Pune University.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Ravish is undertaking a comparative investigation of how conspiracy theories, particularly those surrounding vaccines and public health, emerge and spread within the democratic societies of India and the USA. Building on recent work in social epistemology and democratic theory, the research examines conspiracy theories not merely as informational distortions or cognitive failures but as alternative epistemic frameworks. During his fellowship, Dr. Ravish aims to develop a normative framework for epistemic repair and trust-building in conditions of institutional distrust and democratic fragility.

Adway Kumar Das

Mr. Adway Kumar Das is a Ph.D. candidate at IISER Kolkata, West Bengal. His doctoral thesis focuses on how the statistical properties of the energy spectrum and states of various random matrix model manifests in the dynamics of single-particle quantum mechanical systems. His research has been published in peer-reviewed international journals like Physical Review E, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, and Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment (JSTAT). He has presented at several national and international conferences like Conference on Nonlinear Systems and Dynamics (CNSD), Statphys-Kolkata, and Nordita-Stockholm conference on Ergodicity Breaking and Integrability in Long-Range Systems and on Random Graphs, 2022.

Mr. Das holds a BS-MS dual degree from IISER Kolkata, West Bengal, where he was awarded the second-best thesis by the Department of Physical Sciences. He was awarded the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) fellowship in 2021 by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. He is also a member of the IISER Kolkata student chapter of OPTICA. While Physics keeps Mr. Das occupied, he is also interested in social work and loves to travel. He particularly enjoys trekking in Sikkim and strolling along the beaches of Kerala. He is an avid fan of Bayern Munich and relishes the works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sidney Sheldon and Dan Brown.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Mr. Das is exploring the correlations among the energy levels of banded random matrices and corresponding Hilbert space structure. He is primarily working on the spectral statistics and quenched dynamics to address the loss of ergodicity and thermalization in single-particle quantum mechanical systems.

Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi

Dr. Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi is an assistant professor in IFMR-GSB, Sri City. Before this, she worked with IPE Hyderabad, IMI Bhubaneswar, and Woxsen University. She holds a doctorate degree from XIMB, XIM University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha in supply chain sustainability. She was a TEQIP scholarship awardee from the Government of India during her MTech from VSSUT Burla, where she was also adjudged as the University Best Postgraduate in production engineering. She has a BTech in mechanical engineering.

Dr. Panigrahi’s research interests are business and human rights, e-waste management, and Industry 4.0 application in operations. She received the “MSME Fellowship” from NIMSME, Hyderabad, under the Ministry of MSME, Government of India in 2017. She has won two Best Paper awards at WIPRO Sustainability Summit in 2016 and at the 105th Indian Economic Association Annual International Conference in 2022. She received two consecutive Emerald Literati awards by the Emerald Publishing House, Bingley, UK in 2019 and 2020. She was also recognized as “LinkedIn Top Voice” in business management, business operations and lean manufacturing in 2023. She is an associate member of the Business and Human Rights Forum at Columbia University.

Human rights issues in global textile and apparel supply chains require joint attention from policy makers, civil society members, and supply chain researchers. As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, Dr. Panigrahi’s research is uncovering gross human rights violations. Her objective is to develop a generic framework to address these challenges through exchange of best practices across the U.S. and India.