University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Archives

Swapnil Anna Shewale

Dr. Swapnil Anna Shewale is an Assistant Professor of zoology at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Hazarimal Somani College, Mumbai. He completed his postgraduate studies in the Department of Zoology at Savitribai Phule Pune University and earned his doctoral degree from the University of Mumbai, specializing in anuran neuroendocrinology. He continues his active research association with Savitribai Phule Pune University under the guidance of Prof. Shobha Bhargava.

Dr. Shewale’s research primarily focuses on unraveling the neuroendocrine mechanisms that govern physiological adaptation and behavioral plasticity in anuran systems, with particular emphasis on the role of neuropeptides and signaling pathways under diverse environmental stressors and changing ecological conditions. His research contributions have been published in international journals such as General and Comparative Endocrinology, Neuropeptides, Neuroscience Letters, and Conservation Physiology. He has presented his research at several prestigious national and international scientific forums, including the World Congress of Herpetology (WCH10, Malaysia) and the Conference on Comparative Endocrinology (CECE 2022, Faro, Portugal). He is a recipient of the prestigious European Society for Comparative Endocrinology Fellowship and the SERB-ITS Award from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Shewale is investigating the neurobiological basis of male parental care and coloration in the recently diverged common and white ecotypes of the three-spined stickleback. The study seeks to elucidate how shared neuroendocrine circuits shape behavioral evolution, thereby providing broader insights into the mechanisms driving phenotypic diversity, adaptation, and early ecological divergence.

Sushree Sangita Mohanty

Dr. Sushree Sangita Mohanty is an applied anthropologist, educator, and researcher with over twelve years of experience in indigenous education, linguistic sustainability, and the integration of emerging technologies for social impact. She holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Hyderabad. She previously served as Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Co-Director of Project K-MUSE, and Head of the Centre for Indigenous Languages & Narratives at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) University, Bhubaneswar. Dr. Mohanty is currently an independent researcher and consultant with International Institute for the Inclusive Museum.

Dr. Mohanty led the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize-winning Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education program at KISS, benefiting over 40,000 indigenous children across Odisha. Her work spans multilingual curriculum development, AI- and NLP-enabled tools, and STEM education in indigenous languages to support language revitalization. She is the editor of Applying AI-Based Tools and Technologies Towards Revitalization of Indigenous and Endangered Languages (Springer, 2024) and an editorial board member of The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum. She was recognized with the Emerging Scholar Award by the Common Ground Research Network, USA, and the Emerging Anthropologist Award at the World Anthropology Congress, 2023.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar at the CyberSocial Learning Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Mohanty is developing culturally responsive, AI-supported educational prototypes that embed indigenous languages into mother-tongue-based multilingual learning environments, drawing on comparative insights from indigenous education contexts in both India and the United States.

Parikshit Gogoi

Dr. Parikshit Gogoi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nowgong College (Autonomous), Nagaon, Assam. He obtained his M.Sc. in chemistry from Cotton University, Guwahati in 2001, M.Tech. in petroleum refining and petrochemicals from Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh in 2003, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat in 2010. Before joining Nowgong College, he worked in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati as technical staff. His current research interests are biomass-based chemicals, fuels and materials, natural products chemistry, and nanomaterials synthesis for catalytic applications.

He received the INSA Summer Research Fellowship for Teachers in 2014 from the Indian National Academy of Science, Bengaluru, and worked at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad. In 2016, he was awarded the Raman Fellowship for Post Doctoral Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, by the University Grants Commission, and he contributed significantly to biomass conversion research. In 2021, he was awarded the Dulal Chandra Goswami Memorial Research Award by Nowgong College (Autonomous).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Gogoi aims for the catalytic conversion of biomass/lignin bio-oils to aromatics and fuel range hydrocarbons using polyoxometallate catalysts. For upgrading bio-oil to high-valued hydrocarbon fuel or chemicals, catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), an energy-intensive process that requires high temperature and hydrogen gas pressure, is essential. Dr. Gogoi is working on developing catalyst systems to achieve HDO at low temperatures and moderate hydrogen pressure. This process will bring a new understanding of effective utilization of lignin in a biorefinery, benefitting its economy.