Host Institution USA: Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST)

Priyamvada Nambrath

Priya Nambrath is a doctoral candidate in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation research focuses on the applied practice of mathematics and astronomy in the sociocultural life of medieval and pre-modern Kerala. More broadly, she is interested in the intellectual and scientific history of India with a focus on cultural encounters, archaic modernisms, patronage, and pedagogy. Language and literature, textual culture, and visual art constitute additional related areas of her focus. She is also interested in folk traditions of art and knowledge in South India, and the ocean-facing histories of the region.

Priya brings her previous training and work experience in science and mathematics to her current research interests in Indian scientific and educational history. She has taught university courses in Sanskrit and Malayalam language and literature and has published a translation of a Sanskrit play. She has also been a highly successful coach for competitive mathematics at the school level.

Under the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Priya is researching the pedagogical approaches and cultural concerns that shaped the mathematical culture of South India in the pre-colonial and early colonial periods, with a focus on the Kerala school of Indian mathematics. She is conducting archival research on untranslated mathematical materials composed both in Sanskrit and in the vernacular languages. Priya hopes that her research will contribute to increasing awareness about a plurality of scientific traditions and pedagogical strategies which can be profitably utilized in modern classrooms.

Farzana Hossain

Farzana Hossain is a graduate from Cornell University, having earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction in architecture. Her academic trajectory has encompassed extensive teaching and research experience, notably by serving as a teaching assistant and summer studio critic at Cornell University where she adeptly cultivated her leadership and communication proficiencies. She has garnered valuable professional exposure at renowned firms, including MASS Design Group, 3XN Architects, L’Observatoire international, and FZAD Architecture. Farzana’s research expertise centers on silt deposition and the intricate ramifications of colonial infrastructure in the Bay of Bengal; this demonstrates her unwavering commitment to comprehending multifaceted environmental and social issues. Her aspirations involve extending this research from the Himalayan watershed in Gangtok to the Bengal Basin within the Sundarbans National Park in India, as she endeavors to attain deeper insights into this intricate landscape.

The state of Sikkim in India became the world’s first “organic state” in 2003, having banned chemical fertilizers and pesticides to combat the water pollution and land degradation caused by the Green Revolution. While previous research has focused on government policies, Farzana’s Fulbright-Nehru study is examining the role of small-scale farmers and their indigenous knowledge in conserving soil and water resources. By integrating ecological design and landscape transformations with agricultural practices, the study is exploring how Sikkim’s transition to organic farming has impacted the cultivated landscape. The Rani Khola watershed in Gangtok serves as a case study, where farmers use indigenous knowledge to practice terracing and agroforestry for sustainable land management. Farzana is also documenting landscape changes and generating measured digital drawings and videos.