India Fellows Years: Indian Fellows 2023-2024

Mohammed Roshan Cheerakolil Konath

Dr. Mohammed Roshan C.K. completed his Ph.D. from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai in 2021. He completed his master’s and bachelor’s in sociology from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and the University of Calicut, Malappuram, Kerala respectively. In his Ph.D. dissertation, he explored the techniques of cultivating affective bonding with the Prophet Muhammed and the devotional world these bonds create among the Mappila Muslims of Kerala, South India.

Dr. Roshan has published in renowned academic and non-academic journals. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences. His area of interest revolves around the sociology of religion, technology, globalization and local cultures, affect studies, intellectual history of Islam, anthropology of Islam, and Islam and Muslims in South Asia.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Roshan is looking at a recent phenomenon among Mappila Muslims of South India whereby they look toward North American Muslim scholars to form an opinion on Islamic matters and shape their everyday life. The foundational assumption in this study is that this new tendency needs to be located in the ongoing surge of neo-traditional Islam in different parts of the world. The study compares neo-traditional Islam’s characters, structures, mode of knowledge production, global networking, and authorities in North America and South India, and analyzes the shared characteristics and ruptures between traditional Islam in both contexts. Dr. Roshan’s study enquires how these complex trans-local realities, mediated through the means and structure of globalization, call to reimagine the conventional boundaries between Islam and the West.

Ruokuonuo Rose Yhome

Dr. Ruokuonuo Rose Yhome obtained her B.A. degree from St. Joseph’s College, University of Nagaland in 2012, and her master’s degree from the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune in 2014. She then received her Ph.D. in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Veena Mushrif Tripathy at Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. Her doctoral research focused on microwear analysis of human dentition recovered from the Jotsoma, Leshemi, Ranyak Khen, and Rikhelüwong sites in Nagaland.

At Highland Institute, an independent research center located in Nagaland, Dr. Yhome worked as Programme Manager and supervised field teams. During such efforts, she collaborated with international research teams from the U.K., including the Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development and the University of Leeds, as well as with national teams from India, including Oxford Policy Management and the World Bank.

Although diet is broadly accepted as a critical parameter for understanding human behavior and ecological adaptation, and dental microwear analysis (DMA) is emerging as a preferred method by which bioarcheologists and paleontologists can reconstruct the diets of past peoples, the latter remains largely unused at India’s most important archaeological sites. During her Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Yhome aims to address this significant lacuna by exploring the dietary behaviors of Chalcolithic, including Harappan and Iron Age populations, through an analysis of dental remains recovered from Harrapan, Chalcolithic, and Megalithic sites in India.

Krupa Rajangam

Dr. Krupa Rajangam is a humanities-based heritage scholar and conservation practitioner. In her research, she draws on anthropology and social geography to interpret nature-culture conservation practices, particularly the construction of socio-cultural place identities, urban-rural geographies, and tourism imaginaries. Her work is community-engaged, with a focus on public dissemination of research.

Dr. Rajangam earned her bachelor’s in architecture in 1999 from the RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru and her master’s in conservation studies in 2005 from the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, UK. In 2020, she completed her doctorate in conservation studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies and Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

Dr. Rajangam is the Founder-Director of a collective called “Saythu… Linking People and Heritage” and an editorial board member of the Taylor & Francis journal, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (CMAS). She runs an immersive field school that is driven by and teaches critical theory, experiential field-based education, and interdisciplinary methods of learning.

Through her Fulbright-Nehru project, Dr. Rajangam is working to contribute to global debates on archaeological and heritage place-making, social geography, and social violence as outcomes of UNESCO World Heritage inscription, boundary demarcation, and management. The need for such studies is pressing urban-centric development of historic landscapes, contrary to the intent of practice and policy, is deepening social marginalization.

Poulami Nandi

Dr. Poulami Nandi is a postdoctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat since March 2022. She received her Ph.D. in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in April 2022. She earned her master’s in physics from IITK and joined the research group of Prof. Arjun Bagchi in 2017 to pursue her Ph.D. Her doctoral thesis “Carrollian Conformal Symmetry and Holography” focuses on Carrollian conformal and BMS field theories, and their relations with the holographic principle for asymptotically flat spacetimes.

During her Ph.D., Dr. Nandi was awarded two international fellowships: the Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Fellowship 2019-2020 for nine months to visit the University of California, Davis and the Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship 2018-2019 for 12 months by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India. She was also affiliated with the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria for six months from August 2019 before moving to California in 2020. She was awarded International Travel Support (ITS) by SERB in 2022 to present her work at the prestigious annual conference “Strings” in Vienna. She also received the INSPIRE scholarship from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India during her undergraduate studies. She has co-authored several publications in international high-impact journals and presented her works through multiple seminars and posters in India and Europe.

The holographic principle is one of our best hopes to understand quantum gravity. One of its most prominent examples is the AdS/CFT correspondence, which is also deeply connected to diverse branches of physics, such as condensed matter, quantum information, and optics. During her Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Nandi is investigating the interface of quantum theory of gravity and theory of quantum computation. She is working to understand aspects of quantum information theory for non-Lorentzian field theories, in the context of flat-space holography, and also the dynamics of quantum systems.

Subhankar Mukherjee

Dr. Subhankar Mukherjee is Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He joined IIT Kanpur in 2019, after completing his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata with specialization in economics. Dr. Mukherjee obtained his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and worked in the corporate sector for nearly 10 years before joining his Ph.D..

Dr. Mukherjee’s research interests are in the areas of economics of development and applied microeconomics. His research has been published in journals, such as The European Journal of Development Research, Applied Economics, Indian Growth and Development Review, and Economic & Political Weekly. He has also written articles for media outlets, such as The Hindu, Business Line and Ideas for India.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Mukherjee is analyzing the factors behind low utilization of crop insurance products among Indian farmers. Specifically, he is focusing on the role of awareness-building programs in improving the utilization rate of these products, and the differential impact of such programs on various caste-based groups and their take-up decisions.

Deboshree Mukherjee

Dr. Deboshree Mukherjee is Dr. D. S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Chemistry, University of Burdwan, West Bengal. Earlier, she worked as Research Associate atthe Center of Excellence in Advance Materials, NIT Durgapur, West Bengal. She completed her Ph.D. from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad in 2019. Her doctoral research was in the area of heterogeneous catalysis.

Dr. Mukherjee’s research interest lies in the design and development of novel nanomaterials for catalytic oxidation-reduction processes for environmental remediation, biodiesel and other fine chemicals production, photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes, and nanozyme applications. She has published several research articles in high impact international journals, review articles, popular journal articles, and book chapters during her Ph.D. and post-doctoral work. She was awarded the junior research fellowship (JRF) by the Government of India after she qualified the CSIR-UGC NET examination and the prestigious Dr. D. S. Kothari Post-Doctoral research fellowship by the UGC, Government of India.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Mukherjee is focusing on the design and development of metal organic framework supported single atom catalyst (SAC) for preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in hydrogen rich stream for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell application. In SAC, all catalytically active metal centers are atomically dispersed on a stable support. The SACs are superior to metal or metal oxide nanocatalysts in terms of high metal atom utilization efficiency, unique electronic properties and special size quantum effects, resulting in improved catalytic performance.

Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan

Dr. Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan is a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Gerd Bacher at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany since 2021. He obtained his integrated B.Sc., B.Ed., and M.Sc. in physics from the Regional Institute of Education, University of Mysore in 2014. He then received his Ph.D. in 2021, under the supervision of Prof. Ranjani Viswanatha, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru. Dr. Ramakrishnan’s doctoral work focuses on the design of quantum dots for optoelectronic applications.

Dr. Ramakrishnan received a fellowship under the Walter-Benjamin Program from the German Research Foundation. His research grant focuses on magneto-optical spectroscopy of single perovskite nanocrystals. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals. He is the winner of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards (GYTI 2020) in the field of nanoscience and engineering. He qualified the GATE examination 2015, with an all-India rank of 74, and secured first rank in the country in the national entrance examination conducted by NCERT in 2008. His other scientific recognitions include the “Best ePoster Content and Discussion” award at the 2020 online conference Light Emission in Organic and Hybrid materials (LightEm) organized by nanoGe, and another best poster award at an In-House symposium 2018, JNCASR. He is also a winner of the Sony World Photography Awards, 2023.

Inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are in high favor among recent energy materials. However, the necessary inclusion of lead, a toxic element, raises a critical concern for future commercial development. Dr. Ramakrishnan is addressing this issue during his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship. He is designing and synthesizing doped lead-free double perovskites and studying their spin dynamics using ultrafast magneto-optical spectroscopy. This project provides a promising avenue for lead free perovskite nanocrystals for use in high performance photophysical applications.

Neha Khatri

Dr. Neha Khatri is Principal Scientist at the Department of Manufacturing Science & Instrumentation, CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. She is a young researcher working in the area of ultra precision machining and optical metrology techniques for smart manufacturing.

Dr. Khatri earned her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 2010 from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kanpur and her master’s in advanced instrumentation engineering in 2012 from the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Chennai. She then joined as a scientist at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh in November, 2012. She received her Ph.D. in 2019 in opto-mechanical instrumentation from AcSIR, Chennai. She made significant contributions to advanced manufacturing techniques using ultra precision machining protocol for the development of various techniques and products for societal and strategic applications. Her research findings and investigations have received recognition through high impact publications, international collaborations, as well as transfer of technologies. Dr. Khatri’s scientific recognitions include Raman Research Fellowship 2021-22, SERB Women Excellence Award 2022, INAE Young Engineer Award 2021, and IEI Young Engineer Award 2022 for her notable contribution in the area of ultra-precision machining. She has received many best paper awards in various international conferences. She was inducted in the second BRICS Young Scientist Conclave to represent India at Hangzhou, China in 2017.

The key hurdle in high throughput precision freeform optics fabrication is quality control. As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Khatri is working at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her research focuses on developing on-machine metrology for precision fabrication of freeform optics with fast measurements and analyses for closed loop control and optimization.

Nutanben Himmatlal Bhingaradiya

Dr. Nutanben Himmatlal Bhingaradiya is JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Graduate school of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Science, Okayama University, Okayama, where she is mentored by Prof. Takuya Matsumoto. Dr. Bhingaradiya earned her master’s degree in pharmaceutics in 2015. In 2021, she received her Ph.D. in chemical sciences from the CSIR Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Her doctoral thesis was supported by a CSIR GATE JRF fellowship and explored the topic of “Synthesis of Biodegradable Amphiphilic Copolymers and Conetworks by Sequential Nucleophilic Substitution”.. After her Ph.D., she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai under the supervision of Prof. Rohit Srivastava and late Prof. Rinti Banerjee.

During her Ph.D., Dr. Bhingaradiya published several research articles, book chapters, reviews, and patents, garnering 292 citations and an h-index of seven. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the FY2022 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan (Standard); Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowships from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai; CSIR Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) – GATE, HRDG-CSIR, Government of India; CSIR Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) – GATE, HRDG-CSIR, Govternment of India;, AICTE Post Graduate (PG- GATE/GPAT) Scholarship, AICTE India.

During her Fulbright_Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Bhingaradiya is undertaking an interdisciplinary project that employs a number of novel and innovative techniques, which are anticipated to advance both the practical and the theoretical applications of biomolecule chemistry, material science, and imaging. The purpose of her project is to create a library of compounds with enhanced therapeutic activity using a reliable synthesis method.

Rubia Hassan

Dr. Rubia Hassan is Project Scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. She pursued her bachelor’s in metallurgical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Srinagar and her master’s and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur). During her Ph.D., in 2018, she received Prime Minister Research Fellowship, to continue her work under the joint supervision of Prof. Kantesh Balani and Prof. Shobit Omar at IIT Kanpur. Her doctoral research was based on the study of Zirconium di-boride based ultra-high temperature ceramic composites for thermal protection system in hypersonic re-entry vehicles. Dr. Hassan has published several research articles in reputed international journals and has co-edited one book.

The ongoing search for new materials for desired future capabilities related to hypersonic re-entry flight, rocket propulsion, and lightweight armor has led to considerable attention to ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) for their potential use in extreme environments based on their superior properties. In this context, during her Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Hassan is focusing on the development of boride and carbide based high entropy ultra-high temperature ceramics.