India Fellows Years: Indian Fellows 2024-2025

Ruchi Agrawal

Dr. Ruchi Agrawal is working as an associate fellow in the Sustainable Agriculture Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Gurugram. She is affiliated with Deakin University, Australia, and TERI-SAS University, New Delhi, as adjunct faculty. She has 15 years of R&D experience in nature-based solutions and sustainable agriculture research. She has expertise in developing sustainable agri-input nanoproducts, biopolymers, and green-biochemicals using biomass in an Integrated Biorefinery Platform. She has been honored with the prestigious ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (INSPIRE) fellowship, and the ‘Young Scientist Governor Award’ by the Government of India. She is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the University of Tennessee, and the ÅboAkademi University in Finland. She has demonstrated an impressive publication record with 15 patents in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, and 65 research articles in international journals. She serves as an editorial board member of high impact journals and is recognized as a coveted speaker in international forums.

During her Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence, Dr. Agarwal is developing high-value bioproducts to demonstrate novel approaches to meet Net-Zero targets set for India and combat climate change issues. This project will develop a novel single-pot process to valorize biorefinery-waste-lignin & produce jet-fuel by rapid catalytic hydrodeoxygenation driven by synergistic Lewis acids and metal catalysts. The process will be optimized for catalyst concentration, temperature, and time. Selected agents will be investigated to inhibit side reactions, thereby improving yields. Finally, life cycle and techno-economic analysis will be done to assess environmental and economic sustainability. This study will serve the dual purpose of reducing carbon emissions and developing carbon-negative jet-fuel.

Suneet Singh

Prof. Suneet Singh is currently Head of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Idaho National Lab in the U.S. before joining IIT Bombay. He did his PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He graduated with a master’s in nuclear engineering and technology in 2000 from IIT Kanpur. His research focuses on efficient numerical techniques for neutron diffusion and fluid flow. Along with this, he has been investigating bifurcations in a number of systems, including nuclear coupled thermal hydraulics and two-phase flows fluids. In 2014, he was awarded the Bhaskara Advanced Solar Energy (BASE) fellowship by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF). He also received the S. P. Sukhatme Award for Teaching Excellence at IIT Bombay in 2023.

As the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence Scholar at Purdue University, IN, Prof. Singh is working on understanding pathways for hydrogen and heat generation along with power generation. Nuclear power stations (NPPs) release no greenhouse gases when in operation, emitting approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per unit of electricity as wind and solar energy. Load following is a technique by which power plants alter their power production in response to daily fluctuations in demand and energy prices. Because of the high construction cost of NPPs, they are typically not intended for load following and are classified as base load plants. As a result, their use for hydrogen and/ or heat generation during low-load periods provides both economic and environmental benefits.

Ajay Biswas

Dr. Ajay Biswas is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Agartala, Tripura. He obtained his PhD in engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He has around thirty-four years of experience in the field, which includes teaching and research in engineering and the sciences. He is a life member of several professional societies including SESI, IEI (India), FOSET, ASME, and IIW. He was awarded as principal investigator of a prestigious project sponsored by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

Dr. Biswas is interested in green energy, sustainable energy, climate change, and the development of advanced engineered materials and techniques.

As a Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence (Research and Teaching) scholar at Kansas State University, KS, Dr. Biswas is developing an environment friendly recharge-free aluminum air battery and study its performance. Successful development and future modification of this battery will contribute to long collaborative research between the U.S. and India and will reduce carbon emissions, which is beneficial for the environment.

Purendra Prasad

Dr. Purendra Prasad is a professor of sociology at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana. He has previously held positions at the Centre for Social Studies (CSS), Surat, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Dr. Prasad was a British Council grantee for medical anthropology research at Brunel University, West London, UK (1999-2000), and he also collaborated with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), California Recovery and Reconnaissance team on the Bhuj Gujarat Earthquake in 2005. His research interests encompass critical agrarian studies, environmental studies, the political economy of health and development, and urban studies. His recent work investigates wealth accumulation and business elites in India as part of a broader research project on wealth inequalities in South Africa, Brazil, and India. Dr. Prasad has co-edited the book Equity and Access: Health Care Studies in India (Oxford University Press, 2018), and serves on the editorial advisory committee of the Sociological Bulletin. Additionally, he contributes to the academic and ethical advisory boards of various universities and institutions in India.

As Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, Dr. Prasad is teaching and conducting research on how the intersection of caste/race, gender, and growing economic disparities shaped wealthy elites in India and the U.S.

Shruti Suriyakumar

Dr. Shruti Suriyakumar did her post-graduation at Lady Doak College, Madurai, where she majored in physics and joined CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi for her Ph.D. Her doctoral thesis on developing nanostructured composite cathodes, permselective separators, and ionic liquid-based hybrid electrolytes for lithium-sulfur batteries was conferred the Best Thesis award in Physical Sciences from the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi.

Dr. Suriyakumar later received the National Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM). Her research was focused on developing sulphide-based solid electrolytes for sodium batteries. As a project scientist at IISER TVM, she has contributed to developing solid electrolytes for lithium and sodium batteries and has been involved in designing electrodes and electrolytes for next-generation battery chemistries.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow, Dr. Suriyakumar’s research at Rice University, Houston, TX is focusing on electrode-electrolyte interface engineering for solid-state batteries. The project involves the rational design of 2D materials, introducing them as interlayers/ coatings between the solid-solid point of contact and regulating the lithium-ion flux, thereby improving the cycling stability and performance of all-solid-state lithium batteries.

Harshit Sosan Lakra

Dr. Harshit Sosan Lakra, a proud Oraon tribe woman from India, serves as assistant professor in the Department of Architecture and Planning and joint faculty at the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems at IIT Roorkee. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from MANIT, Bhopal and a master’s degree in environmental planning from CEPT, Ahmedabad. Dr. Lakra was a FORD Foundation International fellow, which enabled her to pursue her second master’s in urban and regional planning from Cornell University in 2009, with a focus on international studies in planning. At Cornell University, she won the Cornell Urban Scholarship award and the Graduate Research Scholarship award. She completed her doctoral research at IIT Roorkee in 2019. In 2023, Dr, Lakra was selected as a Himalayan University Consortium fellow through which she co-leads a workgroup and collaborates with women leaders from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.

Dr. Lakra is leading national and international projects focusing on Tribal Human Development Index (HDI), adaptation of indigenous and local knowledge systems, and Fintech Solutions for comprehensive tribal development in Chhattisgarh, along with GoAL (gender-orientated adaptive learning) for climate change and disaster risk resilience in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Japan, indicating her interdisciplinary interest.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow, Dr. Lakra intends to create a platform for discourse, co- and cross-learning on housing, culture, and environment at different scales and connect students, stakeholders, and indigenous communities from India and the U.S. The project will bring diverse understanding and experiences, especially for the domain and community that is less researched.

Sujata Singh

Dr. Sujata Singh is a technical analyst at Customized Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd., an energy sector-based consulting firm, in association with Indian Energy Storage Alliance (IESA). She obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Her doctoral research focused on studying the microstructure-property correlation of High Entropy Alloy-Carbon Nanotubes composites. She received her master’s degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and bachelor’s degree from Birsa Institute of Technology, Sindri, Dhanbad.

Dr. Singh’s research interest is in the study of electrochemical behavior of advanced materials, understanding underlying electrochemistry in protective coatings/thin films, utilizing nanomaterials to achieve enhanced properties, electron microscopy, microstructure-property correlation, and failure analysis with applications in the field of corrosion and Lithium-Ion Battery. She has published several research articles in reputed international journals and received the Senior Research Fellowship issued by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India. She also received an award for the best all-round performance in 2013.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow, Dr. Singh is developing alternate battery technologies that enable sustainable, cost-effective, and reliable electrochemical energy storage. The focus of the study is to investigate new electrode architecture, exploring methods to mitigate issues such as capacity fading, mechanical degradation, dendrite formation and cyclability in Sodium-Antimony Intermetallic Battery. The project advances the field’s understanding of this promising energy storage technology.

Sujay Shekar Ganganakatte Chandrashekar

Dr. Sujay Shekar G. C. is an environmental researcher and a metaphysicist. He earned his bachelor’s degree (2015) in science from Sarada Vilas College, Mysuru, and his master’s degree (2017) in physics from St. Philomena’s College, Mysuru. He received his Ph.D. in Physics (2023) from the University of Mysore. In 2018, he worked as a university lecturer at Department of Science in Physics, University of Mysore, and later joined as an assistant professor in 2023 at RNSIT, Visvesvaraya Technological University. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Studies in Physics at St. Philomena’s College, and the Board of Examination in Physics at Karnataka State Open University and JSS Science and Technology University.

Dr. Sujay Shekar believes in understanding the natural world as a means of achieving spiritual enrichment. In this pursuit, he initiated his research on solar energy utilization to create a more sustainable future. He works in the field of physical chemistry and material science to develop advanced nanomaterials for cleaner and more efficient light energy conversion. Through his doctoral research projects, he contributed to semiconductor photoelectrochemistry by engineering nanomaterials for effective photocatalytic applications. He even demonstrated the usage of sunlight for more sustainable synthesis methods of functional materials. Many of his designed compounds exhibited better solar energy conversion efficiency and produced greener solar fuels.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Dr. Sujay Shekar is developing new photosystems for boosted photochemical tandem reactions and understand the underlying phenomena of charge dynamics.

Sucharita Sen

Dr. Sucharita Sen is interested in the politics of everyday life beyond the conventional epicenters of power, with her research methodologically anchored at the intersection of history and political anthropology. She completed her Ph.D. in 2022 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Dr. Sen is a recipient of the Walter L. Arnstein prize for the Best Ph.D. Paper at the 68th annual Midwest conference on British Studies (a regional affiliate of the North American conference on British Studies), 2021, the prize for the Best Ph.D. Paper at the 2021 biennial conference of the New Zealand Historical Association, and a Certificate of Excellence from Oxford University Press (India) for being the winning contributor of the December (2021) issue of Tell Me Your Story Review. Her works have appeared in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Contemporary South Asia, Society and Culture in South Asia and Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities.

Currently, Dr. Sen is co-editing the December 2025 (special) issue of the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, and a post-conference edited volume (with Sekhar Bandyopadhyay) comprising selected papers from the ones presented at an international conference which she convened at the University of Auckland in September 2023.

Dr. Sen is working on her first monograph. The project examines, within the frameworks of affect theory and the critiques of Orientalism, a world of intimate power vis-à-vis official animosities in British India. The monograph revises her Ph.D. thesis, brings in additional materials, and rewrites the already published materials afresh. She also plans to co-convene an international conference with the support of her mentor at OSU. The conference will specifically boost Indo-U.S. collaboration in the field of South Asian Studies.

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.