Meet Our India Fulbrighters Archive

Vijay Kumar

Mr. Vijay Kumar is a Librarian at DBRA CM SHRI School, BT Block, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi. With 25 years of experience serving elementary, secondary, and senior secondary students, he has actively integrated library activities with curricular learning. He has organized numerous seminars and workshops promoting storytelling as an effective pedagogical tool. He is the Founder Chairperson of Katha Manch Delhi, a platform dedicated to storytelling, language learning, and cultural engagement. He holds an MPhil in library and information science from Annamalai University and a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Delhi.

Throughout his career, Vijay has served in various academic and educational roles at distinguished institutions. He has presented research papers at national and international conferences and published research reports. In 2025, he received the Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on Digital Literacy organized by IILM University, Gurugram, and was honoured with the Shikshak Samman by Dinkar Society, Delhi.

As an FDAI scholar, Vijay is collaborating with educators from diverse backgrounds, documenting folktales from different regions of the world, and sharing Indian folktales globally, thereby promoting multicultural understanding and multilingual learning.

Nisar Shaikh

Mr. Nisar Shaikh is a teacher and teacher educator with over 17 years of experience in state government schools in Maharashtra. He holds an MA, MEd, and an MA TESOL with Distinction from the University of Leeds, UK, specialising in teacher education, educational technology, and young learners.

Nisar has contributed to teacher education at the state level. As a State Academic Resource Person at the State Institute of English, Maharashtra, he helped design teacher training programs, develop learning materials, and supported statewide English language initiatives such as TEJAS and the Spoken English programme. He also served as a British Council ARMS mentor, guiding government school teachers in conducting classroom-based exploratory action research. His innovative contributions have been recognised through awards, including Best ELT Material Writer and Technology Wizard at successive TEJAS symposia. He has presented his work at national and international conferences, including the MA TESOL Conference at the University of Hull, UK (2023) and the Language in Education Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal (2025).

As an FDAI scholar, Nisar is aiming to master research-backed multilingual pedagogies to support diverse classrooms. Upon his return, he will develop a practical teacher training module with scalable lesson plans to be shared via local workshops, professional learning networks and monthly cluster-level meetings of teachers. This initiative aligns with an NEP 2020 objective to empower rural teachers to bridge the gap between home dialects and standard instruction. Outside the classroom, Nisar is a passionate traveller who loves exploring new cultures.

Neemaben Girishkumar Parekh

Ms. Neema Parekh is the head teacher of Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India Lavad Primary School in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. She has been part of the school community since 2004, serving first as a teacher and, since 2015, as head teacher. With 21 years of experience in education, she holds a master’s degree in psychology, has qualified in the Head Teacher Aptitude Test, and is a certified yoga teacher and Ultimate Frisbee coach.

Neema believes education should prepare children for both academic success and life. Following the principles of the Living Educational Theory, she works to ensure that every child experiences learning that nurtures creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and a sense of social responsibility. She has launched initiatives for students focused on health and well-being, life skills, vocational learning, and sports. Neema has helped advance education throughout Gujarat by writing textbooks, developing teachers, and creating innovative learning programs.

As an FDAI scholar, Neema is deepening her understanding of teacher development and student-centred education. She is particularly interested in exploring innovative ways to support teacher learning and design meaningful workshops that encourage reflection, collaboration, and professional growth. On her return to India, she plans to share her learning with teachers, parents, and professional networks, strengthening educational practice and creating richer learning experiences for children.

Kiran

Ms. Kiran is a Vice-Principal in the government school of Delhi. Prior to her posting as a Vice-Principal she worked as a Senior Secondary teacher of sociology. She started her career as a Primary teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya. She holds a Bachelor of Elementary Education degree and a B.Ed. from the University of Delhi. She also holds a master’s degree in sociology and is currently pursuing a PG diploma in school leadership and management from Indira Gandhi National Open University. She has participated in various trainings and seminars conducted by DoE, CBSE, and SCERT including UTCS trainings and leadership development program at IIM Ahmedabad.

Kiran wants to promote and nurture educational practices that integrate empathy, peaceful conflict resolution, and dialogue into the school culture to mould students into happy, compassionate, and socially responsible citizens.

As an FDAI scholar, Kiran is learning innovative pedagogical approaches that not only promote peace education and social-emotional development but also develop a sense of appreciation. Upon her return, Kiran aims to cultivate and strengthen new learnings and findings within her school system.

Vishal Madanlal Angnani

Mr. Vishal Madanlal Angnani is a PhD candidate at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), where his research focuses on understanding the role of mucus-binding bacteria in regulating goblet cells to maintain intestinal homeostasis during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He completed his MSc in Microbiology from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, where he developed a strong interest in host-microbe interactions.

As a microbiologist, Vishal is particularly interested in how commensal microbes colonize the gut and interact with each other and with host tissues to influence health and disease. During his doctoral research, he has employed culturomics-based approaches to isolate and characterize several mucus-associated bacterial species. He integrates in vivo mouse models, in vitro cell culture systems, and intestinal organoid models to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which these bacteria and their metabolites modulate host responses, particularly in the context of mucosal immunity and epithelial function.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Vishal will utilize the gnotobiotic mouse, a gold-standard model, to elucidate the sole contributions of specific bacterial isolates and their metabolites in regulating mucus-secreting goblet cells during IBD. This work aims to provide core mechanistic insights into how microbial interactions shape mucus integrity and gut homeostasis, with potential implications for the development of microbiome-based therapeutic strategies. Beyond research, Vishal enjoys teaching, travelling, cooking, and dancing.

Tushar Rishi

Mr. Tushar Rishi is a PhD candidate at the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. As a Senior Research Fellow, his doctoral project focuses on questions of form, style, and critique in J. M. Coetzee’s fiction. He has a master’s in English from the same center and a bachelor’s in English from Hindu College, University of Delhi.

Tushar’s interests include contemporary literature, global modernisms, postcolonial culture, and creative writing. His postgraduate work on cultural theory has been published in an anthology by Würzburg University Press, and he has presented his research on contemporary literature at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, supported by an ICSSR grant. He has also participated in two cultural studies seminars organized by Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany under the DAAD IVAC initiative. His novel, The Patient Patient (Westland Books), was shortlisted for Best Debut English Novel at PILF 2017. It was translated into Hindi a year later. His short fiction has been shortlisted for the 2023 Toto Awards for Creative Writing in English and longlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Tushar is keen to expand his ongoing research on Coetzee’s literary work and deepen his understanding of theory, modernisms, and post critique. In his free time, he enjoys movies, cricket, and chess.

Sumana Podder

Ms. Sumana Podder is a PhD candidate at the Materials Chemistry and Interfacial Engineering division of CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology. She completed her undergraduate studies in chemistry from the University of Calcutta and earned her master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Hyderabad, where she was awarded the gold medal for academic excellence. Currently, she is a Senior Research Fellow working in the areas of materials chemistry, catalysis, and advancing functional materials for energy and environmental applications.

Sumana’s research has been published in high-impact journals such as Small (Wiley). She has authored and co-authored several articles/reviews in reputed international journals. She has also presented her work at various international conferences, contributing to advancements in functional materials and catalytic systems.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Sumana will focus on the design and development of smart metal-organic framework (MOF) materials that exhibit dynamic, stimuli-responsive behavior while retaining their crystalline integrity. Her work aims to understand reversible structural transformations in flexible MOFs through rational design and advanced in-situ characterization techniques, with applications in hydrocarbon separation, carbon dioxide capture and next-generation functional materials. In her leisure time, Sumana enjoys engaging with art, music, and thriller cinema/series, exploring research across diverse fields, and cooking.

Sujit Sakharam Damase

Mr. Sujit Sakharam Damase is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mathematics at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in mathematics from Fergusson College, Pune, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, respectively. As a doctoral student, Sujit delves into the intersection of Fourier analysis, sphere packing, representation theory, operator theory, and total positivity.

Sujit’s research in mathematics has been published in well-known peer-reviewed journals such as Linear Algebra and its Applications and the Canadian Mathematical Bulletin. He has also presented his research at various international conferences and workshops across Taiwan, Canada, and Scotland. He received a travel grant from the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences to present his work in Edinburgh as the only graduate student speaker and the International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) Student Grant. He is a Simons visitor at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, a UNESCO research center in Trieste, Italy.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Sujit will be working at the interface of discrete geometry and number theory. His research addresses the fundamental problem of sphere packing, focusing on designing good spherical codes and proving bounds on them. The study strives to advance the state of the art in constructing and analyzing packings by leveraging linear and semidefinite programming bounds and higher-order applications of harmonic analysis. In his free time, Sujit enjoys exploring the history of mathematics, reading, and taking long walks.

Siddharth Singh

Mr. Siddharth Singh is a PhD candidate at the Mehta Family School of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore. His doctoral research examines how the maternal gut microbiome shapes fetal development, with a particular focus on fetal brain gene regulation, microbial metabolites, and the early biological origins of neurodevelopmental outcomes. His broader research interest is to connect evolutionary perspectives on the human brain-microbiome relationship with experimentally grounded maternal-fetal biology.

Siddharth holds a master’s in biotechnology from IIT Indore and a bachelor’s in Biotechnology from Barkatullah Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal. He is a CSIR-UGC NET Junior Research Fellow. He has received recognition including first prize at the Madhya Pradesh PhD Colloquium and the Best Research Paper Award from the Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at IIT Indore.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Siddharth will investigate maternal microbiome functional signatures by linking transcriptomic and proteomic profiles to fetal development. Through this work, he aims to build an Indo-U.S. research bridge in maternal-fetal systems biology and contribute to future evidence-based strategies for improving child neurodevelopment.

Shashwat Agrawal

Mr. Shashwat Agrawal is a PhD candidate at Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi. His research focuses on the theoretical implications of quantum computation on cryptography. On one hand, he is motivated to analyze problems relevant to build cryptographic schemes and believed so far to be hard to solve even for quantum algorithms. On the other hand, he is fascinated by the potential of quantum algorithms to perform novel cryptographic tasks, which seem unprecedented to achieve using classical computing.

Shashwat holds a BS-MS in mathematics and scientific computing from IIT Kanpur, where he was awarded Bhagwan Das Sanghi Memorial Gold Medal for best graduating student in Mathematics. He furthered his education with an MS in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego, during which he explored the mathematical foundations of machine learning and served as a Teaching Assistant for courses in algorithm design and discrete mathematics.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Shashwat aims to analyze the fine-grained complexity of attacking numerous variants of the Learning with Errors problem which, could be useful for practically deploying encryption schemes and more advanced cryptographic primitives. Outside of his research, Shashwat is a practitioner and proponent of Sahaja Yoga meditation. He has also learnt tablā and violin and loves to explore the deep connection of Indian classical music with spirituality.