Archives: Meet Our India Fulbrighters

Syed Irshad Ali

Mr. Syed Irshad Ali teaches English at TS Model School and Government Junior College, Pegadapally, Jagtial, Telangana. He has 14 years of teaching experience. He has a master’s in arts and a bachelor’s in education.

Mr. Ali is a resource person for state-level training programs for English teachers. He participated in an eight-week online American English e-teacher program and MOOCs. He received the district-level best teacher award of 2022 for excellence in English teaching and his services during COVID-19.

Through his participation in the Fulbright TEA program, he is exploring new methodologies to engage students actively, emerge as a global teacher, and resolve local issues to serve the community. He wants to change the perspective of a conventional teacher. On his return, he would like to develop language skills of his students and colleagues by conducting language orientation programs. This, in turn, will enhance the confidence of his students and prepare them for educational and professional goals. He will share his Fulbright program learnings by participating in nationwide language forums.

Pawan Kumar Sharma

Dr. Pawan Sharma is a professor of chemistry at the Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh. Previously, he was a professor of chemistry, dean of research & development, and dean of students’ welfare at Kurukshetra University, Haryana. He is passionate about teaching chemistry, and believes chemistry is not simply a body of knowledge but also a way of thinking.

Dr. Sharma has visited six continents and many countries, including the U.S. on a Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar grant (2019). He is a recipient of the prestigious Srinivasa Ramanujan Birth Centenary Award gold medal (2018-2019) by the Indian Science Congress Association. He also received a bronze medal (2018) from the Chemical Research Society of India. He has over 130 research publications in journals of international repute and has also been granted patents.

In his ten months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, Dr. Sharma will be teaching one course per semester, bringing diversity to the curriculum in terms of perspectives in teaching and cross-cultural communication. He will deliver public lectures to share with the campus and the community his experience of going to the Antarctic region, highlighting the implications of the formation of an ozone hole over Antarctica. He also hopes to engage with secondary school students in the area for ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)’. He aspires to strengthen the ties between Wesleyan University and higher education institutions in India.

Balasubramani Karuppusamy

Dr. Balasubramani Karuppusamy is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN). He did his Master’s and PhD from Madurai Kamaraj University. His doctoral thesis offers important insights into the potential of geospatial technologies in preparing sustainable agricultural development plans. Before joining CUTN in 2017, Dr. Balasubramani worked at Madurai Kamaraj University (2009-2011), and Bharathidasan University (2011-2017). He was also a visiting researcher at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in 2019. His interdisciplinary research extensively uses geospatial technologies.

Dr. Balasubramani has received research grants from several bodies such as DST, SERB, ICMR, ICSSR and UGC. He has published over 50 research articles in reputed journals on remote sensing, earth science, and public health. He is a recipient of the Young Geographer award by the National Association of Geographers, India (NAGI) and the Young Scientist fellowship by TNSCST (Government of Tamil Nadu).

In his ten months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, Dr. Balasubramani will teach a course on the principles of remote sensing. Additionally, he will mentor student-led projects, and work with the sustainability group of the university on geospatial technologies in agriculture. He will also deliver a series of lectures in various departments of the university and other local institutions and interact with students on the effective utilization of geospatial techniques for sustainable agriculture.

Manoj Kapil

Prof. Manoj Kapil serves as the dean and principal at the Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. With an illustrious academic career spanning over nineteen years in the realm of computer science and engineering, he has authored several books for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Dr. Kapil also has to his credit numerous international publications in esteemed journals such as IEEE Xplore and Springer. He has chaired sessions at several international conferences and has received a letter of appreciation from the Hon’ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh for his contribution to the field of computer science and engineering. Dr. Kapil has delivered lectures on cyber security and ethical hacking and guided many PhD scholars. He has also advised several state departments on various criminal cases in his capacity as expert consultant. His core domains of work are automata, web technology, security & cryptography.

In his nine months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, TX, Dr. Kapil will teach particular courses, and also assist in curriculum development, leveraging his expertise in computer science and engineering to deliver high-quality education and ensuring that students are well-equipped for future challenges in these fields.

Snehal Donde

Dr. Snehal Donde is the dean of administrative affairs at the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre, University of Mumbai, located at Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), Palghar, Maharashtra. She is also the chief research officer of GEV, which has been awarded a United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) award in 2017. She has more than three decades of administrative, teaching, and research experience. She holds a double PhD in zoology and management studies and has successfully guided nine PhD students.

Dr. Donde has received several research grants for projects including one on Ganga River pollution, erosion and sedimentation studies. She has chaired sessions at many prestigious international conferences and has over 80 peer-reviewed research publications to her credit, including nine books. She received the Green Crusader award from the UNEP and India’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. She is a member of the advisory council of People’s World Commission on Droughts and Floods, Ulrika, Sweden.

In her four months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the City University of New York’s Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY, Dr. Donde will teach courses on environmental science in the Departments of Chemistry, Earth Science and Environmental Sciences. She will also work with the Department of History, particularly with the faculty offering courses on human geography, and provide students with newer perspectives on rural India. She will conduct collective social learning workshops, and seminars on various sustainability initiatives centered around water quality and scarcity, rural development, and climate change resilience.

Sumangala Damodaran

Sumangala Damodaran is a professor of development studies, economics, and popular music studies, with an academic career spanning more than three decades. She has taught for a long time in Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, and Ambedkar University Delhi. She is now at the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi. She is also a visiting professor at Ashoka University, Haryana.

Prof. Damodaran’s areas of work include industrial organization, labour and the informal sector, global value chains, and gender. She has also researched extensively on the relationship between society and music and produced several music albums. As an academician and performing musician, she has been the recipient of many prestigious grants from India and abroad. She has collaborated with scholars and performers from different countries on academic research and poetry-music performances. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

In her six months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Prof. Damodaran will be engaged in teaching two undergraduate courses in the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Department, working with colleagues in developing course modules, giving lecture-demonstrations around her work in music, and engaging with community organizations such as Ragamala, a music organization in Seattle, for conducting poetry, music and storytelling sessions.

Abhijit Chowdhury

Abhijit Chowdhury is a screenwriter and director, working in the Bengali film and television industry in Kolkata. He has directed independent feature films, short films, and multiple popular and critically acclaimed Bengali web series, such as Manbhanjan, Johny Bonny, Astey Ladies, and Ekenbabu o Dhaka Rohosyo.

Abhijit is a guest lecturer at iLead, Kolkata, and several other institutions in the city, where he teaches filmmaking and screenwriting.

In his seven months as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, Abhijit will teach a 3-credit undergraduate course on specific aspects of Indian cinema, and also offer a writing course on episodic short-scripts. He will work with the Cinema Studies Department to add more diversity to their current course curriculum. During this time, Abhijit will direct a short film as well, using Drexel University’s production resources, which will offer experiential learning to the students on his crew.

Asha Bajpai

Asha Bajpai began her career at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, where she was one of the founding faculty members. She went on to get her MPhil and PhD in law and has been involved for over three decades in teaching, research, and training on social laws, child rights, gender laws, public health laws, clinical education, law and social work, and legislative reforms. She had also trained law enforcement and judicial officers. As a professor of law, and the founding dean of the School of Law at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, she designed unique LLM courses on access to justice for preparing community lawyers. Prof. Bajpai was the director of field action projects such as the Access to Justice Clinic, and Chunauti – for rehabilitation of children in institutions.

Prof. Bajpai has been invited as amicus curiae and expert advisor by the Mumbai and Delhi High Courts in Public Interest Litigation cases. She has also been invited as a legal expert by UNESCO and by UNODC. She was a Fulbright lecturer at the Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C., and guest lecturer at the University of Warwick, UK, and the University of Westminster, UK. She has several publications, and her book Child Rights in India: Law, Policy and Practice by Oxford University Press is now in its third edition. Her other publications include From Exploitation to Empowerment, and Adoption Law and Justice to the Child.

In her three months as Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Missouri Western State University, St Joseph, MO, Prof. Bajpai will be teaching a course on comparative child rights law, and clinical street law at the Center for Women and Children.

Vivek Singh

Dr. Vivek Singh is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He has taught several courses in English literature, language, and cultural studies at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and has taught research writing to Ph.D. scholars. He has also taught at the Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. After pursuing his M.Phil. from Pondicherry University, Puducherry, Dr. Singh joined EFL University, Hyderabad to complete his doctorate. His research interests include disability studies, cultural studies, English language teaching, and critical humanities.

Dr. Singh has delivered more than 20 invited lectures on various topics and published more than ten articles and academic papers. He has edited a book titled The Crisis of Humanity and his forthcoming books are in two languages: The Discourse of Disability: Indian Perspectives (English) and Post-truth (Hindi). For excellence in research, he received a DAAD fellowship.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Singh is teaching Hindi at Mississippi Valley State University, Mississippi. He is also studying the American social and cultural diversity and promoting Indian languages and cultures. In the classroom, he is engaging with critical pedagogy, which insists upon deliberation, critical judgment, and civic courage to celebrate pluralities as the essence of democratic thought.

Areeba Shabbir

Dr. Areeba Shabbir has worked with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, as On-Air Educator for the Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) national TV channel. She has also held positions as Guest Faculty at Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University in New Delhi, and as Assistant Professor at GLA University in Mathura.

Dr. Shabbir completed her Ph.D. in English language teaching (ELT) from the Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Her research focused on the role of technology in language learning and teaching. During her research, she volunteered for Vision Aid Incorporated USA, and developed and taught spoken English courses to visually impaired individuals. In addition to contributing research papers to journals of high impact, she also actively participated in debates, group discussions, and theatrical performances as a student.

Dr. Shabbir is a teaching assistant in Hindi and Urdu at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She aims to foster meaningful cultural exchange between both nations. She is promoting various aspects of Indian culture, including art, literature, and values by organizing and participating in cultural events at her host institution. Furthermore, Dr. Shabbir is working on collaborating with artists, cultural centers, and educational organizations in the U.S. to launch joint projects aimed at promoting the richness of Indian culture.