Archives: Meet Our India Fulbrighters

Amit Kumar

Dr. Amit Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Geoinformatics at the Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi. He earned his Ph.D. in remote sensing technology from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. His research focuses on urban ecology and sustainability, and anthropogenic and climate change impacts on urban and forest ecosystems. Some of his current projects include DBT-Mapping and quantitative assessment of plant resources in Central India; R&D projects sponsored by Space Application Centre (ISRO) under AVIRIS-NG; L&S band SAR-NISAR; GISAT missions; a project sponsored by Columbia University; and IISc, Bengaluru coordinated Long-term Ecological Observatories program of forest dynamics and soil processes developed under the Climate Change Action Plan of MoEFCC at pan India scale. Dr. Kumar is also a member of the IUCN-Commission on Ecosystem Management, South Asia and Global Forests Biodiversity Initiatives, USA, as well as a recipient of Fellow and Young Scientist awards of SSCE, New Delhi, SERB-ITSS, Government of India among others. He has published more than 100 research articles in different journals and books of international repute, including Nature Ecology and Evolution, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Science of The Total Environment, and CITIES.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Kumar is building an improved global forest above-ground biomass map in the Anthropocene using large-scale forest inventory data, high-resolution satellite observations, and machine learning techniques at Purdue University. His research will help in developing strategies to accomplish SDGs 13 and 15, which aim at sustainable forest management, by providing insights into the global carbon budget within diverse forest ecosystems.

Prabakar Krishna Murthy

Dr. Prabakar Krishna Murthy is a scientist at Materials Science Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam. He obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Osmania University, Hyderabad in the year 2007 and joined IGCAR in the same year through the prestigious Dr. K. S. Krishnan Research Associate scheme.

His current research interests include microfabrication, microcantilever-based sensors, and semiconductor neutron detectors. He has extensively worked on the design, fabrication, and characterization of surface-enhanced SiO2 microcantilevers for ultrafast and ultrasensitive relative humidity (RH) sensing applications. Using this sensor, his group could demonstrate real-time monitoring of RH variation during human breath cycles. Dr. Krishna Murthy has also studied the photo-induced deflection in Au/Si microcantilevers for ultrasensitive temperature sensing applications and capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducers for NDE applications. He has published 38 research articles in national and international journals. He is also Assistant Professor in physics at Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai and has guided two Ph.D. students and several graduate/postgraduate students.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Krishna Murthy is developing a standoff (remote), ultrasensitive and extremely selective detection method for lung cancer by sensing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released in the human exhaled breath using photothermal cantilever deflection spectroscopy.

Tushar Kanti Dutta

Dr. Tushar Kanti Dutta is working as Senior Scientist at the Division of Nematology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Uttarbanga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (UBKVV), Cooch Behar, West Bengal. He obtained his master’s (2005-2007) and doctoral (2007-2010) degrees from IARI. During his doctoral program, he visited Rothamsted Research, UK for 10 months under the aegis of UKIERI fellowship funded by the British Council. He has been a regular faculty member at IARI since the last 12 years. His research interests include investigating the molecular basis of plant-nematode interaction using RNA interference and CRISPR-Cas9 strategies. Additionally, he has characterized a number of novel bacterial toxins from insect-parasitizing bacteria that symbiotically associate with nematodes.

He has been conferred with Associateship from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and has received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award (ICAR) in addition to several other young scientist awards from different academic societies.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Dutta aims to exploit a multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 toolkit, targeting multiple susceptibility or S genes, to confer root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) resistance in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato via loss of host compatibility. Knowledge gained about the function of S genes in nematode-infected plants can be translated into future research endeavors on other plant-pathogen interaction models.

Upendra Harbola

Dr. Upendra Harbola is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He received his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He was a Marie-Curie Senior Fellow at the University of Freiburg, Germany. His research interests are aimed at formulating theoretical models to study transport processes in molecular junctions, photoionisation dynamics in molecules and quantum effects in supercooled liquids. He has authored more than 60 publications in internationally reputed journals.

Dr. Harbola’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence project focuses on understanding how and in what ways a quantum source of light can be used to control transport in molecular junctions. Quantum light consists of photons that are entangled with one another and has been used to explore non-classical responses from molecules at equilibrium. Interaction of quantum light with molecular junctions, which operate in out-of-equilibrium conditions, pose interesting challenges that are explored in this study.

Kashif Hanif

Dr. Kashif Hanif is a Principal Scientist in the Department of Pharmacology at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He received his postgraduate degree (1998-2000) from Jamia Hamdard and completed his Ph.D. (2001-2006) from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi. He has been a faculty member at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute since 2006. His primary research interest revolves around the patho-physiology of Pulmonary Hypertension (PH), which is quite common at high altitude and in lung disorders, especially in women. He developed the rodent model of PH and standardized techniques to study right ventricular pressure and pulmonary vasorelaxation. Over the past decade, he has explored the role of Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1, Fatty Acid Synthase, Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase -2 (MK2) and estrogen receptors in PH.

Dr. Hanif was awarded the Dr. DN Prasad Memorial Oration Award, Indian Council of Medical Research in 2019 and Prof. Suresh C Tyagi Award, Indian Academy of Cardiovascular Research in 2017 for his work in PH. He has received six competitive research grants from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Hanif aims to understand right ventricle hypertrophy, a common problem of PH in lung diseases in women. Therefore, he is developing a rodent model of right ventricle hypertrophy by pulmonary artery banding (PAB). He is further exploring the role of estrogen receptors in right ventricle hypertrophy by using Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). This approach will help to clinically repurpose SERMs for cardio-pulmonary complications in women.

Srubabati Goswami

Prof. Srubabati Goswami, Senior Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory, Gujarat, is an internationally acclaimed neutrino physicist and is recognized as a world expert in her field of research. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta in 1998. She has received several awards, including the Humboldt fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the J.C. Bose National fellowship of Departmental Science and Technology, India among others. She is an elected fellow of all the three science academies in India as well as The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

The Standard Model (SM) is exceptionally successful in describing the properties of the fundamental particles. However, Prof. Goswami is currently interested in pursuing theoretical motivations and experimental observations that tread beyond the SM. Among these, neutrino oscillations, observed in terrestrial experiments, which requires neutrinos to be massive and mix amongst different flavors, provided compelling evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Apart from oscillations, there can be several other signatures of BSM physics, including non-standard interactions, existence of extra neutrino species, and decay of neutrinos. The signatures of dark matter can also be looked into in various neutrino experiments.

During her tenure as a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence scholar, Prof. Goswami is working on exploring BSM physics in neutrino experiments, specifically in the context of a liquid Argon detector, as in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The novelty of the project is to consider both the beam and the atmospheric neutrinos, and to investigate the synergy between these in enhancing the sensitivity of the experiment.

Parikshit Gogoi

Dr. Parikshit Gogoi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nowgong College (Autonomous), Nagaon, Assam. He obtained his M.Sc. in chemistry from Cotton University, Guwahati in 2001, M.Tech. in petroleum refining and petrochemicals from Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh in 2003, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat in 2010. Before joining Nowgong College, he worked in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati as technical staff. His current research interests are biomass-based chemicals, fuels and materials, natural products chemistry, and nanomaterials synthesis for catalytic applications.

He received the INSA Summer Research Fellowship for Teachers in 2014 from the Indian National Academy of Science, Bengaluru, and worked at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad. In 2016, he was awarded the Raman Fellowship for Post Doctoral Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, by the University Grants Commission, and he contributed significantly to biomass conversion research. In 2021, he was awarded the Dulal Chandra Goswami Memorial Research Award by Nowgong College (Autonomous).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Gogoi aims for the catalytic conversion of biomass/lignin bio-oils to aromatics and fuel range hydrocarbons using polyoxometallate catalysts. For upgrading bio-oil to high-valued hydrocarbon fuel or chemicals, catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), an energy-intensive process that requires high temperature and hydrogen gas pressure, is essential. Dr. Gogoi is working on developing catalyst systems to achieve HDO at low temperatures and moderate hydrogen pressure. This process will bring a new understanding of effective utilization of lignin in a biorefinery, benefitting its economy.

Shabana Bano

Dr. Shabana Bano is Associate Professor of Psychology at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, where she also received her Ph.D. She is the recipient of a National Scholarship awarded by the Government of India, a Shastri-Indo Canadian Faculty Mobility Fellowship, and a Witkin-Okonji Award. Her research investigates social identity, acculturation, mutual attitudes, psycho-social adaptation and intercultural relations among Indian Hindus and Muslims, with a special focus on how traditional Sanskrit and Quranic schools influence the psychosocial development of children and adolescents. Her work includes cross-cultural projects based in Canada, Switzerland and the USA, and she served as Visiting Fellow at the University of Guelph, Canada and Visiting Scholar at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. She is widely published nationally and internationally. Most recently, she co-edited the volume Understanding Psychology in the Context of Relationship, Community, Workplace and Culture (Springer, 2021).

Dr. Bano’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence project investigates the possibility that school attainment has consequences for the socialization of Muslim women’s identity and their psychosocial adaptation. Her project does a comparative study of religious Muslim schools and secular schools in the United States and in India. This project will help promote the development of gender equality attitudes and positive gender identity among young women through school attainment, whether religious or secular.

Shrikant R. Bharadwaj

Dr. Shrikant Bharadwaj trained as a vision scientist at the School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, and the Indiana University School of Optometry. As a DBT Ramalingaswami fellow in 2009, he established the Visual Optics and Psychophysics Laboratory at the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) with the agenda to understand how the optics of the eye influences human visual perception. Dr. Bharadwaj uses a combination of experimental, behavioral, and computational techniques to address this research agenda.

Dr. Bharadwaj actively publishes his research work in international vision science journals, and serves on the editorial board of Nature’s Scientific Reports, Optometry and Vision Science, PLOS One (Public Library of Science) and the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. He also served as a committee member on the WHO development group for refractive error interventions and was awarded the Jaggi Optometrist of the year award in 2021 by the Optometry Council of India.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Bharadwaj is working to understand visual perception in patients with an eye disease called Keratoconus. This disease distorts the eye’s cornea, causing profound loss of vision and quality of life in the patients. Through his research, Dr. Bharadwaj aspires to develop a comprehensive psychophysical assessment of visual functions in this disease, to dissect the roles of optics and neurology in vision loss using adaptive optics, and to optimize patient’s vision through personalized contact lens designs and perceptual vision training.

Malvika Maheshwari

Dr. Malvika Maheshwari is Associate Professor of Political Science at Ashoka University. She holds degrees in the discipline from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and she completed her doctorate from Sciences Po, Paris, in 2011. Prior to joining Ashoka, she taught South Asian politics at Sciences Po, Paris and Le Havre, and was a research associate at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Dr. Maheshwari’s research lies at the intersection of political thought and art practice, especially as it relates to phenomena like violence, power, democracy, and state capacity. Her first book, Art Attacks: Violence and Offence-taking India, was published in 2019 (Oxford University Press) and her research articles have been published in reputed journals, such as India Review, Raisons Politiques, Studies in Indian Politics, Economic and Political Weekly and The Arts Politic. She is a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust (University of Cambridge) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund fellowships, among others.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence schloar, Dr. Maheshwari would be working on her second book project on the ‘National Akademies of Art and the Politics of Administering Aesthetics in Postcolonial India.’ In this project, she seeks to understand the political and intellectual origins, and the trajectory of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) for dance, music and theatre, Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) for fine arts, and Sahitya Akademi (SA) for literature, established in mid-1950s. The research focuses on the institution’s history, its core principles, and internal contestations, and how its language, functioning and the ideological discourse supported interests of various state and central government policies, as much as shaping the complexities of the art world, and through it, ideas of citizenship and the public. Following a basic question–what did the Indian statesmen, particularly during the early years of India’s independence, want to do with the arts? –this work explores a critical sphere of state activity where art and politics coexist, compete but also in the process constitute one another, that is, in its role as an allocator: of resources, awards, buildings, legitimacy, among other things.