Archives: Meet Our India Fulbrighters

Payal Saini

Payal Saini, a NET and GATE-qualified scholar, is currently an assistant professor at Poornima University, Jaipur. She completed her master’s in English from the Central University of Gujarat in 2023. At Poornima University, she teaches literature and communication skills to undergraduate students, blending traditional and contemporary teaching methodologies. Payal is involved in curating cultural events, fostering a vibrant academic community for both faculty members and students.

Payal has actively participated in the Jaipur Literature Festival as a volunteer, where she was part of the social media team and was responsible for working on ground to capture the ambience of the festival, behind-the-scenes activities, and key sessions to generate online content for the festival. Her academic interests lie in folklore and Shekhawati literature, and she is researching the linguistic nuances and usage of the Shekhawati dialect in music. Beyond academia, she has extensive experience as a freelance content writer for various firms.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at Yale University, New Haven, CT, Payal is dedicated to promoting the Hindi language on a global scale. She seeks to employ natural language processing techniques to enhance the accessibility and understanding of Hindi texts. She is keen on developing innovative pedagogies for language teaching, intending to implement these methods in her future endeavors.

Ruchi Rana

Ruchi Rana is a PhD candidate at the Department of MIL & LS, University of Delhi, Delhi. She recently defended her doctoral thesis, which examines nature and ecological ethos in Uttarakhand’s folklife. She holds a master’s in English literature and an MPhil in comparative Indian literature from the University of Delhi. She has worked as a research coordinator for a project on Kazi Nazrul Islam jointly undertaken by the MIL Department (DU) and Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal. Her research areas include folkloristics, Himalayan culture, diasporic literature, and memory studies.

Ruchi received two academic excellence awards in BA English (Honours) from Swami Shraddhanand College (DU). She is a recipient of a research fellowship for the National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM) of Indian villages, a project under the Ministry of Culture, the Government of India.

Ruchi has presented papers at several national and international conferences, including the 134th annual meeting of the American Folklore Society (2022), the 14th conference of SIEF (2022), the annual conference of the Folklore Society of London (2022), and 10th International Conference of Young Folklorists (2021), organised by University of Tartu, Estonia. Her research on Uttarakhand’s Jagar ritual got published in the UGC Care-listed journal The Eastern Anthropologist in 2022.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Ruchi aims to fortify the bonds between India and the U.S. by promoting intercultural dialogue through Hindi language instruction. Her objectives are to broaden her teaching philosophy, develop innovative pedagogies, and foster a multicultural mindset among her students.

Aditya Raj

Aditya Raj is a passionate educator and scholar with a deep interest in languages, literature, science, technology and environmental studies. He holds a master’s degree in English, and has qualified UGC NET for university-level teaching. He was guest faculty in the Department of English at Lalit Narayan Mithila University, where he taught a diverse range of topics like Indian classical literature, Victorian literature, postmodernism and other literary theories. Beyond teaching, Aditya is engaged in doctoral research, exploring human-AI intersections, terraforming and the role of culture in science fiction. He actively contributes to the academic community by publishing research articles, contributing chapters to edited books and attending conferences.

Aditya’s passion for languages extends beyond his native Hindi; he has completed a certificate course in French as well. He has volunteered his language skills by teaching Hindi to local communities in Nepal.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Aditya is teaching Hindi at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. He seeks to empower his students by making them proficient in Hindi, while also enriching his own educational journey by understanding American culture, learning innovative teaching methods and advanced pedagogical skills. He sees this two-way exchange as an opportunity to create a vibrant learning environment and celebrate the richness of intercultural connections.

Anuja Halder

Anuja Halder works as a prompt engineer with Nvidia Corporation in Bengaluru. She deals with generative AI and works with Language Learning Materials (LLM) to train AI models to be more human-like, impersonal, and creative. She completed her master’s in English from the English and Foreign Languages University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2021. Her interest lies in teaching and training, data analytics, gender studies, and dramatics. She also holds a diploma in theatre arts and a bachelor’s degree in English. She has delivered guest lectures and served as a panelist at Amity University in Noida from 2021 to 2023.

As a resource person, Anuja has conducted extensive fieldwork with the Azim Premji Foundation in Uttarakhand. She has taught in government schools, trained Anganwadi and government primary-school teachers in remote villages, and facilitated district-level workshops on FLN for Teacher Professional Development. Her research on storytelling, gender, and climate change has been published in esteemed journals. Additionally, she is actively engaged with the United Nations as a volunteer.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Anuja is teaching Hindi at Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS. She aspires to juxtapose her language training expertise and experience to create a cultural bridge between India and the U.S. She aims to blend her professional skillset with cultural exploration, aspiring to understand and integrate into her educational practices, diverse cultural patterns through language.

Mohammad Jibraan Fazili

Dr. Mohammad Jibraan Fazili is an assistant professor of English at Malla Reddy University in Hyderabad, where he teaches English language and literature courses. He has developed curriculum material and mentored English-language learners. He also has an extensive experience as an English tutor on various online platforms, where he gave personalized training to a diverse group of students. He also conducts communication and soft skills training, personality development sessions, and prepares students for Cambridge B2 level competence and tests like IELTS, and TOEFL. His deep understanding of the nuances of language and literature underline his teaching methods.

With a focus on immigration, nativism, and modern fiction, Dr. Fazili earned his PhD in English from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 2024, where he also completed his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in English. Proficient in, Urdu, Kashmiri and English, Dr. Fazili has presented papers at notable national and international conferences and published articles in various journals.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Dr. Fazili will try to elevate cultural awareness of India’s heritage through dynamic engagement. Employing innovative and interactive approaches, he hopes to introduce Urdu language and literature to students, fostering a vibrant classroom environment. His methodological blend will enhance learning, promote multilingual competencies, and encourage exploration of diverse languages and cultures.

Vaibhavi Chaturvedi

Vaibhavi Chaturvedi is a PhD candidate in English literature at the English and Foreign Languages University, Lucknow. Her research delves into the significance of culinary narratives, exploring how they serve as vital spaces for creative expression and cultural identity for women. Through her work, she aims to highlight the intersection of food, literature, and gender, revealing how culinary storytelling can empower women and provide insight into their lived experiences and societal roles.

Vaibhavi completed her master’s degree at Jamia Millia Islamia and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Delhi. She has been awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission of India. She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences and has published papers in her field of study. With over two years of experience, she has taught English as a foreign language to young and adult learners from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. During her time as an intern with the Anubhuti Organization, she assisted in the development of a competency-based curriculum for students who had dropped out of primary schools.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Vaibhavi will be teaching Hindi and Urdu at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC. She aims to promote cross-cultural understanding by integrating a range of cultural perspectives into her teaching. She is eager to participate in the program as it will enhance her ability to be a compassionate and culturally aware scholar and educator.

Tanusree Basak

Tanusree Basak is an ESL trainer and course instructor at Amal College of Advanced Studies, University of Calicut in Kerala. She has worked in academic publishing as an assistant editor. She completed her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Bharati College, University of Delhi, and her master’s degree in English literature from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi with SVC rank 1st in the merit list. Simultaneously, she completed the three-year advanced diploma in French from the University of Delhi and continues her association with the language as a freelance French teacher. She is also a trained vocalist with specialization in Rabindrasangeet and Indian classical music. She participated in activities of the music society and the literary society, and in French plays at her university.

Tanusree has also presented papers at various national and international conferences and has published a paper in Intersections Journal. She has a few forthcoming book chapters and journal articles. She plans to pursue doctoral studies, and is broadly interested in discourses on modernism, psychoanalysis in literature, gender studies, cultural studies, and philosophy.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Tanusree is teaching Hindi at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. She envisions the classroom as a medium to articulate individual experiences and sustain dialogues across differences. This opportunity to teach and to audit courses will enable her to expand her intellectual horizons on subjects pertinent to her broader academic interests, alongside acquiring innovative pedagogical practices. In her classes, students will get to engage in multi-faceted and vibrant language lessons. As a cultural ambassador, she strives to familiarize students with her country and culture through practical and tangible activities and experiences.

Kirti Saluja

Kirti Saluja is a Ph.D. candidate at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Haryana. Her Ph.D. research focuses on investigating the interaction between the heart and the brain in aging individuals and those with epilepsy, involving the utilization of cognitive experiments, multimodal neuroimaging, and a data-driven approach. She has presented her research at various national and international conferences and workshops.

Before pursuing her Ph.D., Kirti completed her BSc in biochemistry from the University of Delhi, and MSc in neuroscience from the National Brain Research Centre. During this period, she actively participated in an innovation project led by the University of Delhi in collaboration with IGIB, focusing on utilizing zebrafish as a biosensor for assessing the water quality of the river Yamuna in the Delhi-NCT region. Additionally, she contributed as a teaching assistant at the Neuromatch Academy for their computational neuroscience course.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, Kirti will is collaborating with Dr. Mohammad Dastjerdi, aiming to elucidate the connectivity between the heart and the brain in epileptic patients using stereo encephalography (sEEG) as the neuroimaging technique. This endeavor is expected to aid in comprehending mechanisms underlying the development of cognitive and/ or cardiovascular comorbidities in epileptic patients, potentially opening avenues for utilizing cardiac signals in predicting seizure onset. Kirti enjoys hiking, trekking, creating science-related comics, and engaging with diverse individuals.

Devanshu Sajlan

Devanshu Sajlan, a judge by profession, is passionate about analyzing the interplay between law and the rights of marginalized groups in India. Officiating as a judge at Tis Hazari Courts since 2019, he has passed more than 200 judgments pertaining to diverse areas of law. His judgments dealing with contract law (non-compete clauses), defamation law, sexual crimes, and crimes against society have been reported by SCC Online, a leading law journal of India. He was also one of the first judges in New Delhi to record evidence through videoconferencing mode during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hailing from New Delhi, Devanshu studied law at National Law University, Delhi. He was awarded the Pandit Shri Girdhari Lal Salwan gold medal in 2014. After graduating, he started working at one of India’s leading corporate law firms, AZB & Partners, where he worked on multiple transactions with international institutions like the International Finance Corporation, American Tower Corporation, and Asian Development Bank. Thereafter, to pursue his passion for criminal litigation and human rights, he joined the chamber of Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Senior Advocate, and former Additional Solicitor General of India. Devanshu also joined the panel of Delhi Legal Services Authority in 2018 as an independent practitioner to help indigent litigants and undertrial prisoners.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Devanshu is studying the criminal justice courses dealing with issues of bail jurisprudence specifically faced by indigent prisoners. He feels this will enable him to find improved solutions to the plight of thousands of disenfranchised under-trial prisoners in India.

Amrutha Sai Anju Kosuru

Amrutha Kosuru is an independent journalist from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, presently stationed in Hyderabad, Telangana. In 2022, she worked as a fellow at the People’s Archive of Rural India, where she delved into multifaceted subjects such as agriculture, art and crafts, climate change, food, public policy, and gender through her insightful reporting in the rural regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Recognized for her exceptional work, Amrutha was honored with a Jury Appreciation Citation at the Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity in 2023. She received this recognition for her compelling article on the lives of widows of manual scavenging workers and the challenges they face. Specializing in rural and literary reportage, Amrutha is a firm believer in the transformative power of compelling storytelling.

Amrutha has more than three years of experience in ground reporting and editing for both print and digital media. She has previously worked with and written for The Hindu, The New Indian Express, and NewsMeter. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in journalism from the Asian College of Journalism.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Amrutha is working on her journalistic skills which will allow her to expand the scope of her reportage in India, and help her delve deeper into narrative journalism, serving as a powerful tool to address integral issues plaguing India.