Archives: Meet Our India Fulbrighters

Salvador Lyngdoh

Dr. Salvador Lyngdoh, Scientist E and Associate Professor, is a wildlife biologist specializing in carnivore ecology, movement ecology, habitat conservation, and human-wildlife interactions. With extensive research experience in the Indian Himalayas and other biodiverse regions, he has contributed significantly to understanding lesser-known species such as Himalayan wolves, dholes, snow leopards, pangolins and clouded leopards. He is a member of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) specialists’ groups on cats, canids, pangolins and small carnivores.

During his Fulbright-Kalam Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence, Dr. Lyngdoh is studying the dynamics of wolf predation, prey behavior and habitat change in the context of climate change. Grey wolves play essential roles in most of their ranges by exercising top-down cascade effects on ecosystems. The proposed study aims to understand how climate change (past, present, and future) can affect predation by wolves (consumptive effects). It also aims to examine, if otherwise, climate-driven manifestations (environmental stressors) of non-consumptive nature can influence predation behavior (bottom-up cascades).

Anuradha Marwah

Anuradha Marwah, novelist, playwright, and professor of English at Zakir Husain Delhi College, Delhi, is known for her insightful exploration of contemporary issues, storytelling, and building enduring characters in the world of literature.

Her latest novel, Aunties of Vasant Kunj (2024) was shortlisted for the Ruskin Bond Best Fiction Award at the Banaras Lit Fest and long listed for the Times of India Best Fiction AutHer Award 2025. Her play Ismat’s Love Stories (2016) continues to be performed and had six housefull shows in Bengaluru last year. Her Hindustani adaptation of Euripedes’ Medea (2019), that she also directed, had fifteen shows and featured in India’s first community-curated theatre festival at Studio Safdar, New Delhi.

Anuradha’s work is taught in academic courses across American and Indian universities and schools. Her short story Womanscape in Tis Hazari is included in the Indian School Certificate textbook Treasure Chest. An excerpt from her novel The Higher Education of Geetika Mehendiratta (1993, 2025) is part of Voices: An Anthology of Indian Women Writers, prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training.

Anuradha was awarded the prestigious Charles Wallace Writer’s Residency (2001) in the UK and the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence (FNAPE) Fellowship to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (2017), where she served as Visiting Faculty at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Study of Global Change.

In Hollins University as Fall 2025 Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence she will teach a special interest course on her adaptation of Medea and engage the broader Roanoke community in a reading-performance project.

Gunanka Dundanayakanahally Basavaraju

Mr. Gunanka D. B., an Indian Forest Service officer, has served as Additional Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, with over 16 years of experience in technology and public administration. He has led state-wide programs in natural resource management, climate resilience, and digital governance.

Gunanka spearheaded the World Bank-financed Community-Led Landscape Management Project, which pioneered the Village Community Facilitator model, training more than 14,000 local champions in community-led natural resource management, spring mapping, bamboo resource assessments, and seedball-based afforestation. He led the launch of GREEN Meghalaya, India’s first state-scale Payment for Ecosystem Services program, empowering communities to conserve over 1,000 sq. kms of forest. He championed the conservation of over 150 living root bridges through cooperative federations and community co-nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status. Under the JICA-financed MegLIFE program, he strengthened community-based forest management, cooperative livelihood models, and climate-resilient bamboo value chains.

Gunanka advanced geospatial governance by promoting the State Geo Portal and UAV Centre, expanded open data policies, and developed agile management information systems with real-time monitoring tools. He played a key role in integrating service delivery, grievance redress, and community data collection through the MeghalayaOne digital governance platform.

An electronics and communications engineer from R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru, Gunanka is pursuing the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship to deepen his expertise in sustainable development, institutional reform, and technology-enabled governance. He aims to leverage this training to design scalable, community-driven governance systems that enhance climate resilience, inclusive growth, and data-driven policymaking in India’s public administration.

Shreyashi Ray

Ms. Shreyashi Ray is a lawyer and policy professional with experience in health, disability, and queer rights. As part of her work at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Delhi between 2021 and 2025, she has advised union and state governments on legal frameworks for public health emergencies, disability inclusion, and the right to health in India. She has also worked with CSOs and the medical community to recommend policies prioritizing ethical end-of-life care and queer-affirmative healthcare.

Prior to this, she worked with the District Administration of Ranchi from 2018 to 2020 to implement critical health initiatives in under-served areas. During the COVID-19 epidemic, she devised the district’s health and welfare plan with the district machinery and civil society, and established helplines for mental health, domestic violence, and migrant support.

Shreyashi graduated from The WB National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata with a BA, LLB (Hons.) degree in 2016, after which she worked at the National Law University, Delhi till 2018 on the first comprehensive open science report in India.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Shreyashi is studying public health with a focus on health policy and aims to implement rights-based health policies in India that build a culture incentivizing inclusion and sharing of relevant, authentic data. Through this, she hopes to make the public health system in India more transparent, collaborative, inclusive of marginalized communities, and responsive to social needs.

Sujatra Bhattacharyya

Mr Sujatra Bhattacharyya is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He has a keen interest in understanding the physics behind the large-scale dynamic and thermodynamic processes associated with tropical systems, such as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and monsoons. Currently, he is conducting research on South Asian monsoons.

Sujatra’s research aims to identify and understand the mechanisms behind the dominant modes of the seasonal rainfall cycle over India. Simultaneously, he is examining the zonal and meridional shifts of precipitation bands during the boreal summer in the South Asian region using an energetics approach.

As a Fulbright-Kalam fellow, Sujatra is investigating the roles of MJO (Madden-Julian Oscillation) and ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) in Indian monsoons after the onset phase is established. He is also comparing the influences of various Intraseasonal Oscillations (ISO) on the development of the spatio-temporal moisture field over India.

Sujatra earned his Bachelor of Science (BSc Hons.) in Physics from the University of Delhi and MSc Tech) in Geophysics with a specialization in meteorology from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) since August 2022. He also teaches various Mathematics and Physics courses on national platforms such as NPTEL and Andhra University as part of the PMRF program. He has presented his work at several international and national conferences. He enjoys teaching, table tennis and travelling.

Shailina Srivastava

Ms. Shailina Srivastava is a PhD scholar in the Aerosol Group of the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. Under the mentorship of Prof. Sachin S. Gunthe, her research focuses on the intricate interactions between aerosols from diverse regions across the Indian subcontinent, water vapor, and UV radiation under subsaturated conditions. She has conducted extensive measurement campaigns, ranging from southern India to the Himalayan region, collecting ambient aerosol samples to investigate how variations in aerosol properties influence cloud formation, precipitation processes, and the atmospheric evolution of these particles.

Shailina holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences (Environmental Technology) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and a bachelor’s degree in Botany and Industrial Microbiology from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The unique climatic conditions of India inspired her to delve into this critical area of research, contributing to a better understanding of the nation’s climate dynamics. Beyond her academic pursuits, she enjoys reading and traveling.

As a Fulbright-Kalam Fellow, Shailina is conducting experimental work at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, under the supervision of Dr. Pengfei Liu. Her experiments focus on generating atmospherically relevant organic aerosols from various precursors and examining their interactions with water vapor and UV radiation. She employs advanced techniques and instruments, including the quartz crystal microbalance, to gain deeper insights into these processes.

Rinu Fathima

Ms. Rinu Fathima is a PhD candidate at the CSIR National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India. After finishing her master’s in Applied Geology from Pondicherry University, her passion for marine sciences took her to the National Institute of Oceanography in Panaji, Goa. Her research focuses on understanding past monsoon variability using marine microfossils known as foraminifera. She uses their assemblage and shell geochemistry to understand past climate. She studies the ecology of foraminifera in surface samples and further calibrates the proxies before using them in paleoclimate studies.

Rinu has published her work in multiple research journals and presented it at several national and international conferences. She was one of the two recipients of the American Geophysical Union-Berkner travel grant in 2024. During her master’s, she also received the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology-sponsored summer trainee grant, which helped her study tree rings to decode past climate. She has also participated in ocean expeditions onboard the research vessel Sindhu Sankalp.

At Rutgers during her fellowship, Rinu is using trace element geochemistry of the core top samples from the Andaman basin as a proxy calibration and will use this to understand past monsoon variability in a sediment core. Rinu is an avid consumer of fiction, cinema, and books. You can also find her watching sunsets or hiking during her free time. From one coastal city to the next, Rinu is looking forward to exploring the beaches of New Jersey during her time at Rutgers.

Ayan Sarkar

Mr. Ayan Sarkar is a PhD candidate at the Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He completed BSc in Agricultural Sciences from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (BCKV), West Bengal, in 2020, and MSc in Agronomy from ICAR-IARI in 2022. During MSc, he worked on evaluating new-generation fertilizers such as nano-urea and herbicide mixture-based weed management in wheat, publishing his findings in reputed journals. He has also co-authored a number of publications and presented papers at various national and international conferences.

As a Fulbright-Kalam Doctoral Research Fellow, Ayan is working on knowledge-guided machine learning, i.e., coupling machine learning with crop simulation models to identify low-emission and sustainable production pathways in rice-based systems. This innovative approach aims to optimize yield-emission trade-offs and develop climate-resilient agricultural strategies, particularly for small and marginal farmers.

Beyond academics, Ayan is passionate about cricket, badminton, fine arts, and cooking. He donates blood and promotes blood donation awareness. Through his research, he aspires to empower farmers with practical, climate-proofing solutions, contributing to a future where agriculture balances profitability and environmental sustainability.

Shamini Warda

Dr. Shamini Warda holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. She earned a master’s degree in Cognitive Sciences from the Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Following PhD, she served as an Institute of Eminence Postdoctoral Fellow affiliated with the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay. She has also been an Academic Research Visitor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Dr. Warda’s research interests lie at the intersection of cognition and action, with particular emphasis on human timing and time perception. Her PhD work investigated how various predictive processes influence the human perception of time. During her postdoctoral tenure at IIT Bombay, she integrated her knowledge of experimental psychology with motor control research and addressed questions pertaining to how timing affects whole-body movement and, conversely, how movement can influence temporal judgments. She has published articles in reputed international journals. She is a recipient of the Kuppuraj-Bishop study visit award from the Experimental Psychology Society.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Prof. Richard Ivry, Dr. Warda is seeking to advance the understanding of attentional influences on the internal clock model, examining how distinct sub-processes of attention modulate parameters of the internal clock and is investigating contributions of sub-cortical structures, particularly the cerebellum and basal ganglia.

Potlannagari Roopa Sowjanya

Dr. Roopa Sowjanya is currently working as a Scientist (Senior Scale) in Genetics and Plant Breeding at ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Solapur, Maharashtra, India. She earned her BSc in 2012 from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka and completed her MSc in 2014 from College of Agriculture, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka. In August 2020, she was awarded a PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding from University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru with a dissertation on the genetics of grain crude protein, yield and related traits in maize.

Dr. Roopa Sowjanya’s research interests lie in pomegranate genomics and molecular breeding, with key accomplishments including completion of a reference-quality genome assembly of cultivar Bhagwa, comparative chloroplast genome sequencing and transcriptome profiling of pomegranate. She has been honored with the Young Scientist Award by BRNS, DAE, GOI (2022) and Society for Advancement of Research on Pomegranate (2021) for her outstanding research contributions. She was also awarded the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship by the UGC in 2014.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at West Virginia State University, Dr. Roopa Sowjanya is focusing on pan-genome analysis, a transformative framework that over the past decade has redefined how intraspecific genomic diversity is captured in crop species, thereby enabling precision breeding. She is building a pomegranate pan-genome to identify alleles for key traits for fruit quality, and biotic and abiotic stress via comparative genomics.