Archives: Meet Our India Fulbrighters

Rekha Biswal

Dr. Rekha Biswal is Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar. Her research focuses on representation theory, algebraic combinatorics, and Lie theory, with particular emphasis on Kac-Moody algebras, crystal bases, and quantum groups. Her work explores the combinatorial and algebraic structures underlying representations of infinite-dimensional Lie algebras, tensor product decompositions, and symmetric functions. Through the development of new crystal-theoretic and combinatorial techniques, she has contributed to several fundamental problems in representation theory and its connections with algebraic combinatorics.

Dr. Biswal received her integrated PhD in Mathematics from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. She subsequently held postdoctoral positions at Université Laval, the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, and the University of Edinburgh before joining NISER in 2022. She has also served as Visiting Professor and Foreign Researcher at the Institut Camille Jordan, University of Jean Monnet, France. Her achievements have been recognized through several awards and fellowships, including the Odisha Young Scientist Award.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Biswal is focusing on the Schur positivity conjecture, a long-standing open problem in algebraic combinatorics. In collaboration with Professor Pavlo Pylyavskyy at the University of Minnesota, she will develop new combinatorial and crystal-theoretic methods to study tensor product multiplicities and advance understanding of symmetric functions and representation theory.

Nagarajan Ganapathy

Dr. Nagarajan Ganapathy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), India, where he heads the Medical Informatics and Digital Health Laboratory. He earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2019 at IIT Madras, India, and was a DAAD fellow at TU Braunschweig, Germany, followed by postdoctoral training at the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics (PLRI), TU Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School, Germany. He continues to serve as a Visiting Scientist at PLRI. His research expertise spans affective computing, artificial intelligence, multimodal analysis, wearables and IoMTs, mental well-being, behavioural informatics, unobtrusive sensing, and edge analytics — with a focus on intelligent, non-invasive systems for continuous mental health monitoring and emotion recognition. He is a recipient of the DAAD Research Fellowship and DAAD Research Ambassador Award and serves as Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Ganapathy is collaborating with Professor Rosalind Picard at the MIT Media Lab. He is combining his expertise in multimodal physiological AI with Professor Picard’s pioneering work in affective computing and mental health sensing to develop transformative non-invasive mental health monitoring systems and strengthen the India-United States research partnership.

Lakshmi Priya Daniel

Dr. Lakshmi Priya Daniel joined the Department of Fine Arts, Stella Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India in 1996 and has served as Director of SMCHRD, IQAC Coordinator, and Dean of Student Affairs. She earned her PhD in 2013 from the University of Madras with a focus on gender and Indian art. A 2018-2019 UBCHEA Fellow, she completed the ‘Leadership Development Program’ at Harvard Graduate School of Education and worked at the University of Melbourne. She is a recognized PhD guide of the University of Madras, has won best presentation awards, published widely, and served as guest faculty at institutions such as NIFT, IIT-Madras, and the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. Also, a practicing artist and curator, she has exhibited in group shows, including the 2021 USIEF–Ojas Art Gallery international exhibition ‘Reciprocation: American Fulbright Artists & India Connections’ in New Delhi.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Daniel is teaching and engaging students, artists, and educators in building cross-cultural connections on and off campus. Her teaching centers on research-based art practice, guiding students to create meaningful, informed eco-artworks. She will also devote her time to archival work, interviews, and surveys on ephemeral art by Black and women artists. Her research explores unseen artisanal practices, dying crafts, and sustainable materials, fostering dialogue on cultural preservation and ecological approaches to contemporary art-making.

Vamsee Krishna Voora

Dr. Vamsee Krishna Voora is an Associate Professor at Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Before beginning his independent career, he did his PhD from University of Pittsburgh followed by a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Voora’s doctoral work led to the identification of new electronic states of negatively charged molecular systems, which are known as nonvalence correlation-bound states. His current research interests include developing efficient computational tools and theoretical models for understanding core-level spectroscopy, weak intermolecular interactions and surface chemistry. The methods developed by his group have become a part of widely used quantum chemistry software suites.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Voora will develop computational frameworks to provide femtosecond-scale electronic structure information of active sites, in chemical reactions, under realistic reaction conditions. This framework will offer dynamic insights into reaction mechanisms, complementing experimental operando studies and enhancing the interpretation of industrial important catalytic reactions.

Swapnil Anna Shewale

Dr. Swapnil Anna Shewale is an Assistant Professor of zoology at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Hazarimal Somani College, Mumbai. He completed his postgraduate studies in the Department of Zoology at Savitribai Phule Pune University and earned his doctoral degree from the University of Mumbai, specializing in anuran neuroendocrinology. He continues his active research association with Savitribai Phule Pune University under the guidance of Prof. Shobha Bhargava.

Dr. Shewale’s research primarily focuses on unraveling the neuroendocrine mechanisms that govern physiological adaptation and behavioral plasticity in anuran systems, with particular emphasis on the role of neuropeptides and signaling pathways under diverse environmental stressors and changing ecological conditions. His research contributions have been published in international journals such as General and Comparative Endocrinology, Neuropeptides, Neuroscience Letters, and Conservation Physiology. He has presented his research at several prestigious national and international scientific forums, including the World Congress of Herpetology (WCH10, Malaysia) and the Conference on Comparative Endocrinology (CECE 2022, Faro, Portugal). He is a recipient of the prestigious European Society for Comparative Endocrinology Fellowship and the SERB-ITS Award from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Shewale is investigating the neurobiological basis of male parental care and coloration in the recently diverged common and white ecotypes of the three-spined stickleback. The study seeks to elucidate how shared neuroendocrine circuits shape behavioral evolution, thereby providing broader insights into the mechanisms driving phenotypic diversity, adaptation, and early ecological divergence.

Sushree Sangita Mohanty

Dr. Sushree Sangita Mohanty is an applied anthropologist, educator, and researcher with over twelve years of experience in indigenous education, linguistic sustainability, and the integration of emerging technologies for social impact. She holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Hyderabad. She previously served as Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Co-Director of Project K-MUSE, and Head of the Centre for Indigenous Languages & Narratives at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) University, Bhubaneswar. Dr. Mohanty is currently an independent researcher and consultant with International Institute for the Inclusive Museum.

Dr. Mohanty led the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize-winning Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education program at KISS, benefiting over 40,000 indigenous children across Odisha. Her work spans multilingual curriculum development, AI- and NLP-enabled tools, and STEM education in indigenous languages to support language revitalization. She is the editor of Applying AI-Based Tools and Technologies Towards Revitalization of Indigenous and Endangered Languages (Springer, 2024) and an editorial board member of The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum. She was recognized with the Emerging Scholar Award by the Common Ground Research Network, USA, and the Emerging Anthropologist Award at the World Anthropology Congress, 2023.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar at the CyberSocial Learning Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Mohanty is developing culturally responsive, AI-supported educational prototypes that embed indigenous languages into mother-tongue-based multilingual learning environments, drawing on comparative insights from indigenous education contexts in both India and the United States.

Shiladri Chakraborty

Dr. Shiladri Chakraborty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay. His primary area of expertise is power electronics, which is a field of technology that uses electronic (semiconductor-based) switches for the efficient conversion and control of electrical power in applications such as renewable energy systems, transportation electrification, and data centers.

Dr. Chakraborty’s prior research experience in power electronics packaging includes a highly cited journal paper (Y. Park et al., 2022, IEEE TTE) that received the First Prize Paper Award. He currently leads an India-wide faculty team under the Indian Design, Semiconductor, Packaging, Systems program associated with India’s Semiconductor Mission, which is focused on integrated power electronics. He also serves as Principal Investigator for two ANRF MAHA-EV funded SiC power packaging projects, one on heterogeneously integrated multichip 2D power modules and another on PCB embedded half-bridge.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Chakraborty is pursuing a transformative approach to the design of advanced power semiconductor packages for next-generation electric vehicle power electronics. The project aims to develop SiC multi-chip power modules with reduced parasitic inductances and capacitances, double-sided cooling and sintering, wire-bondless interconnections, and high-temperature substrates. Following design and simulations at IIT Bombay, the visit to National Lab of the Rockies will be leveraged for fabrication and testing. The work is expected to strengthen domestic capabilities in advanced power packaging, foster global innovations in that field and aid the development of compact, efficient converters for a sustainable future.

Saurabh Singh

Dr. Saurabh Singh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at IIT Kanpur. He completed his PhD at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research under the supervision of Prof. A. Sankaranarayanan, where he worked on problems related to the Riesz mean of certain arithmetical functions. Following his PhD, he held postdoctoral positions at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, under Prof. Ritabrata Munshi, where he worked on delta methods and sub convexity problems, and at Ulm University under Prof. Dr. Helmut Maier, where his research focused on the average behavior of arithmetical functions.

At IIT Kanpur, Dr. Singh works with his students on applications of the circle method and moment problems for L-functions.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Singh is working on problems related to establishing sub-Weyl bounds, counting special points on quadratic surfaces, and breaking the Rankin-Selberg barrier for general GL(2) × GL(2) L-functions.

Ritu Gupta

Dr. Ritu Gupta leads the Unit of Laboratory Oncology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). A clinician-scientist and hematopathologist, she is engaged in translational research and has contributed to the development of ethnicity-specific, AI-enabled risk stratification models for patients with multiple myeloma, thereby refining cancer staging and prognostication across resource-diverse healthcare settings.

Dr. Gupta established India’s first fully robotic clinical laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), in addition to founding a Unit of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma Research and a Centre for Advanced Research in Acute Myeloid Leukemia at AIIMS. She has also played an important role in drafting national guidelines in laboratory diagnostics.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Dr. Gupta is expanding her research on next-generation strategies for monitoring therapeutic responses in the evolving era of cellular cancer therapeutics. Her current work is directed toward the creation of patient-centric diagnostic workflows that intelligently integrate therapeutic modality, clinically actionable turnaround times, and infrastructure considerations to facilitate timely and individualized intervention.

In addition, Dr. Gupta is engaging with students, scholars, and investigators, sharing her perspective on the integration of clinical, patient-specific, and tumor-biological variables with artificial intelligence to develop robust, evidence-based, and future-ready paradigms in cancer diagnostics.

Priyanka Siwach

Prof. Priyanka Siwach is Professor of biotechnology at Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, Haryana. With over 24 years of academic and research experience, her work focuses on plant biotechnology, molecular plant virology, functional genomics, and sustainable strategies for crop protection, particularly against cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD), a profound threat to cotton cultivation in the Indian subcontinent.

Prof. Siwach has published over 80 research and review papers in international journals and has co-authored and edited several books with Springer and Taylor & Francis. Her research contributions include the co-development of a genome annotation algorithm published in Nucleic Acids Research, development of RNAi-based antiviral strategies, and genomic and transcriptomic studies on CLCuV and its interactions with host plants and insect vectors. She also holds an Indian patent in biotechnology.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Prof. Siwach is aiming to develop RNAi-based approaches to disrupt whitefly-mediated virus transmission using a surrogate whitefly-squash leaf curl virus model in the United States. Her project combines transcriptomics, gene silencing, and functional validation to explore environmentally sustainable alternatives to pesticide-based management of viral crop diseases.

Beyond research, Prof. Siwach mentors’ young researchers and promotes student well-being through workshops on life skills, mindfulness, and emotional resilience. She aims to strengthen interdisciplinary and international collaborations in biotechnology while advancing sustainable agricultural solutions for farmers in India and beyond.