Other Fulbright Grants India: Fulbright-Kalam Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research

Sonam Sonam

Dr. Sonam obtained her doctorate in earth sciences from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar in 2019, and her B.Sc.(H) and M.Sc. in geology from Hansraj College, the University of Delhi in 2011 and 2013 respectively. Her specializations are in the field of fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, and geospatial science.

Dr. Sonam was awarded the CSIR-Research Associate grant in the year 2021 and is currently a CSIR-Research Associate at IIT, Gandhinagar. She is also recipient of the CSIR-UGC JRF fellowship in the field of earth, atmospheric, ocean and planetary Sciences 2013-2018, and the DST-SERB International Travel grant to present her work at the European Geosciences Union (EGU), 2018. After her Ph.D., she worked as a post-doctoral Research Associate on the arid zone rivers and biodiversity, as a part of the Gujarat state climate change project under the National Mission for Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change, DST, Government of India.

Dr. Sonam’s Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellowship for Postdoctoral Research project is regarding environmental flow modelling for sustainable management of river systems. To understand the gravity of the crisis associated with degraded river health and to ensure sustainable development for all stakeholders, a combined socio-hydro-geomorphic approach, including indigenous knowledge and geospatial techniques, is needed. However, this integrated strategy lacks well-defined methodology. Dr. Sonam is using geospatial tools and integrating them with indigenous knowledge to model environmental flow needed to ensure a healthy functioning river: geospatial techniques are used to analyze river morphological susceptibility to exogenous forcing and indigenous knowledge is used to explain a river’s flow requirements at local scales.

Aashna Sharma

Dr. Aashna Sharma is Senior Project Associate at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. She completed her B.Sc. (Hons) in 2011 and M.Sc. (Hons.) in 2013 in zoology from Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh. She has a Ph.D. from the Department of Zoology, PU and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), under joint supervision of Dr. Y.K. Rawal and Dr J.A. Johnson. Her doctoral research focused on assessing the climate change and invasion impacts on native Himalayan fishes, and on developing state-of-the-art models for their conservation.

Dr. Sharma has worked in various capacities at WII, contributing to the assessment of climate change impacts on various taxa of lotic ecosystems. She qualified the UGC-NET and GATE exams, apart from receiving several honors and awards, including the Best Popular Science Story award under the DST-Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR) and best oral presentation awards at various research seminars. She has served as an invited speaker for various national and international seminars. Dr. Sharma is also Review Editor of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Large-bodied freshwater fauna or megafauna are witnessing extensive declines in the Anthropocene, and climate change is expected to exacerbate the situation owing to their extinction-prone traits. Their defaunations are more feared in nations like India that are biologically diverse yet anthropically populous. Through the Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellowship for Postdoctoral Research, Dr. Sharma aims to identify conservation hotspots for megafauna in India by assessing the impacts of future climate and land-use changes.

Bokinala Moses Abraham

Dr. Bokinala Moses Abraham is National Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. Jayant K. Singh at IIT-Kanpur, which focuses on fusing density functional theory simulations with modern machine learning approaches to rationalize and accelerate the chemical design and discovery of novel materials. Dr. Abraham obtained his first-class B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Thereafter, he moved to the University of Hyderabad for a Ph.D. degree, where he pursued his own research ideas that enabled him to tackle multidisciplinary problems, such as those related to the study of materials at high-pressures, and understanding the physico-chemical properties of high-energy density materials.

Dr. Abraham has contributed to nearly 45 international publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has received several prestigious and competitive fundings for attending international conferences, which includes the RSC travel grant and the International Travel Support grant offered by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India. He also received funding from high parallel-computing HPC-Europa3 mobility program (2022) for a research stay of 3 months at the University of Barcelona (UB), Spain with Prof. Dr. Francesc Illas’ group. Dr. Abraham’s work towards design and development of highly efficient catalysts for CO2 conversion and hydrogen evolution reaction are seminal contributions to the field of catalysis.

Dr. Abraham is designing and developing a library of unique and fascinating MXene-supported single atom catalysts by fusing modern machine-learning approaches with experimental techniques during the Fulbright-Kalam Climate fellowship for Postdoctoral Research. Dr. Abraham believes that the scientific knowledge generated from this project would be utilized as a reference for CO2 reduction into hydrocarbon fuels, thereby helping meet real-world energy demands in a sustainable manner.

Prashant Ram Jadhao

Dr. Prashant Ram Jadhao is a postdoctoral researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Previously, he worked as a project scientist at the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology, Hyderabad. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra. Subsequently, he pursued his master’s and doctoral degrees at IIT Delhi.

Dr. Jadhao has received the prestigious Gandhian Young Technological Innovation appreciation award. Additionally, in 2022, he was conferred the Sumant Sinha Sustainability Leadership Award by IIT Delhi for his outstanding contribution to research in the domains of sustainability, environment, and climate change. His research endeavors have garnered recognition on both national and international platforms.

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Jadhao is developing eco-friendly technology for recycling of spent batteries. The exponential increase in the use of electronic devices and electric vehicles has resulted in increased battery production, leading to a significant volume of spent batteries. These spent batteries contain valuable metals and potentially hazardous materials. Ensuring the sustainable management of spent batteries is crucial for resource recovery, conservation, and the mitigation of environmental hazards.

Kausik Ghosh

Dr. Kausik Ghosh is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. He is involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching on river geomorphology, sedimentology, hydrology and river regulations, climate change, transboundary river water-sharing and governance, ecosystem services, and water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. He uses remote sensing and GIS techniques, hydrological modeling, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and field surveys for conducting geoscience research. He leads the GeoBridge research group which is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnected and complex relationship between geosciences and social sciences.

Dr. Ghosh earned his master’s degree from Banaras Hindu University before pursuing M.Phil. at CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University. In 2018, he was a Water Advanced Research Innovation (WARI) visiting scholar at the University of Nebraska, funded by DST, IUSSTF, and DWFI. He also received the DST AWSAR award, Acceleration Award by DTU and Denmark under the Inclusive and Integrated Water Management, Microsoft Innovative Educator Learner Award (MIELA).

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research at the Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Ghosh is developing a comprehensive framework for adaptive water management in transboundary river basins. The existing water-sharing treaties and governance mechanisms overlook aspects of river ecology, flow-sediment relations, climate variability, socio-economic demands, and the WEF nexus in transboundary basins. This study will simulate disparities in river water demand and supply, analyze synergies and trade-offs within the WEF nexus framework, and assess the role of transboundary institutions in mitigating risks associated with climate change.