Fulbright-Nehru Grant Category India: Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships

Charu Sharma

Ms. Charu Sharma is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh, with expertise in plant tissue culture, cryopreservation, and the production of secondary metabolites. Her research focuses on high-altitude medicinal plants, with the primary aim of developing robust conservation protocols. By integrating molecular insights and antioxidant profiling, she investigates changes in cryopreserved tissues to ensure long-term viability.

Charu holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and a master’s degree in Botany from Punjabi University, Patiala. During her PhD, she contributed to peer-reviewed publications that integrated methodological precision with conceptual clarity. Her passion for science goes beyond experimentation; she excels at translating complex research findings into visually compelling and academically rigorous outputs. She brings in a thoughtful balance of analytical detail and narrative coherence, reflecting her commitment to conservation-driven research.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Charu is currently advancing a pioneering study on cryopreservation of avocado at The Huntington. The project aims to optimize tropical germplasm conservation through vitrification-based techniques, contributing to broader ecological restoration efforts and sustainable agricultural practices.

Shakshi Bhardwaj

Ms Shakshi Bhardwaj is a PhD candidate in the Department of Polymer and Process Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand. Her research focuses on developing multifunctional hydrophobic cellulose nanofiber aerogels integrated with phase change materials for thermal energy storage and insulation. This work aims to contribute to sustainable solutions in the building and automotive sectors.

Shakshi earned her BSc in Chemistry from the University of Delhi in 2017, followed by an MSc in Organic Chemistry from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, in 2019. In 2022, she began her doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Pradip Kumar Maji and was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF). She has bagged several awards at national and international conferences for excellence in research presentations.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Shakshi is conducting collaborative research at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on cellulose-based materials for thermal insulation and thermal management applications. She is engaged in literature review, scientific writing, and hands-on learning of advanced material characterization techniques with full support from the host research group. The collaborative research is expected to contribute to sustainable material innovations relevant to both India and the United States.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Shakshi is passionate about promoting eco-friendly technologies and hopes to bridge fundamental research with real-world applications in sustainable infrastructure.

Vineet Pramod Joshi

Mr. Vineet Pramod Joshi is a clinician practicing ophthalmology at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad and pursuing a PhD at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad. He is on the faculty at Shantilal Shanghvi Cornea Institute, LVPEI, practicing cornea cataract and refractive surgeries. His research centres on translational applications of biomaterials, hydrogels, corneal bioengineering, and 3D bioprinting. He investigates developing artificial 3D bioprinted cornea.

After his master’s (DNB ) in ophthalmology he completed a fellowship in cornea and anterior segment in LVPEI Hyderabad and joined the institute. Vineet is not just a clinician-scientist, he is also a technologist at LVPEI Center for Technology Innovation where he works on digital diagnostics, AI-driven vision assessment, and bioengineering solutions. He has been awarded for presenting his work at several national and international forums, and received international travel grants. He has several publications in peer-reviewed international journals.

In his battle against corneal blindness, under the mentorship of Dr. Falguni Pati at IIT Hyderabad and Dr. Sayan Basu, LVPEI, he began a PhD in biomedical engineering and biomaterials at IIT Hyderabad to explore developing novel bioink hydrogels and 3D bioprinting translational therapies. As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Vineet is investigating how to develop composite materials derived from natural and synthetic sources, exploring novel light-based 3D bioprinting technology in achieving transparency, biomechanical strength, suturability and biointegration similar to native cornea. His research will explore developing newer customized and personalized treatments options for patients.

Tarun Sharma

Mr. Tarun Sharma is a PhD candidate at the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. His doctoral research focuses on improving the performance and sustainably of heterogeneous CPU-GPU based multicore architecture. He also focuses on customising the open-source RISC-V architecture for various applications.

Tarun holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology, Delhi and a master’s degree in microelectronics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Tarun is aiming to enhance transformer inference using Wireless Network-On-Chip (WNoC) and Machine Learning-based DRAM prefetcher. The proposed framework is expected to improve transformer inference while reducing the power required for off-chip DRAM access, while not requiring any changes in the software and is independent of any CPU, GPU, or accelerator hardware.

Sushrita Acharjee

Ms. Sushrita Acharjee works as an Assistant Professor of English at the School of Liberal Arts and Culture Studies, Adamas University, Kolkata. She is a PhD candidate at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, from where she previously earned her MPhil degree. From 2020 to 2022, she was a UGC-JRF and a teaching assistant at the Department of English, Jadavpur University.

In 2024, Sushrita was awarded the Charles Wallace India Trust Grant to conduct research in the UK for her doctoral thesis. She contributed to the BBC 3 radio documentary, Recording on the Nomad’s Trail, on Bengali ethnomusicologist Deben Bhattacharya. In 2021, she collaborated with History for Peace under Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata, India in preparing resources for and moderating a workshop, ‘Aesthetics of Resistance: Revisiting 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War through Various Art Forms’. She also served as a research fellow for Sahapedia-UNESCO on a project, Rituparno Ghosh: The First Queer Star of Bengal.

Sushrita has presented her research at various universities in the UK, Italy, and at Bangla Academy, Bangladesh, among others. She has contributed to publications by Bloomsbury and Routledge. Her research interests traverse sound cultures, war narratives, migration, oral cultures and other literary and performance studies.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Sushrita is investigating the possibility of songs and sounds leading to lesser-known histories of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. She is also training in ethnomusicology under experts, while exploring field research opportunities in the Bangladeshi immigrant communities in the USA.

Sreelakshmy Thekkekara

Ms. Sreelakshmy Thekkekara is a PhD candidate in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram. Her doctoral research focuses on the development of cathode materials for high-performance sodium-ion batteries. She is passionate about innovations in energy storage devices and is actively seeking new methods to improve battery materials and discover new systems with enhanced electrochemical performance.

Sreelakshmy holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Vimala College, Thrissur, and a master’s degree in physics from the Central University of Kerala. She is a Prime Minister’s Research Fellow and began her PhD at the School of Physics, IISER, in August 2022.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, National Accelerator Laboratory, Sreelakshmy is conducting scientific research focused on the fundamental studies of earth-abundant materials for cathodes used in sodium-ion batteries. This research area is crucial to advance sodium-ion battery technology, which is considered a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries due to the abundance and lower cost of sodium compared to lithium. Her work will also involve understanding electrochemical processes and structural changes using various spectroscopy and imaging techniques, including electron, X-ray, and neutron methods. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, listening to music, and exploring new places to discover food and culture.

Sehajpal Singh

Mr. Sehajpal Singh is a PhD candidate at the Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, IIT Bombay. His doctoral research focuses on studying water and dry ice’s impact in Martian climate using modeling and data analysis. He is a planetary science enthusiast and believes one should explore the cosmos, for there might be a compelling reason for its vastness. He is also a Board Member at OpenPlanetary, an international non-profit organization.

Sehajpal holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala, Punjab. He also co-founded the Thapar Amateur Astronomers Society, a TIET student club dedicated to the love of space and astronomy. This keen interest in space science motivated him to pursue an MTech in remote sensing and GIS (specialization: water resources) from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), ISRO, Dehradun. In his MTech research project, he studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of Mars’ north polar ice cap and subsurface water ice detection on Mars.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech, Sehaj is understanding the role of volatile ices in the Martian climate. His research will characterize the substrate and frost surrounding the araneiforms (spider-like features) present near the south pole of Mars. The study strives to contribute to the knowledge of araneiform morphologies and their correlation with local environmental conditions, which can provide insight as to whether there is ground ice within the topmost layer of the substrate.

Seema Rani

Ms. Seema Rani is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) Mohali. Her current research focuses on developing novel 2D metal chalcogenides-based sensors, electronics, and memory devices, aiming to contribute innovative solutions to advance these fields. Her research also extends to micro-electrochemistry methods and micro-electrocatalysis. Over the course of her doctoral studies, she has published more than ten research articles in reputed journals and presented her findings at numerous national and international conferences.

Seema holds a bachelor’s degree in science from BPS Women’s University, Khanpur Kalan, Haryana and a master’s degree in physics from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana. She has been a recipient of various scholarships throughout her academic journey and ranked fifth in her master’s program. Additionally, she qualified in the CSIR-UGC NET examination in physical sciences with an all-India rank of 141 and was awarded the CSIR-JRF fellowship. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, meditation, cooking, and reading.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Seema is aiming at developing advanced biomimetic eye systems with in-sensor computing capabilities, specifically mimicking the functionality of bipolar cells essential for visual processing.

Samriddhi Saxena

Ms. Samriddhi Saxena is a PhD candidate in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, focusing on the development of oxide cathodes for sodium-ion batteries. Her doctoral research focuses on designing efficient and eco-friendly alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, addressing the critical need for sustainable and scalable energy storage systems. She has expertise in synthesizing and characterizing air-sensitive materials using various structural and electrochemical techniques.

Samriddhi holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru, and a master’s degree from IIT Indore, where she received the Institute Silver Medal for her work on biphasic layered oxide cathodes. She has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship and has presented her research at various conferences, publishing in top journals. She has also worked as a Process Engineer at Hindustan Zinc Limited, leading a Six Sigma project on magnesium removal from ZnSO4 solutions.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, Samriddhi is hoping to develop technologically relevant sodium-ion-based solid-state cells by employing melt infiltration of solid-state electrolytes into electrodes. Her research seeks to achieve performance metrics comparable to liquid electrolyte-based cells at practical charge/discharge rates, addressing key challenges in solid-state energy storage. This work contributes to global advancements in renewable energy technologies by tackling the scalability and performance barriers of sodium-ion-based solid-state batteries. Samriddhi is passionate about teaching and enjoys traveling, cooking, and gardening.

Rutwij Nakhwa

Mr. Rutwij Nakhwa is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. His dissertation is on Hegel’s political philosophy. His research interests lie in Marx, psychoanalysis, film and literary theory, and B. R. Ambedkar. Since 2018, he has taught and guest-lectured at the Mass Media Department of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. For years, Rutwij covered India’s film festivals as a journalist and in various other capacities. He has written on cinema for The Hindu. He holds a post-graduate diploma in critical theory, aesthetics, and practice from Jnanapravaha Mumbai (2018) and a bachelor’s degree in Mass Media (Journalism) from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (2017).

In 2024, Rutwij’s paper, ‘An Absolute Hegelianism for Postmodern Times: Hegel with Lacan after Bataille and Derrida’, was published in the Filozofija i društvo/Philosophy and Society journal. He has presented his work on Hegel at several conferences including those organised by Hegelian and philosophical societies, and on Ambedkar at the Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Rutwij’s interdisciplinary work will interface Hegel’s philosophy with poetic and literary work, primarily that of Samuel Beckett. His research aims at a philosophical-literary examination of (conceptual and figural) endings and beginnings in relation to our time of repetitive crises, a time in which even the imagination of alternatives seems impossible. In response, this project’s wager is to think of a different repetition, which will pinpoint the peculiar conditions of possibility for imagination and creation of alternatives, allowing for a transformative reactualization of Hegel’s philosophy, for our present.