Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research) Archives

Arun Yethiraj

Dr. Arun Yethiraj was born in India and received his BTech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He received an MS from Louisiana State University, a PhD from North Carolina State University, working with Professor Carol Hall, and did postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois, working with Professor Kenneth Schweizer. He joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in 1993. His research interest is in the statistical mechanics of complex fluids, including polymers, surfactants, ionic liquids, and biopolymers.

His hobbies include tennis, guitar, and running.

“Active matter” refers to a class of systems that are composed of self-propelled entities that convert stored energy into directed motion. The goal of Dr. Yethiraj’s Fulbright-Nehru research is to obtain a fundamental understanding of active matter in complex environments. His research project at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is using computational studies with machine learning analyses to reproduce experimental studies on robotic and molecular systems in order to obtain a fundamental understanding of the effect of crowding and noise on active processes, thereby allowing for the elucidation of transport mechanisms in other systems.

Ajay Verghese

Dr. Ajay Verghese is an associate professor of political science at Middlebury College, Vermont. He received his PhD in 2013 from George Washington University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. His research interests include Indian politics, ethnic violence, historical legacies, religion, and methodology. His first book, The Colonial Origins of Ethnic Violence in India, was published by Stanford University Press in 2016, and his articles have been published in Modern Asian Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Journal of Development Studies, Politics & Society, Politics and Religion, Sociological Theory, and Journal of Historical Political Economy. He is a winner of the Ted Jelen Award and has been honorably mentioned in the IPSA Award for Concept Analysis in Political Science.

Dr. Verghese’s Fulbright-Nehru project entails two studies of political Hinduism over the course of six months in India. The first study is based in Udaipur, where he is developing a novel theory explaining the rise in the popularity of spiritual teachers (often called “gurus”, “yogis”, or “godmen”) who are explicitly associated with political parties and organizations. The second study is examining a potential backlash to the increasing politicization of religion via the growth of “secular Hinduism” among upper middle-class Hindus in Delhi.

Saikat Talapatra

Dr. Saikat Talapatra is a professor and director of the School of Physics and Applied Physics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He obtained his BSc degree in physics and BEd from RIE Bhubaneswar, India, and MSc in physics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Thereafter, he graduated from the Department of Physics at Southern Illinois University with an MS in physics and a PhD in engineering science. He worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, before returning to Southern Illinois University as a faculty. He is a condensed matter physicist/materials scientist, with research interests in the synthesis and characterization of a variety of nanoscale materials and structures materials for multiple applications related to electronics, energy, and environment.

Dr. Talapatra’s Fulbright-Nehru project is investigating the adsorptive surface properties of the porous carbon materials obtained from biowaste products in order to develop them for carbon dioxide capture and storage. The success of the project could lead to applications that are needed for a carbon neutral (net-zero) society.

Jayaraman Sivaguru

Dr. Jayaraman Sivaguru is a distinguished university professor at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Ohio. His recognitions include the 2008 NSF CAREER award, the 2010 Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize from the Swiss Chemical Society, and the young investigator awards from the Inter-American Photochemical Society (2011) and Sigma-Xi (2012). Besides, he won the 2012 Peltier Award for Innovation in Teaching from NDSU. He was a visiting young professor at the Global Centre for Excellence, Osaka University, and was also visiting fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under the President’s International Fellowship Initiative. He serves as the American editor for the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry and as the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. In 2021, he was awarded the Honda-Fujishima Lectureship by the Japanese Photochemistry Association for outstanding achievement in photochemistry. In 2023, he received the Olscamp Award from BGSU. In 2025, he was named as the 48th Probst Lecturer at SIUE. Dr. Sivaguru is a member of the International Organizing Committee for the IAPS-2026 meeting in Sao Paulo and will also co-chair the 2027 Gordon Conference on Photochemistry.

His research interests include: uncovering new excited state chemical reactivity; light-induced axial to central chiral transfer; asymmetric organo-photocatalysis; supramolecular photocatalysis with water-soluble nanocontainers; light-responsive materials for polymer circularity; development of high-efficiency photoinitiators; and designing light-initiated strategies for eye protection and ophthalmic applications (e.g. contact lenses and other eyewear).

Dr. Sivaguru is passionate about helping students to gravitate toward STEM disciplines. Toward this, in 2007, he launched an outreach program called PICNICS (Parents Involvement with Children Nurturing Intellectual Curiosity in Sciences).

For his Fulbright-Nehru project, Prof. Sivaguru is collaborating with Prof. N. Jayaraman of the Indian Institute of Science on photochemical aspects within dendritic systems. He is also collaborating with Prof. Ashok Mishra at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras on photophysical studies. Besides, Prof. Sivaguru is holding classes on photochemistry. He is also evaluating the feasibility of adapting PICNICS to an Indian setting.

Meera Sitharam

Dr. Meera Sitharam is professor of computer science and affiliate professor of mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville. After her BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in computer science and held positions at Kent State University and Purdue University. She was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bonn, a Fields Institute Fellow, and an ICERM Fellow. Her research and over 100 peer-reviewed publications range from pure mathematics (discrete geometry) and theoretical computer science (algorithmic foundations and complexity theory) to the development of open source mathematical software (computational geometry) and geometric modeling in the natural and social sciences and engineering (soft-matter and biophysical modeling, algorithmic game theory, computer-aided mechanical and microstructural design). Her research group’s alumni include at least 15 doctorate holders now in academia, industry and entrepreneurial positions. As a vocal advocate for public higher education, Dr. Sitharam is currently chapter president and chief negotiator for the United Faculty of Florida at the University of Florida. Her academic outreach activities include: faculty advisorship of the Asha for Education chapter, where she works closely with grassroots partners in Tamil Nadu working toward education access and quality; and founding STEM women researchers’ development (Steward@IITM) to mentor and address the barriers faced by women researchers.

She is a graded All India Radio veena artist and engages with a broad range of music.

Dr. Sitharam’s Fulbright-Nehru project, “Exploring Connections: Rigidity, Flexibility, Complexity, and Applications of Geometry Constraints”, aims to leverage the host institution’s unique combination of expertise – on parameterized complexity and derandomization of algorithms, configuration space topology, and soft-matter modeling – to conduct research on Geometric Constraint Systems (GCS), a vibrant, intuitively accessible area that bridges mathematical communities. The GCS lens also intends to spur progress on fundamental theoretical science at the host institution. The expected project outcomes include several peer-reviewed articles, an international workshop, grant proposals for joint US–India programs, seminar series at the host institution, and addressing of research underrepresentation.

Lisa Mitchell

Dr. Lisa Mitchell is professor in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses in anthropology, history, and urban studies. She is the author of Hailing the State: Indian Democracy between Elections (Duke University Press, 2023, and Permanent Black, 2023) and Language, Emotion, and Politics in South India: The Making of a Mother Tongue (Indiana University Press, 2009, and Permanent Black, 2010), which received the Edward Cameron Dimock, Jr. Prize in the Indian Humanities from the American Institute of Indian Studies. She is currently working on two book projects, one titled “The Government Job in India” and the second on translations of transnationally circulating political ideas, provisionally entitled, “The Multiple Genealogies of Indian Democracy: Global Intellectual History in Translation”. She received her PhD in sociocultural anthropology from Columbia University. Previously, she taught history at Queens College (CUNY), Bowdoin College, and the University of Washington, and anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Mellon Foundation, the European Research Council, and the American Institute of Indian Studies, and has been a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge, a Mercator Visiting Fellow in Global Intellectual History at the Freie Universität in Berlin, and a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. In 2020, she was a recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mitchell’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining the idea of the government job in the history of political imagination in modern India. Using archives from the Nizam’s state of Hyderabad and Indian constitutional debates, cinematic and literary portrayals of civil servants, and oral histories from current and former government employees, it is tracing historical efforts to redistribute employment opportunities, create a new middle class, and offer guaranteed employment as a form of social welfare. Assessing India’s unique social experiments in the redistribution of opportunity, the project will culminate in a book-length anthropological history of the government job in India.

Ranjana Mehta

Prof. Ranjana Mehta is the Grainger Institute of Engineering Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she serves as the director of the Neuroergonomics Lab. She earned her PhD in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech in 2011 and her BTech in production engineering from the University of Mumbai in 2004. Her ongoing research program in human factors focuses on understanding and improving human performance and trust in safety-critical work settings, especially when interacting with emerging technologies like robotics and AI, and under challenging psychophysiological conditions, including stress and fatigue. Her groundbreaking research, which examines the intersection of brain and behavior in human–machine teaming, has attracted more than $19.8 million in external funding, resulting in over 200 peer-reviewed publications. She has been awarded several recognitions, including the Early Career Research Fellow award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the NASA IDEAS Fellow award, and the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering from the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), as well as multiple innovation and early career honors from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), where she became a fellow in 2023. As a member of the IISE and HFES communities, she has shown exceptional external service at both national and international levels through numerous elected and appointed roles within these professional societies. She currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the IISE Transactions of Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors. She has also served as a member of various technical standards committees, including the American Petroleum Institute, ASTM F48.02 on Exoskeletons and Exosuits, IEEE Human–Robot Interaction Metrics and Test Methods, and ISA84.00.04 on Systematic Failure.

By employing a social neuroergonomics modeling approach, which utilizes the neurobiological foundations of social processes and behaviors in the design, engineering, and evaluation of human–AI systems, Prof. Mehta’s Fulbright-Nehru project is set to enhance understanding about trustworthy human–AI teaming across diverse team cultures and configurations. The project also aims to strengthen trustworthy AI research through collaborative community building.

Neha Lodha

Dr. Neha Lodha is an engineer-turned-neuroscientist. She is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science and the School of Biomedical Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU). She earned her PhD in kinesiology from the University of Florida, following a BTech in information and communication technology from DA-IICT, Gandhinagar, India.

Dr. Lodha directs the Laboratory of Movement Neuroscience and Rehabilitation at CSU. Her research applies approaches in cognitive aging, movement neuroscience, and neurorehabilitation with the goal of improving functional independence, mobility, and overall well-being of individuals facing age-related or neurological challenges. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges biomechanics, neuroscience, and digital health to better understand and support cognitive and physical functioning in everyday life. Her current work in her lab focuses on identifying early indicators of reduced mobility and cognitive performance. This includes examining how people move in their daily environments, how their cognitive and motor systems interact, and how technology can assist in rehabilitation and health monitoring. Complementing her research, Dr. Lodha leads community outreach through her lab’s initiatives. These include mobility assessments and fall-prevention screenings for older adults, as well as educational programs for students interested in science and engineering.

Dr. Lodha has authored over 50 scholarly publications, including 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, and her work has been cited more than 3,400 times. She has a strong track record in securing external research funding as a principal investigator, having obtained competitive awards from agencies like the National Institute on Aging, the American Heart Association, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

The global rise of dementia significantly affects populations in low- and middle-income countries. In communities with limited access to formal education and healthcare, cognitive impairments often go undiagnosed. Most current assessments cater to English-speaking and literate individuals and are not effective for people in other contexts. Dr. Lodha’s Fulbright-Nehru project is developing a performance-based tool designed to work across language and education levels within the Indian population. The project’s primary aim is to improve early detection of cognitive decline.

Emily Kumpel

Dr. Emily Kumpel is an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research advances sustainable and equitable drinking water systems through innovative approaches to water quality, household storage, and data science applications. With over 40 peer-reviewed publications on topics such as intermittent water supply, disinfection byproducts, water quality monitoring, and small water systems, she has secured more than $15 million in funding from NSF, EPA, Massachusetts agencies, and private foundations. Her current projects include an NSF CAREER award investigating household water storage as a reliability strategy, and extensive partnership work with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). She leads comprehensive drinking water assistance programs for the state of Massachusetts, including support for complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act, research on emerging contaminants among small and disadvantaged communities, lead testing in schools and childcare facilities, and small systems technical assistance. She has received multiple awards such as the College of Engineering Barbara H. and Joseph J. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award (2024), Outstanding Teaching Award (2022), and a PIT@UMass Faculty Fellowship (2024). Dr. Kumpel serves as associate editor for AWWA Water Science and has extensive international field research experience, having lived and conducted research for over six years across India and countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Before joining UMass in 2017, she was a senior research scientist at Aquaya Institute in Kenya, where she led water-quality monitoring and evaluation projects across multiple countries. She earned her PhD and MS in civil and environmental engineering from UC Berkeley and a BS in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Kumpel’s Fulbright-Nehru project is developing metrics for water supply continuity and predictability, testing new measurement methods, and analyzing the sources of unpredictability. He is conducting his fieldwork in and around Mumbai with the faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. The intended outcomes of the research are at least two co-authored manuscripts, mutual student mentorship, and establishment of networks to enable future research endeavors.

Gregory Goulding

Prof. Gregory Goulding is an associate professor in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His first book, Cold War Genres, was released with SUNY University Press in 2024. His research focus is on mid-20th-century Hindi literature, with a particular interest in ideas of space, aesthetic debates, and conceptions of the international. Some of his recent articles have appeared in Comparative Literature, Modern Asian Studies, South Asia, and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Prof. Goulding’s Fulbright-Nehru project is posing Central India as a key location in the literary history of modern South Asia, situating it as an area shaped by its political history as a borderland between Maratha, Mughal, and later British power. He is also studying Central India’s position on the periphery of three modern literary cultures, as well as its landscape of forested mountain and scrubby plateau, home to peoples who articulate radically different ideas of space and belonging. The project aims to intervene in both current understandings of modern South Asian literatures as well as in global understandings of modern literatures after the emergence of monolingual linguistic identities.