USA Fellows Year: U.S. Fellows 2025-2026

Torrey Lawson

Mr. Torrey Lawson is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and educator with over 20 years of experience across national and international media. He has worked as a producer at NBC News and ABC News, and reported internationally for CGTN Digital and BBC Worldwide. He has also served as the Joan Konner Visiting Professor of Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and as the inaugural Stokes Visiting Professor of Journalism at Loyola University New Orleans, where he developed courses on digital storytelling, investigative reporting, film, and media studies, as also a high-enrollment course on sports, media, and politics. Besides, Mr. Lawson has taught investigative reporting at UC Berkeley. He is currently a Fulbright Specialist and Visiting Fellow at Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, where his research examines how digital platforms are used for recruitment and exploitation across borders; it has a particular focus on human trafficking networks, platform accountability, and the global implications of AI-driven media systems.

As a Fulbright Specialist in India, Mr. Lawson will work with students and faculty at M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai, leading workshops and lectures on investigative journalism, digital verification, and global storytelling in the evolving media landscape.

Paul Koster

Paul Koster is a professor of practice at Emory University School of Law where he teaches legal writing, legal advocacy, legal profession, and introduction to the U.S. legal system. He is also the faculty advisor to the Emory Law School Supreme Court Advocacy Program and co-faculty advisor to the Emory Moot Court Society. He was awarded the Minister Gloria Jean Fowler Angel Award by the Emory Law Class of 2024, Professor of the Year title by the Emory Black Law Students Association in 2023, and the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education in 2021.

Prof. Koster practiced law for nearly 20 years, including 10 years as managing partner of a boutique Atlanta law firm which he cofounded. While in practice, he was named a Georgia Super Lawyer on multiple occasions. Following his law school education, he served as a staff attorney for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit and as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Stephanie Duncan-Peters of the DC Superior Court. Prof. Koster is the 2024–2026 chair of the Pro Bono Committee for the Legal Writing Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Jyoti Bachani

Dr. Jyoti Bachani is a full professor of strategy and innovation at Saint Mary’s College of California. She is also the founder of the collective, Poetry of Diaspora in Silicon Valley, and co-founder of the India and U.S. chapters of the International Humanistic Management Association. Her research, published in several articles and books, professes that organizing and pedagogy can be humanized using the arts. She has also led several experiential workshops and Women’s Wisdom Circles. Other than her work being adjudged the best research based-article from the management consulting division of the Academy of Management (AOM), Dr. Bachani is the recipient of several awards: Outstanding Lasallian Educator; Greater Good Award; Fulbright Senior Research Scholar (2011–12); and Fulbright Specialist (2025–28).

Dr. Bachani has also served as the founding editor-in-chief of Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, the largest online collection of business cases. Further, she guest-edited the poetry special issue of the journal, Organizational Aesthetics. Besides, she has served on the boards of the Western Academy of Management and AOM’s management, spirituality and religion division. She is also is an associate editor with the Journal of Management Inquiry. She earned her PhD from London Business School, UK; her master’s in management science and engineering from Stanford University, U.S.; and her MBA and BS in physics from Delhi University, India.

Dibyendu Sarkar

Dibyendu Sarkar is a professor of environmental engineering and the founding director of Stevens Center for Sustainability at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He is a broadly trained environmental geochemist with research interests in soil and water chemistry, environmental remediation, risk assessment, and green technology development. Dr. Sarkar graduated with a PhD in geochemistry from the University of Tennessee in 1997. He is also a professional geologist licensed in Texas. Thus far, he has advised over 35 PhD and MS/ME students, over 25 postdoctoral associates, and many visiting scholars. He has published over 200 journal articles, 20 book chapters, and over 300 technical abstracts and conference proceedings; he has also edited three books and authored one research monograph. So far, he has generated more than USD 18 million in grant funding as a principal investigator/ co-principal investigator to support the research activities of his group. Dr. Sarkar is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America. He is also the founding principal of SIROM Scientific Solutions, LLC, an environmental R & D start-up incorporated in New Jersey. Besides, he is the editor-in-chief of Springer’s Current Pollution Reports and serves in the editorial board of several other journals.

Stephen Farnsworth

Dr. Stephen Farnsworth is professor of political science and international affairs and the director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington. He is the author or co-author of nine books and dozens of research articles on the presidency, the mass media, public opinion, and journalism. His most recent books include: Late-Night in Washington: Political Humor and the American Presidency; Producing News in a Time of Disinformation: Information Evaluation Strategies for Journalists and News Consumers; Presidential Communication and Character: White House News Management from Clinton and Cable to Twitter and Trump; and The Global President: International Media and the U.S. Government.

Dr. Farnsworth, who holds a PhD in government from Georgetown University, has also served as a Poland–U.S. Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw, as a Canada–U.S. Fulbright Research Chair in Public Policy at McGill University in Montreal, and as a Malaysia–U.S. Fulbright Specialist at Methodist College in Kuala Lumpur. He has received several teaching awards, including the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Krishna Reddy

Dr. Krishna Reddy is a university scholar, distinguished researcher, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and director of the Sustainable Engineering Research Laboratory and the Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). With over 30 years of research and professional experience, Dr. Reddy has made pioneering contributions to geoenvironmental engineering and sustainable and resilient engineering. His expertise spans environmental remediation, waste containment and landfill engineering, beneficial use of waste and recycled materials, integration of AI/ML/DL into geoenvironmental systems, and development of sustainability and resiliency assessment frameworks. A globally recognized scholar, Dr. Reddy has co-authored four influential books (including Geoenvironmental Engineering: Site Remediation, Waste Containment, and Emerging Waste Management Technologies and Sustainable Engineering: Drivers, Metrics, Tools, and Applications), written a number of book chapters and conference papers, and more than 340 journal papers, as well as contributed to numerous edited volumes. His outstanding contributions have been recognized through numerous prestigious honors, including the ASCE Wesley W. Horner Award and the ASTM Hogentogler Award. He is the Vice President of North America for the International Society of Environmental Geotechnology (ISEG).

Michael Caves

Judge Michael Caves has been serving on the Superior Court of California since January 2023. Before entering the judiciary, he had spent more than 15 years as a trial attorney and criminal prosecutor. J. Caves has authored nine books, including Everyday Dispute Resolution, the second edition of which was released in 2026. He is also a contributing author for the University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar and has reviewed or edited numerous academic and professional publications. His core research is focused on judicial ethics and conflict resolution. He has also taught and designed graduate courses in law, ethics, and conflict resolution for over 17 years.

He has a PhD in rhetoric and communication, a JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence), an LLM, an MPA, an MA in negotiation, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding, and a BA in communication. J. Caves is a member of a number of academic honor groups, including the Golden Key International Honour Society, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Theta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Delta Phi, and Omicron Delta Kappa. He is also a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Gabriel Gomez

Dr. Gabriel Gomez earned his PhD in radio, television, and film from Northwestern University, Illinois, in 1996. From 1998, he has been a faculty member at Chicago State University, an institution committed to social justice, where he is currently a full professor in the Department of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences, and Technology. His numerous publications and presentations reflect research interests that span library science, technology in education, community service, and big data. He has received numerous awards and grants, including two previous Fulbright scholarships for India, which bracket more than a decade of interaction in that country through teaching, publishing, and numerous conferences. Throughout this time, he has also remained politically active with a number of groups dedicated to activism and nonviolence. He is a representative for Local 4100 of the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), a union of the American Federation of Teachers. Other community efforts involve service as co-executive director of the Legacy Project Education Initiative and as a board member of its parent organization, the Legacy Project. In 2020, he was part of two Faculty Resource Network Scholar-in-Residence programs at New York University. He is scheduled to retire in August 2026 as a professor emeritus.

Claire Wulfman

Claire Wulfman holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Vermont and recently completed her master’s in public health from the University of Utah. Her academic path has been shaped by her curiosity and drive to create more equitable systems of care. As an undergraduate, she was involved in student government, biomedical research, collegiate athletics, and tutoring in writing. All through her master’s program, Claire contributed to a nationwide sleep study by coordinating participant recruitment and conducting cognitive assessments. She has served as a health educator with the Planned Parenthood’s Teen Council Program and has also been a counselor for sexual assault victims; besides, she was a community outreach assistant with the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. For her practicum, Claire traveled to Peru to study family planning beliefs and behaviors.

As a community outreach officer on the Student Advisory Committee, Claire organized volunteer initiatives and policy engagement events for fellow graduate students. She has also contributed to research on sexual and reproductive health and rights in India. Her capstone project explored how gender norms affect stress and mental health among college-aged men; this built on her broader interest in social constructs of masculinity and gender-based violence. Claire’s interdisciplinary interests bridge public health, gender equity, and social justice. Her passion for addressing gender-based violence stems from her experience supporting survivors, promoting prevention, and researching the role of masculinities. Outside of academics and work, Claire finds joy in poetry, cooking, and spending time in the mountains.

Claire’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining how NGOs based in Mumbai are engaging with men and boys on the topic of public-space sexual harassment (PSH). Working with these local organizations, Claire is assessing how concepts of masculinity, gender roles, and safety are communicated and implemented. Through interviews, field observations, and policy analysis, her research aims to identify effective strategies to promote gender equity and inform future interventions to address PSH in India and beyond.

Ray Wipfli

Ray Wipfli holds a BS in molecular biophysics and biochemistry with a concentration in medicine from Yale University. In addition to his primary undergraduate degree, he received a certificate in global health studies through the selective Yale Jackson Institute’s Global Health Scholars Program. He already has over a decade of experience working in global health through his nonprofit organization, Energy in Action, which specializes in youth-targeted interventions in Uganda. Through this organization, of which he is both the founder and the chief executive officer, he has led countless public health interventions concerning sanitation and hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, and prevention of drowning. Furthermore, he has facilitated and published multiple research studies examining health knowledge and behaviors in Ugandan youth. Ray is interested in forging strong international connections to further the mission of health across the world, with a specific focus on youth and non-communicable diseases.

Ray’s Fulbright-Nehru project is to conduct an evaluation of the updated Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS) campaign in New Delhi, India. The campaign targets the rapidly rising health and economic burden of diabetes in India, home to the world’s second highest number of diabetic patients. The research seeks to inform future health policy related to adolescents.