Profile of Indian Candidates Selected for the QUAD Fellowship

The QUAD Fellowship is an esteemed program fostering collaboration and innovation among emerging leaders from the QUAD nations—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. This fellowship aims to strengthen international ties by supporting the academic and professional growth of young scientists and technologists.

In its second cohort, the fellowship has selected 50 exceptional candidates, including 11 fellows from India, who have demonstrated significant achievements in STEM fields. Below are the profiles of the Indian fellows, including their educational background, affiliations, and internships that contributed to their selection:

1) Adhiraj Bhagat
PhD Student, Georgia Institute of Technology
Field: Aerospace Engineering
Education: Undergraduate studies in India; currently a PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology
Affiliations/Internships: Research focuses on sustainable engineering and supersonic combustion. He has significantly contributed to developing college curricula on these topics.

2) Asmita Sood
Incoming Master's Student, Stanford University
Field: Biomedical Data Science
Education: Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, India; pursuing a Master's at Stanford University
Affiliations/Internships: Worked at Dell EMC on data protection solutions. Her research at IIT Kanpur as a SURGE fellow led to advancements in diagnostic techniques.

3) Debarun Mukherjee
PhD Student, University of Chicago
Field: Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry
Education: Undergraduate and Master's degrees from Presidency University, Kolkata; pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago
Affiliations/Internships: Summer fellowships at IISc Bengaluru and Banaras Hindu University, focusing on rare earth elements in geochemistry.

4) Kumaresh Ramesh
Energy Systems Engineer
Field: Renewable Energy and Policy
Education: Undergraduate degree in Energy Systems Engineering from IIT Bombay
Affiliations/Internships: Worked with Black & Veatch Global Advisory and CEEW in India. Focused on energy policy and renewable energy systems.

5) Rahoul Banerjee Ghosh
PhD Student, University of California, Berkeley
Field: Quantum Chemistry
Education: BS in Chemistry, University of Washington; pursuing a PhD at UC Berkeley
Affiliations/Internships: Research in theoretical physical chemistry and clean energy solutions, with significant academic honors.

6) Ramnath Kumar
Pre-Doctoral Researcher, Google DeepMind
Field: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Education: Bachelor's in Computer Science and Master's in Economics from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
Affiliations/Internships: Researcher at Google DeepMind, focusing on large language models and efficient algorithms.

7) Roshni Shetty
PhD Candidate, UC Davis
Field: Biomedical Engineering
Education: B.Tech-M.Tech dual degree in Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering from IIT Madras
Affiliations/Internships: Research on cardiac electrophysiology at UC Davis, exploring sex differences in cardiac function.

8) Samskrathi Sharma
PhD Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University
Field: Biological Clocks and Metabolic Diseases
Education: BSc from Christ University; MSc in Biotechnology & Bioinformatics from IBAB, Bengaluru
Affiliations/Internships: Focused on the biological clock and metabolic diseases. Active in mental health advocacy and educational initiatives.

9) Shravika Mittal
PhD Student, Georgia Institute of Technology
Field: Computer Science
Education: Undergraduate studies at IIIT Delhi; pursuing a PhD at Georgia Tech
Affiliations/Internships: Worked at Adobe India, focusing on accessibility and inclusive tech systems. Recognized for efforts in sociotechnical system design.

10) Srujan Penta
PhD Student, Georgia Institute of Technology
Field: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Education: B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani
Affiliations/Internships: Former Process Design Kit Engineer at Samsung Semiconductors, Bengaluru. Research in high-performance computing and AI applications.