IIT-GN FOUNDATION PROGRAMME - 2014Resource Persons
All of the sessions have been carefully planned so as to ensure that each of the five themes would receive adequate exposure and exploration. The comprehensive list of the resource persons below evidences the range and depth of the programming.
| NAME | BIO | SESSION NAME |
|---|---|---|
| Anand Sengupta | Anand Sengupta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at IIT-Gandhinagar. He joined the institute in 2012 prior to which he was an assistant professor at the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at University of Delhi. He completed his Ph.D from IUCAA Pune in the year 2005 subsequent to which he was a post-doctoral fellow at Division of Maths, Physics and Astronomy at CALTECH, USA. Dr. Anand Sengupta is also a member of the IndIGO (Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations) consortium and signatory to IndIGO’s memorandum of understanding with the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). | Cosmology |
| Anil Gupta | Prof. Anil Gupta is a professor in the Centre for Management in Agriculture at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. His desire to develop a platform to recognise, respect and reward local innovators was the stimulus behind the creation of the Honey Bee network. The name Honey Bee was chosen to reflect how innovations are collected without making the innovators poorer and how connections are created between innovators. Honey Bee network has demonstrated that by building upon a resource in which poor people are rich in, that is their knowledge, a new paradigm of development can be unleashed. To help provide support structures for grass roots innovators and link formal and informal knowledge systems, SRISTI, a global initiative and an NGO, to network local innovators was established in 1993. It provides organisational support to the Honey Bee network in over 70 countries. Besides, he holds the Executive Vice Chair of the National Innovation Foundation. | Frugal Innovation |
| Anup Tapadia | Anup Tapadia is founder of TechnoKarma Labs and TouchMagix Media Pvt Ltd. He bagged 2 master degrees in Computer Science at the age of 21. Anup is an alumnus of University of California, San Diego. At age of 14 he became the world youngest professional to pass the Microsoft Certifications (MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA). Anup has a wide experience in consulting to IT start-ups on product development and strategy. His fields of interest are high performance computing, network security, embedded systems and computer vision. Anup has a vision to make India an innovation hub to develop world-class products and start-ups. His recently founded company TouchMagix Media is aimed towards revolutionizing the way brands communicate with their customers through interactive displays and has sold products to more than 40 different countries world-wide. TouchMagix has won Anup awards like India's hottest young entrepreneur 2011 from Businessworld, Young Creative Entrepreneur 2010 from British Govt., Best upcoming start-ups at Proto 2009, Red Herring Asia Top 100 Companies etc. | TouchMagix |
| Arup Chakraborty | Arup Chakraborty is a professor of Electrical Engineering at IITGN. He joined the institute in 2010 prior to which he was a research assistant at University of Strathclyde. He obatined his Ph.D from University of Strathclyde in 2010. He's also a very talented guitarist and singer. | Music in Engineering |
| Arvind Ghosalkar | I completed studies in Diploma in Painting, Diploma in Applied Art, Diploma in Sculpture, M.A. with museology, Ph.D. in Indian tribal Art and Cultural Heritage (Tribal wall Painting of Western India) . I was in Gujarat Vidhyapith (Founded by Ghandhi-1920) as a museum curator at Tribal Museum since 1978-79 to 2008 and HOD in Dept. of Audio-Visual productions at same organization.I got many National 9 and International 3 awards, fellowships by Government of India Junior and Senior in visual art, and International research fellowship in tribal painting by British Council, Art Council of UK, and World Art Forum fellowship by University of East Anglia/Norwich/UK. I done National-International paintings and photographic solo shows more than 39 and 7 group shows. I done research projects on tribal art, crafts, culture, heritage granted by Government of India and state Governments.I done 189 documentaries on different subjects wise with well known producers/directors.I am taking much more interest in Academic works.I visited many countries as Academician in UK,Japan, France,Italy,Thailand, Holland,Poland and as a visiting faculties in Indian educational Universities,Government of Gujarat and Government of India and NGOs' also. My subject is very crystal clear is Indian Tribal Art,Crafts,Culture and Heritage since 1975. | Warli painting |
| Bhaskarjyoti Das | Bhaskarjyoti Das is currently studying at NID. Originally belonging to Bongaigaon in Assam, Bhaskarjyoti Das has graduated from Chemical Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar. He is one of the new generation ofphotographers who classify their work as Art Photography. He works as a freelancer, and his photography varies from fashion, music, photo-journalism, heritage to performing-arts. He believes that a photograph is a story by itself and attempts to write it with his lens. One of his prime reasons for taking up photography is to preserve and exhibit the endangered culture and traditional heritage of India and its numerous tribes, which are almost never known to the general mass at large, through his pictures. He also speaks of societal issues through his art. In addition to photography, Bhaskarjyoti is a graduate in Hindustani Instrumental Music and a fellow percussionist who plays all kinds of Indian and Western drums. |
Introduction to photography |
| Bill Wolak | Bill Wolak is a poet whose work has appeared in many literary magazines and has published one collection of poetry, Pale As An Explosion. He has translated Joyce Mansour, Stuart Merrill, and Francis Vielé-Griffin. Mr. Wolak has been awarded several National Endowment for the Humanities scholarships and two Fulbright-Hays scholarships to study and travel in India. Mr. Wolak has traveled throughout Asia including trips to Tibet, Nepal, Thailand, Japan, and China. In 2007, he was selected to participate in a Friendship Delegation to Iran sponsored by the Fellowship Of Reconciliation, the nation’s largest and oldest interfaith peace and justice organization. He has been an adjunct professor in the English Department at William Paterson University for over twenty years. | Poetry Workshop |
| Centre for Civil Society | The Centre for Civil Society is an independent, non-profit, research and educational organisation devoted to improving the quality of life for all citizens of India by reviving and reinvigorating civil society.But we don't run primary schools, or health clinics, or garbage collection programs. We do it differently: we try to change people's ideas, opinions, mode of thinking by research, seminars, and publications. We champion limited government, rule of law, free trade, and individual rights.We are an ideas organisation, a think tank that develops ideas to better the world. We want to usher in an intellectual revolution that encourages people to look beyond the obvious, think beyond good intentions, and act beyond activism. We believe in the individuality and dignity of all persons, and their right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We trust their judgement when they cast their vote in a ballot box and when they spend their money in a marketplace. We are driven by the dream of a free society, where political, social, and economic freedom reigns. We are soldiers for a Second Freedom Movement. | Researching Reality and Public Policy |
| Choose to Thinq - B V Harish | B V Harish Kumar was educated in engineering (from COEP) and management (from MDI Gurgaon) and has a professional background in IT and marketing (at places such as Wipro, Infosys, BMC, and Cognizant). Until recently, he founded and ran “Tender Leaves”, an innovative online library service in Pune. Harish has won several quizzes and was in the semi-finals of the BBC quiz show “University Challenge”. At Choose To Thinq, Harish handles business, marketing, and hosting. | Choose2Thinq |
| Choose to Thinq - J Ramanand | J Ramanand was trained in computer science (at COEP and IIT Bombay) and has a professional background in research and innovation (at Persistent, Cognizant, IBM). He was the youngest winner of the BBC Mastermind Quiz show. He writes a daily quiz blog at Infinite Zounds. At Choose To Thinq, Ramanand is responsible for content and social media. | Choose2Thinq |
| Dakxin Bajrange and Budhan Theater | Dakxinkumar Bajrange is an award winning filmmaker, playwright, director and activist from the Chhara De-notified Tribes of Ahmedabad in the western part of India. He is a recipient of Ford Foundation International Fellowship. Currently, working at the Budhan Theatre (a community theatre group of Chhara De-notified tribe of Gujarat) as a director. Founded in 1998, Budhan Theatre is an Indian theatre group composed of members of the Chhara tribe, one of India's groups of denotified or "criminal" tribal people in Ahmedabad, Gujurat. The Budhan Theatre was founded by Prof. Ganesh Devy G. N. Devy, a renown linguist and professor of English Literature and Smt. Mahasweta Devi Mahasweta Devi a noted Bangla writer and Magsaysay awardee. The style of theatre practiced by the theatre troupe is theatre for community development and theatre for social change. They perform street play, Intimate theatre and other experimental theatres to raise awareness about discrimination and violence faced by Chharas and other denotified tribal people in India. Their influences include the Indian People's Theatre Association, Bertoldt Brecht, and the Indian aesthetic of Rasa. | Introduction to Community Theater |
| Dr. T.S. Kumbar | Dr. Kumbar is the current librarian at IITGN. A gold medalist for his Ph D research in LIS from Gulbarga University, Dr Kumbar has been associated with various library and information centers - American Centre Library at and Doordarshan (TV) Library at Chennai. He has also briefly worked with and Gulbarga University before moving to Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai where he worked for little over a decade. Prior to joining IITGN, Dr Kumbar was with INFLIBNET for more than five years, where he initiated SOUL Software, E Resource consortium, retrospective conversion of university catalogues, and Document delivery services amongst universities. Dr. Kumbar has published over 26 research papers and is associated with a few universities for academic and research work. He is a recipient of “Young Librarian” award from SATKAL Trust Chandigarh and also recipient of following Fellowships: • American Library Assocaition / USIA Fellowship 1995-96 • Fulbright Scholarship 2001-2002 • Canadian Studies faculty Research Fellow 2006 He is a member of National Steering Committee, INDEST Consortium, MHRD, Govt. Of India, and member of SLA Asian Chapter, and chairs the Editorial committee. | Know Your Library |
| Gunvant Jain | Founder and director at Shikshalaya, Project Manager at InOPEN technologies pvt. ltd. Fellow 2010 - Grade 4 teacher for 64 kids, in Pune municipal school at Teach For India. Consultant at Mission Apollo. Operations - Renaissance-India at Renaissance - India. Fellow 2010 - Grade 4 teacher for 64 kids, in Pune municipal school at Teach For India. Consultant at Mission Apollo. Operations - Renaissance-India at Renaissance - India. BTech Indian Institute of Technology, Madras | Ethics in Education |
| Hiran Vedam | Dr.Hiran Vedam is the advisor in intellectual property rights and entrepreneurship at IITGN. Prior to this she has been Industry Liaison at the National University of Singapore,(NUS), program manager at Honeywell Singapore Technology Centre and has founded a company MAtrika Pte. Ltd. on wireless applications. | Entreprenurship |
| Jayanti Naik | A Sculptor , Ceramist, photographer and a design educator, has been teaching at various institutes for more than 40 years. Attended National and international Camps and symposiums in stone carving, pottery and glass. Has experience in working in diverse materials and techniques. Also made sculptures for public places in the country. Also being honored by National lalit kala academy,Delhi. and Gaurav Puraskar by Gujarat government. | Sketching |
| Kailash Satyarthi | Kailash Satyarthi is a human rights activist from India who has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labor since 1980 when he gave up a lucrative career as an Electrical Engineer for initiating crusade against Child Servitude. As a grassroots activist, he has led the rescue of over 78,500 child slaves and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. As a worldwide campaigner, he has been the architect of the single largest civil society network for the most exploited children, the Global March Against Child Labor,which is a worldwide coalition of NGOs, Teachers' Union and Trade Unions. He has been honoured by the Former US President Bill Clinton in Washington for featuring in Kerry Kennedy's Book ‘Speak Truth to Power', where his life and work featured among the top 50 human rights defenders in the world including Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wessel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, etc. | Engineers can fight social injustice better - a personal story |
| Loknaad (Charul and Vinay) | Loknaad is an Ahmedabad based socio-cultural organization that began a campaign last year called Insaan Hain Hum (We are human beings). Their productions have included an audio tape of songs based on real incidents of communal and social violence, posters, stickers and calenders. They have also done one-and-half hour live performances at various places such as schools, corporation, peace mobilizations, people's organisations etc. Responses have been one their main inspirations. As a policy, Loknaad does not charge for any of their programs. All the resources for productions are raised from small loans and contributions from well wishers. | Activism through Music |
| Malavika Subramanyam | Malavika Subramanyam is a Professor of Social Epidemiology at IIT Gandhinagar. She's also a talented dancer and choreographer. | Ethics & Values |
| Manish Jain | Manish Jain is a native of Western UP and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1993) with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He has worked in the area of VLSI design software (EDA) at Synopsys in Bangalore,KA and Mountain View, CA for the last 15 years.Before he took off he was a Synopsys Scientist and Dir. R&D working on Low Power Simulation. Since the summer of 2013 he has been working with Arvind Gupta at Muktangan Science Center in Pune. He can be reached at manish.jain@gmail.com At Muktangan we make fun, inspiring toys and activities from trash. Our core belief is that children learn by doing, making, pulling things apart, putting things together. We believe that this hands-on science helps them relate to the text and can revolutionize the way children learn. We have made about 1000 toys, activities and models. All of our these are documented as short films/photos on our website www.arvindguptatoys.com. |
Toys from trash |
| Manju Menon | Manju has researched environmental decision making process in the regulatory and public arenas since the completion of her Masters Program at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 1998. Her areas of work are the environmental law making and implementation processes related to the siting and regulation of infrastructure projects. She has investigated these processes in the context of hydropower, coal and nuclear power projects. These research projects and advocacy for improved decision making have been collaborative efforts undertaken in partnership with local community organisations, regional and thematic networks. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was awarded the Nehru-Fulbright fellowship in 2011. She has been a member of Kalpavriksh, an environment research group, since 2000. She has written on environment related subjects for the popular media and has several publications to her credit. | Environmental Sustainability |
| Meenakshi Kirtane | Meenakshi Kirtane is a founder member of Maanas. She is an experienced and trained psychotherapist with a passion for psychological and spiritual development. She has extensive teaching and training experience with teachers, parents, children and student counselors and has practiced as an individual and family therapist for the past decade. | Life Skills |
| Michel Danino | Born in France , Michel Danino has lived in India since 1977. He has authored books on Indian civilization and culture (among recent ones, " The Lost River: On the trail of the Sarasvati", 2010), lectured widely in India, and contributed studies to aspects of Indian archaeology. He has taught courses on ancient India at several institutions, including IIM Ranchi and IIT Gandhinagar, where he is currently a guest professor. He has also been assisting IIT Gandhinagar in setting up an Archaeological Sciences Centre. | Technology in Ancient India |
| Mr. C. S. Sharma | Shri C S Sharma, former Director of Sakar English School in Chandkheda is now at IITGN.M.A (Entire English – Rajasthan Univ.), M.A (Entire Hindi – Guj. Univ.), B.Ed (Jodhpur Univ.), M.Ed (Annamalai Univ.). Retd PGT (Eng) KVS and founder Principal I/C of of Kendriya Vidyalaya, an all India Organisation under the central Govt with around 1000 schools in India and abroad, National & Regional awardee for his outstanding contribution in the field of Education. Total experience of 48 years in School Education / Administration. | Why and How of English |
| Mr. Girish Gupta | Mr. Girish Gupta is Secretary of the National Heritage Volunteers and is passionate about promoting the a deeper consciousness of heritage. | Old Ahmedabad Heritage Walk |
| Ms. Jasbir Thadhani | Jasbir is IITGN's well-loved student counsellor. | Counselling |
| Mukul Goyal | Mukul Goyal, FRSA ( Fellow of Royal Society of Arts, London) , alumnus of Domus Academy, Milan, NID, Ahmedabad, IIT- Kanpur is the Principal Designer and Director at Designwise India Pvt. Ltd. His repertoire of design is full of objects for the home - table, living area, objects for lighting, home Decor, functional products. His inspirations are drawn from everyday life and his designs are a blend of traditional materials with contemporary expression, uncomplicated yet exuberant - a simple story but always told with a twist! Mukul's work has been featured in various media winning great reviews. | |
| Nilu Patel | Nilu Patel is an acclaimed artist working on paper related artwork. She has received recognition from the Chief Minister of Gujarat Mr. Narendra Modi. | Paper arts |
| Parijat Desai | Ms. Parijat Desai is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and dancer, and artistic director of Parijat Desai Dance Company (PDDC). With her ensemble, Ms. Desai creates and performs a kinetic blend of Indian classical and Western contemporary dance. The New York Times called her work "fresh ... bold" and a "seamless blending of the new and old." PDDC has been presented by venues including Danspace Project, La Mama ETC, and Asia Society (New York); Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles); ODC Theater (San Francisco); Northwestern University (Chicago); The Dance Centre (Vancouver, Canada); and National Centre for the Performing Arts (Mumbai, India). In 2013, Ms. Desai was a guest artist at Columbia College/Chicago. In collaboration with the South Asian Women's Creative Collective/NYC (sawcc.org), she also spearheaded a participatory movement process, Freedom. Safety. NOW., following the horrific December 2012 gang-rape case in Delhi, India. From 2009-2012, Ms. Desai was an artist-in-residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, developing contemporary dance vocabularies, experimenting with incorporating visual and theatrical elements into dance, and dialoguing with musicians. In 2011, PDDC completed a six-city tour of India, and Ms. Desai had the honor of being invited to the White House Diwali celebration as a member of the South Asian-American community | Ice Breakers |
| Pulkit Gour | Pulkit Gaur is the CTO and Founder of Gridbots Technologies. Gridbots technologies develop robotic systems for defense - Nuclear Agencies - Space Agencies - industries. The aim of the company is to develop robots that solve day to day problems - To assist human beings in Dirty - Dangerous and Dull situations. He was recently conferred with MIT Young Innovator -2011 Award for developing underwater Robots for cleaning water tanks for people of developing nations and Rajiv Motwani Circle Fellowship. | Gribots |
| Raj Chhabra | Raj Chhabra is a professor of Chemical engineering at IIT Kanpur. He is a member of Indian National Science Academy, National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. He has also received a number of awards for excellence in research and design. | Ethics |
| Rajni Bakshi | Rajni Bakshi is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist and author. She has written about social and political movements in contemporary India. She is the author of Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom (2009) which won two Vodafone Crossword Book Awards, one in the "Non Fiction" category, and one in the "Popular Award" category. Her earlier book Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi inspired the Hindi film “Swades”. She was educated in Jamaica (West Indies), Indrapastha College (Delhi), George Washington University (Washington D.C.) and Rajasthan University (Jaipur). Rajni is currently Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Foreign Relations based in Mumbai. She also serves on the boards of Child Rights and You (CRY), Citizens for Peace, Centre for Education and Documentation and on the Executive Committee of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti. | Gandhian Vision |
| Rashmi Datt | With over 2 decades of industry experience in the Organization Development, learning and development, and instructional design, Rashmi Datt facilitates individual and organizational development through the framework of Emotional Intelligence. When she started at the ‘University Of Life’, she majored in ‘Self Sabotage’, ‘Winning the battles but losing the war’ and ‘Weapons of Mass Distraction’. But while the lessons were hard, it was a great opportunity to master the subject of human behaviour and thus was born a valuable insight into EI. A post-graduate in Management from BITS Pilani, she worked for 8 years with Pfizer, Mumbai before starting Dialog Services, a Training and Development firm. She is a qualified MBTI trainer from Association for Psychological Type (APT), USA. A thinker and writer in the world of personal effectiveness, she is the author of two books “Managing Your Boss”(2005), which was translated into two foreign languages-Mandarin and bahasa Indonesia; and “And the Lion Smiled at the Rabbit”.(2012), which won the ISTD Management Book of the Year Award 2013. |
EQ and Self-Leadership |
| Sandeep Pandey | Sandeep Pandey is a social-political activist who works for the empowerment of marginalised sections of society. His main work includes fighting against day to day corruption in government welfare schemes which impact the lives of poor, like PDS, NREGS, pension, land reforms, etc. He has also been part of campaigns on RTI, RTE, RTF, right to work, communal harmony, nuclear disarmament and peace, against nuclear power, against dispacement due to any project, human rights. He is part of People's Political Front and Socialist Party. | RTI Workshop |
| Sanjiv Rangrass | Sanjiv Rangrass took over as Chief Executive of the Agri Business Division – ILTD in July 2010. Prior to this, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the business. Rangrass joined the Company in 1982 after completing his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He spent 27 years in the India Tobacco Division in various capacities in the Technical function across manufacturing units and Head Office. From 1998-99, he served as the Head of Bengaluru Factory after which he moved to Head Office as the General Manager, Operations. During 2001-03 he also had a cross functional stint as General Manager, HR, in the Tobacco Division. Prior to moving to Agri Business Division – ILTD , he was Member, Technical, of the Executive Committee of the Tobacco Division. At present, he is on the Board of Governors of IIM Shillong. | Corporate Leadership |
| Sharmita Lahiri | Sharmita Lahiri is an Assistant Professor in Humanities at IIT-Gandhinagar. She joined the institute in 2009 prior to which she was a post-doctoral fellow and instructional coorodinator at University of Houston. She obatined her Ph.D from University of Houston in 2008. | Telling a Story |
| Shekhar Mukherjee | Subsequent to a two-year stint as cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic artist at the Economic Times, Sekhar Mukherjee joined NID as a student of Animation Design in 1992. After graduation, Sekhar worked in various fields of Communication Design and joined NID as a faculty in the Animation Film Design discipline in 2002. Since 2003, Sekhar has been heading the Animation Film Design discipline and mentoring the future generation of Indian graphic storytellers. He organises an international students’ animation film festival called Chitrakatha at NID; this has helped promote hitherto unknown stories from the Indian subcontinent. |
Animation and Comics |
| Shiladitya Sengupta | Shiladitya obtained his bachelors with honors and masters from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he received the Geeta Mital Gold Medal. He then went to Trinity College, University of Cambridge as a British Chevening and Nehru Scholar for his PhD in pharmacology. His postdoctoral training was in biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has received the Shakuntala Amir Chand Prize from the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Young Investigator award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He is a recipient of the TR35 Innovator Award from the MIT Technology Review Magazine and the Era of Hope Scholar Award from the US Department of Defense, and has supervised several best student paper awards at recent conferences. | Entreprenership |
| Srinivas Reddy | Srinivas began his musical training as a guitarist and composer. In 1998 he graduated from Brown University with a BA in South Asian Studies and completed his senior project entitled NaadaSat, a multi-instrumental ensemble piece that reflected his growing interest in South Asian philosophy and music. After moving to San Francisco in 1998, Srinivas met his guru and mentor Sri Partha Chatterjee, a direct disciple of the late sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Since then Srinivas has dedicated himself to Indian classical music and rigorously trained with his teacher in the traditional guru-shishya style. Srinivas is a professional concert sitarist and has given numerous recitals in the US and India. He has three albums to his credit: GITA (1999), Sitar & Tabla (2001) and Hemant & Jog (2008). In 2011 Srinivas graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhD in South and Southeast Asian Studies. Under the guidance of Professor George Hart he studied Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu literary traditions and completed his thesis on the Vijayanagar emperor Krishnadevaraya and his grand Telugu epic Amuktamalyada. A translation of the work entitled Giver of the Worn Garland has recently been published by Penguin Books. Srinivas is currently Assistant Professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies at IIT Gandhinagar. He spends his time performing, teaching and conducting research in California, Rhode Island and India. | Music Workshop |
| Stefan Haves | Stefan Haves is an acclaimed director, creator and producer of Circus, theater and film whose creations have appeared on stages, festivals, and screens across the globe. His work has been a favorite at Cirque du Soleil since 2006 where he has collaborated on creative teams as a Comic Act Designer, Casting Partner, and Master Teacher on nine shows, including O, Love and Ka. Known as a “pied piper of talent” Haves has assembled his network of world-class performers, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, sword swallowers, musicians and designers to numerous internationally celebrated projects. Of note was his six year tenure as primary writer/director at Dinner/Cirque Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco and Seattle. | Introduction to Theater |
| Suchitra Mathur | Suchitra Mathur is a professor in HSS at IIT Kanpur. She is interested in Feminist and Postcolonial theories and literatures, Indian writing in English as well as popular culture studies. | Visual Story Telling |
| Tannistha Samanta | Tannistha Samanta is an Assistant Professor at the department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India. Samanta received her PhD in Social Demography from the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park in Spring 2012. Samanta specializes in employing quantitative methods to study health, aging and social stratification focusing primarily on South Asia. Apart from her academic work, Samanta has worked on diverse social policy issues (e.g. evaluation of government policies associated to aging, reproductive health and education) of developing countries as an intern/consultant to international think-tanks in the U.S and India. Her current projects include integrating geo-spatial (GIS) techniques to demography of aging and research examining adaptability and feasibility of incorporating digital technology to improve lives of older adults in India. Samanta grew up in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and speaks Bengali and Hindi. She tries to take enough time off from academia to be a frequent traveler and an occasional tourist. | Gender panel |
| V N Prabhakar | V N Prabhakar is a Superintending Archaeologist at Archaeological Survey of India specializing in Harappan archaeology with emphasis on Application of Sciences in Archaeology. He obtained his Ph.D in 2013 from Kurukshetra University. He is also a visiting faculty at IIT-Gandhinagar. | Harappan civilization |
| D. R. Goswami. | Dr. Goswami is the Group Head, PCEG/SEDA, Indian Space Research Organization. | Space Research in India |