Grants and Scholarships
Academic Year Foreign Language Area Scholarship (2x Recipient)
Full Scholarship and Stipend for two year MA/MSc program, awarded through the Columbia University South Asia Institute. In fulfillment of this award, I improved my Hindi and Persian language abilities between Columbia and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS London) and concentrated on South Asian studies.
2023-2025
Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship
Through this U.S. Department of State Program, I taught at a Bengali Senior Secondary School, served as a cultural ambassador, and lead U.S. Embassy-sponsored ‘Access Programs’ with communities around North India. Audited other teachers’ classes to improve understanding of Indian educational systems and pedagogies; visited State Government Schools and Central Government Schools and presented report on best practices at Fulbright Conference. Improved Hindi language proficiency through fully-funded thrice-weekly Hindi classes.
June 2022-April 2023
Critical Language Scholarship
Awarded a CLS to study Advanced Hindi at the American Institute for Indian Studies in Jaipur.
Summer 2024
Columbia Univeristy Alliance Fellowship
and
Summer Foreign Language Area Scholarship
Received these grants in conjunction; conducted dissertation research across India and improve professional Hindi proficiency through Landour Language School, Uttarakhand.
Summer 2024
Bestselling Book
Propelled my inaugural book, The Local School, to the best-selling charts on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in several categories; reached the #1 spot for New Travel Writing, #2 spot for Indian History, and the #11 spot for Overall Travel Writing, flanked by Robert Prisig, Jon Krakauer, Bill Bryson, and Anthony Bourdain. Sold several thousand copies of The Local School; ranked hundreds of times on Goodreads, with 4.3/5 rating.
March 2022
Artist in Residence, Kured
​Curated an interactive exhibit for my book at Kured Co., as their as artist-in-residence
April-May 2022
Boston College Winston Center for Leadership Travel Grant
and
Atlantic Coast Conference Honors Thesis Research Grant
Received these grants in conjunction; conducted honors thesis research across India and improve Hindi proficiency through self-designed program in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Summer 2019
John L. Heineman Award for Distinguished Historical Scholarship
Received this Honors Thesis award from the Boston College history department, for distinguished historical scholarship.
May 2020
Selected Talks
World Hindi Conference Delegate
​Delivered a Hindi speech at a World Hindi Conference about experiences learning Hindi as native English speaker.
November 2023
Hindi Debater, Annual Yale University Hindi Debate (Selected, but Declined due to conflict)
Invited as Columbia Univeristy delegate to Annual Yale University Hindi debate; selected to debate topic of the impacts of social media.
April 2024
Fulbright-Nehru Conference - Scholar Speaker
Selected from a pool of over 100 Fulbrighters to host a portion of the Fulbright-Nehru conference; delivered a speech before 200 people, including officers of the U.S. Foreign Service and Indian Ministry of External Affairs
November 2022