3 Students Awarded Summer Research Grants in India

Three Wesleyan students will conduct laboratory research in India this summer as recipients of the U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program (UISFL) grant.

Claire Glickman ’21, Guadalupe (Lupita) Sanchez ’20, and Jaye Jeong ’20, will work at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai. Their grants are being administered by the College of Integrative Sciences, with support from the Fries Center for Global Studies.

Wesleyan received the two-year $165,699 grant to support the teaching of Hindi and Urdu, the research of STEM faculty and students in India, and the increase of cultural programming related to South Asia. The grant funds 50% of the total expenditures to which Wesleyan is committed over the two-year life of the grant, with the remaining 50% ($165,699) coming from nongovernmental sources.

Glickman will be working in the laboratory of Sudipta Maiti, professor in the Department of Chemical Sciences. Sanchez will be working in the laboratory of Ullas Kolthur, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. And Jeong will work with Shubha Tole, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Jeong’s research is part of a collaborative project between Tole and Janice Naegele, the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science; professor of biology; and professor, neuroscience and behavior.

Wesleyan has long-standing ties with India dating back to the 1960s. These include an annual Navaratri Festival, an annual student-organized Holi Festival, South Indian music course offerings, a South Asian studies concentration, and an active South Asian Student Association. The University currently has nine faculty teaching South Asian studies across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and a full-time assistant professor of the practice in Hindi-Urdu was recently hired.

“In my mind, what is particularly exciting about these summer research opportunities is that they are doing two things at once,” said Stephen Angle, director of the Fries Center for Global Studies. “They’re further developing our ties with India, which connects to other South Asian initiatives, and expanding international opportunities for science students, which connects to other efforts we’re making to emphasize the global reach—as well as local complexities—of the sciences.”