Students Pursue Summers of Language and Learning

This summer, undergraduate and graduate students are busy in locales distant from Yale, immersed in summer research and language training through grants and fellowships awarded by the South Asian Studies Council.

In 2012, four undergraduate students with a demonstrated commitment to South Asian studies were chosen as recipients of the Rustgi Fellowship.  The fellowship, made possible through a gift from Anil Rustgi (Yale ’80), Vinod Rustgi (Yale ’75) and his wife, Eileen Boyle Rustgi (Yale ’77), aims to support increased understanding of the region among Yale students.   Recipients of the Rustgi Fellowship in 2012 include:  Tiraana Bains, Abhimanya Chandra, Peter Kaufman, Mingyuan Song, Sonia Taneja, and Rohit Thummalapalli.  Sonia Taneja was also awarded the

the South Asian Studies Travel Research Grant for Undergraduate Students, which provides summer travel grants for undergraduates studying South Asian history, society, languages, and culture in the United States and internationally.

The South Asian Studies Council Summer Language Award for Undergraduate Students was established to enable students to pursue language training in a South Asian language either in the United States or internationally.  Such training often builds on intensive language study at Yale during the academic year, and offers students unique immersion opportunities. This year, five awards were made to: Mario Falaris, Daniel Gordon, Alexa Little , Nelson Mendoza, and Aria Thaker.

Sanket Karuri was awarded the Senior Essay Research Grant, which offers support to students who are doing summer research on South Asian Studies for their senior essays.  Sanket, a rising senior majoring in South Asian Studies, is conducting research examining the policy legacies of communism in India, and spent the summer of 2012 carrying out research in West Bengal and Kerala for his senior essay.

In addition to awards at the undergraduate level, the South Asian Studies Council awarded eleven grants to graduate students who are pursuing either research or language study toward their doctoral dissertation.  Recipients of the Summer Research and Language Study Awards for Graduate Students awards include: Aniket Aga (Anthropology), Atreyee Majumder (Anthropology), Emma Stein (History of Art), Gareth Nellis (Political Science), Maliha Noorani (History of Art), Nikhar Gaikwad (Political Science), Niloufer Siddiqui (Political Science), Waleed Ziad (History), Lynna Dhanani (Religious Studies), Sahana Ghosh (Anthropology), Anurag Sinha (Political Science).

More information on awards and fellowships available to students and faculty, including eligibility requirements, can be found at: