UMass Amherst to Welcome Srinivas Chokkakula as Inaugural Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Fall 2022

The University of Massachusetts Amherst will host Srinivas Chokkakula, Ministry of Jal Shakti research chair at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, India, as its inaugural Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair for Indian Studies in fall 2022. Chokkakula will be based within the School of Public Policy where he will teach a class on Indian public policy and water governance.

Image

The program is part of a new, joint initiative between the university and the United States-India Education Foundation (USIEF) to host distinguished scholars and practitioners from India to teach, research and contribute to the academic life at UMass Amherst. The university is one of two campuses to host this prestigious Fulbright program, the other being Emory University.

“The visiting chair will make an important contribution to our scholarly community by catalyzing further research and teaching,” says Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy. “We also hope that the presence of the chair will allow our faculty and students to make tangible connections with Indian institutions, thus furthering our partnership and student mobility goals.”

“I am delighted that UMass Amherst was chosen as an inaugural institution to host this signature partnership with USIEF, which will not only bring greater visibility to Indian studies on our campus but also strengthen our close partnership with the Fulbright Program,” says Kalpen Trivedi, vice provost for global affairs and director of the International Programs Office.

Image

In addition to Chokkakula’s work as research chair for the Ministry of Jal Shakti, he leads the Transboundary Rivers, Ecologies, and Development studies (TREADs) program. His research and policy interests lie primarily in the water sector, focusing on transboundary and interstate water conflicts and governance, as well as federalism and politics of infrastructure development, including dams, smart cities and rural roads. Srinivas is currently also a member of the Drafting Committee of India’s National Water Policy.

With interdisciplinary training in geography, planning and engineering, Chokkakula’s earlier work included urban and regional planning; local governance in India; disaster response and reconstruction; and Indigenous knowledge systems. He was a Chevening Scholar in the British Council’s Young Indian Environmental Managers program in 2000.

As of spring 2022, UMass Amherst has 1,069 students enrolled from India.

USIEF’s Executive Director Adam J. Grotsky says that “the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair will increase visibility and generate awareness about India on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and inspire faculty and graduate students to deepen their interest and strengthen their connections with India.”

The Republic of India is the most populous democracy in the world, home to over 1.3 billion people, with an estimated GDP of $3 trillion, the sixth highest in the world. By 2025, India’s middle class could represent more than 55 percent of its population, according to World Bank economist Ejaz Ghani, which would make it home to the largest middle class in the world. India ranks second for international students pursuing higher education in the U.S., with more than 167,582 Indian students enrolling during the 2020-21 academic year.

To learn more about United States-India Education Foundation, visit usief.org.in.