Dr. Jyothsna Rao
Faculty Advisor & Research Mentor, Biology

Dr. Jyothsna is the Research Director and Lab Head of International Stem Cell Services, where she is responsible for running the cGMP facility, cord blood banking, maintaining cell lines, and executing clinical trials. She collaborates with universities across India to conduct projects for postgraduate students in cell biology and molecular biology. Since 2015, she has also been running a biology-focussed research program for high school students at her iCREST Academy, Bangalore. Before this, she has worked on the application of dendritic cells as cell-based therapies in cancer and transplantation of organs at Cornell University. While at Rockefeller University, her work involved the generation of dendritic cell vaccines for cancer and HIV.

Dr. Jyoti (as we like to call her) graduated from the University of Arkansas, USA, in Physiology and Medicine.

Currently researching: Convalescent Plasma Therapy for stage 2 COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Gururaj Rao
Research Mentor, Neurobiology & Drug Discovery

Dr. Gururaj A. Rao has over 15 years of research experience in Biotechnology, with expertise in molecular biotechnology, gene therapy, stem cell biology, protein chemistry, and neurobiology. Dr. Rao was awarded a scholarship to do his M.S / Ph.D. in Gene Delivery from the prestigious School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and completed his Ph.D. with stalwarts Dr. Dhiren Thakker and Dr. Jude Samulski, renowned gene therapy researcher known for their pioneering work in AAV gene vectors. Dr. Rao went on to do research in neurobiology, gene delivery, Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. He has published several papers and has several patents under his belt. He is presently serving as Managing Director of International Stemcell Services Ltd.

Currently researching: Role of mesenchymal cells in treating acute respiratory distress. Cytokine profiling in cancer and COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Geetanjali Sethi
Research Mentor, Astrophysics

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. I have been involved in undergraduate teaching for more than sixteen years now. I did my Ph.D. in theoretical Cosmology.

My research interests involve theoretical, computational cosmology, Astronomy, and Astrophysics. I have in past worked on Alternate Cosmology models and Dark Energy models. I enjoy doing Computation and data analysis using PYTHON. I have been involved with mentorship programs of the New York Science Academy and Supernova Foundation.

Currently researching: Pulsar Astronomy

Harshit Agarwal
Research Mentor, AI/ML

Harshit is a designer at Adobe Design Lab, a team that explores emerging technologies and their potential to enable new opportunities in creative thinking and expression.

Harshit has an independent art practice too. He was the only Indian artist among 7 international AI art pioneers in one of the world’s first AI art shows in a contemporary art gallery (Gradient Descent at Nature Morte). His work is part of the permanent exhibition at the largest computer science museum in the world, the HNF museum in Germany.

He has given several talks on the subject of AI, Art, and Creativity, including 3 TEDx talks. His work has also been extensively covered in international media, including BBC, New York Times, Artnet, Artsy, STIRworld.

He graduated from the MIT Media Lab, USA, and IIT Guwahati, and along with his art practice, has authored several publications and patents for his work at the intersection of human-computer interaction and creative expression.

Currently researching: Creative expression using artificial intelligence algorithms called Generative Adversarial Networks

Dr. Godwin Stephenson
Program Advisor & Research Mentor, Biology

Following a master’s degree in Chemistry at St. Joseph's College in Bangalore, Godwin pursued a Ph.D. in Microfluidics at the University of Cambridge and is now studying Cell Biology as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Centre for Biological Science, Bangalore. His research predominantly involves microfluidic tools to study E. coli at a single cell level, correlating individual bacterial traits to population-level phenomena.

Currently researching: Dynamics of the spread of bacteriophages in a population of E. coli.

Pawan Kumar
Research Mentor, Computer Science

Pawan is a Software Systems Architect at Zebra Technologies, Atlanta, USA. He currently focuses on developing microservices-based robust systems in the cloud. He has also authored two books on Documentum Fundamentals. With over 20 years of experience, he has advised companies from the likes of NIIT Technologies to The Home Depot. Pawan has a passion for learning Math and Math History, and in his spare time, he teaches high school Mathematics in his community.

Pawan graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Computer Science. He also holds degrees in Computer Science Engineering and Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi. 

Currently reading: The refreshingly witty and informative writing of Ben Orlin, the author of Math with Bad Drawings and Change is the Only Constant. In his own words, “I read both of these books recently, and would probably keep returning to them in the future.”

Prerna Ramanathan
Research Mentor, Yoga Therapy

Prerna is a licensed Yoga Therapist with a two-year diploma from Yoga Therapy in Vancouver, Canada, where she researched ‘Yoga Therapy for People with Chronic Lower Back Pain- A study on pain management and improving life quality through a holistic yoga practice’. Before this, she completed her basic teacher training in Hatha and Sivananda Yoga from separate schools and a Children’s Yoga teacher training. With over 10 years of experience, she has used her expertise in designing curriculum and teaching yoga in International Schools across Bangalore. She currently teaches therapy and wellness yoga privately on a full-time basis and runs a batch for children. On Sundays, you will find her conducting free yoga sessions with her community at a park in Bangalore, more often than not.

Prerna has a social media presence through her specialized videos on yoga therapy and is currently building a niche for herself. 

Currently researching: Biomechanics of movement, the anatomy of the joint structure and its functions, and neuromuscular communication. 

Ila Sharma
Research Mentor, English Lang & Lit

Ila has been an IB and IGCSE teacher of English language and literature for 8 years. She is an IB DP examiner for HL English Language and Literature. She has a Masters in English Literature (Hons.) from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

In her 8 years of teaching international curricula at the school level, she has gained an appreciation for concept-based learning in the field of humanities and the value of research and independent thinking. Her interest lies in helping young minds cultivate the skill of articulation and expression that is clear, concise, and sophisticated. To that effect, her experience with MYP and DP Lang and Lit curriculum designing, teaching, and assessing responses on critically acclaimed literary and non-literary texts and guiding students for their IB Extended-Essay and MYP Personal Projects comes in quite handy.

Within English Literature, her areas of interest are Gender Studies and Queer Theory, Postcolonialism, and the very rich genre of Graphic narratives in general. 

Currently reading: Are You My Mother? – A comic drama by Alison Bechdel.

Dr. Mrinalini Menon
Research Mentor, Biochemistry & Biology

Dr. Mrinalini is working as an Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bangalore affiliated to the Visvesvaraya Technological University. She teaches courses like Enzyme Technology, Plant & Animal Biotechnology, Research Methodology, Bioethics & Biosafety for B.E Biotechnology, and M.Tech Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering students. She has also guided several final year projects for B.E Biotechnology, many of which have received critical acclaim at National Seminars & Conferences. Besides, two students have also obtained their M.Sc (Engg) by Research under her guidance to date. 

A Ph.D. holder from the University of Mysore under the CSIR-UGC fellowship, she also has peer-reviewed publications to her credit. She is keenly interested in research as well as mentoring students.

Currently researching: Characterization of enzymes from newer plant sources. Herbal drugs in the context of cell-based therapeutic approaches.

Saahil Dama
Research Mentor, Law

Saahil is a lawyer and an entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of WorldWise, an online learning platform that teaches real-world ideas to students. Before starting WorldWise, Saahil worked as a technology, media, and telecommunications lawyer with a top-tier law firm in Bangalore. During this time, he advised various technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Udemy, and Flipkart on technology law aspects.

Saahil graduated as a gold medallist from National Law University, Jodhpur. In his free time, Saahil travels and runs marathons.

Currently reading: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

Paulomi Choudhury
Research Mentor, Psychology

Paulomi Choudhury is a high school educator with 7 years of experience teaching Psychology in reputed schools in India offering the international curriculum. She is also an Examiner for IBDP Psychology. She is a qualified counseling psychologist from the University of Mumbai and a trained career counselor.

Her experience teaching the IBDP and AS & A-levels Psychology to young adults and adolescents has helped her develop her unique teaching style aimed at developing critical thinking abilities in her students. Teaching the international curriculum which has an extensive research and research methodology focus has helped her stay up to date on the latest research in the field of Psychology. She believes that the future of all disciplines rest on methodologically strong research developments that help the growth of knowledge and that by inculcating the love for research in students she is contributing to the future of Psychology.

In Psychology, her area of interest and expertise are Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology.

Currently reading: Games people play, the Psychology of human relationships by Eric Berne.

Vinish Janardhanan
Research Mentor, Design

Vinish is a Senior Experience Designer at Adobe with over 10 years of experience in UI/UX. He graduated from IIT Bombay with an M.Des in Industrial Design. His alma mater has helped channel his creativity in designing meaningful experiences for products and services. He currently focuses on leveraging research to create innovative experiences to accelerate creativity. As a constant practice, Vinish has mentored and guided numerous undergraduate students in gaining a better understanding of academic and career prospects in the field of Design. He has worked with kids of all age groups and more recently designed a book cover for a high school student through Open Book, a Chicago-based NGO. In the past, he has also worked on developing sustainable toys and learning aid for children.

Currently researching: Growth Design - User psychology to create effective growth models. 

Neha Kumar
Program Director

Neha Kumar is the Program Director of Research Discovery, an online initiative to connect young minds with experts globally. Having collaborated with Dr. Jyoti’s research program for high school students since 2017, she realized that students continuously seek new challenges and opportunities but rarely have access to the right resources.

With a hybrid background in research, teaching, and college counseling, she has combined her expertise and developed an online research program for high school students. Prior to this, she was an IB Biology facilitator at well-known International Schools in India. She has also worked as a College Counselor and Research Advisor for high school students since 2017. While at university, her primary research areas were epigenetic regulation and gene expression in anxiety and stress.

Currently pursuing: The Entrepreneurial Edge online program by the London Business School.