Among the 30 recipients of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans this year, seven remarkable Indian American individuals have secured spots, standing out from over 2,600 applicants. This prestigious program, designed for immigrants and children of immigrants, offers up to $90,000 over two years to support graduate education in the United States.
Arjun Ramani from Indiana is pursuing a PhD in economics at MIT, focusing on innovation and technological change. His academic journey began at Stanford, where he studied economics and computer science with an emphasis on artificial intelligence. A published writer at The Economist, Ramani’s reporting on India and artificial intelligence has earned him international recognition.
Devika Ranjan, raised across the US and originally from Nashik, India, blends theater with activism. As a creative storyteller, she crafts immersive performances on migration and social justice. With advanced degrees from Cambridge and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Ranjan continues to shape critical dialogue around immigrant experiences.
New Jersey native Eshika Kaul, daughter of Kashmiri immigrants, double-majored in economics and peace studies at Wellesley. Her policy work with the IRS, White House, and Treasury Department highlights her dedication to economic justice, and she’s been recognized with awards like the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and the Upstander Award.
Jupneet Singh, an MIT chemistry graduate and former top-ranking Air Force ROTC cadet, broke new ground as the first woman Air Force ROTC Rhodes Scholar. With degrees from Oxford and ongoing MD studies at Harvard under the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship, she plans to serve as a military surgeon.
Sreekar Mantena, a Harvard graduate, founded a global nonprofit focused on developing medical technologies for underserved communities. Now in the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program, he combines data science with medicine to build equitable healthcare systems through machine learning.
Swathi Srinivasan’s academic curiosity spans social science and medicine. A Rhodes Scholar and AmeriCorps Fellow, she’s researched overdose responses globally and now supports vulnerable populations in Boston through public health programs.
Lastly, Vaithish Velazhahan, who began his academic path in India and Kansas, has received global acclaim for his research in cancer and neuroscience. With publications in Nature and a PhD from Cambridge, he’s now at Stanford pursuing medicine and leading research to improve global health access.
