CIKS Summer Fellowship 2024:
Our Fellows
Fellow
Solei Sarmiento
Solei Sarmiento (she/her) is the Director and Co-Founder of the multimedia education platform, Sunflower Sutras. She graduated from UC Berkeley, earning her B.A. in Cognitive Science with a minor in Human Rights.
Particularly interested in the intersection of Traditional Knowledge, emotion science, and contemplative environmental neuroscience, Sarmiento is passionate about helping thread these worlds together.
Fellow
Dhruv Mahajan
Dhruv is an entrepreneur focused on solving for human wellbeing by designing video game experiences that not only entertain but also educate and heal. He shares a deep appreciation for the protocols of wellbeing that are rooted in Indic traditions. He has had formal training as a computer science engineer and sees video games as the most intuitive means to share Indic systems of wellbeing with the world.
Fellow
Dasi Yoga Rakshitha
Rakshitha is a graduate in the field of Life Sciences (Microbiology, Genetics, Chemistry). She has keen
interest in Indian Heritage, Culture, Folklore, Ancient Indian Knowledge Systems,and Traditions, with a focus on Temple Architecture, Iconography and Ancient Indian history. She is also an incoming student at the Center for Heritage Management for the Masters program in Heritage Management at Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Fellow
Shagun Sinha
Dr. Shagun Sinha works as an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at Amity University, Noida. Her research interests span across Paninian grammar, computational linguistics (CL), and language pedagogy. She completed her PhD in Sanskrit with a focus on CL from Jawaharlal Nehru University last year and worked briefly at an AI startup in Bangalore before commencing her journey as an Assistant Professor.
Fellow
Francisco Lopez Rivarola
Francisco Lopez Rivarola is a communicator from Argentina, Buenos Aires, and works as Co-Founder of Sunflower Sutras, a multimedia educational platform based on Berkeley, dedicated to documenting the work of indigenous elders and consciousness researchers to help bridge the paradigms of ancestral knowledge and modern-western science. Francisco is currently filming and producing courses with indigenous elders aimed at psychedelic practitioners and guides, hoping to make their voices and cosmovisions accessible for the stewarding of the psychedelic renaissance, in a reciprocal and non-extractivist manner.
Fellow
Nidhi Shendurnikar
Dr. Nidhi Shendurnikar has a doctoral degree in Political Science from The Maharaja Sayajirao
University of Baroda, Gujarat. She has close to a decade of teaching and research experience
in media and communication studies and has supervised over sixty postgraduate
dissertations. She has been a fellow of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Government
of India from 2011-2015. She has worked as a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Journalism &
Communication from 2011-2014 and as an Assistant Professor in the same faculty from 2017-2024.
Fellow
Ankita
Ankita is passionate about art and history, and explores these through travelling. Her inquisitive traits to know more eventually led her to pursue a B.A. and M.A. in Ancient Indian History and Culture & Archaeology, profoundly shaping her thought process along the way. She aspires to enrich her Indian heritage through the intricate art of illustration. Her aim is to closely examine and study Jharkhand’s indigenous art forms to critically observe perspectives, cultures, dominant narratives, and
stereotypes through their motif and theme representations.
Meet Our Mentors
Mentors guide, review and support our fellows to turn their ideas into impact.
Mentor
Rachna Bhangaokar
Dr. Rachana Bhangaokar is an Assistant Professor and I/c Head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She is also the Superintendent of Chetan Balwadi -The laboratory nursery school of the University. Her research interests include cultural psychology, Indian perspectives on moral development including concepts of Dharma, Karma Yoga and Shraddha. She has completed national and international funded research projects on social-moral development in Indian families, traditional and modern eating patterns, youth civic engagement and Gandhian philosophy.
Mentor
Raghava Krishna
Raghava has spent twenty one years in game development, learning and entrepreneurship. He was the co-founder and Associate Dean academics at Rashtram school of Public Leadership. He is currently the founder and CEO of Brhat.
Mentor
Venkatapathy Subhramaniam
Venkatapathy is Director, Anaadi Rural AI Center, which seeks to bridge this digital divide by providing rural communities with the resources, training, and collaboration opportunities they need to effectively use AI technologies. He is also Senior Project Research Scientist, working on the National Language Translation Mission at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Mentor
Shyam Krishnakumar
Shyam Krishnakumar is co-founder of The Pranava Institute, an organisation working at the intersection of emerging technology, policy, and society in India. Shyam is a long-standing member of Anaadi Foundation.
Mentor
Dr. Mala Kapadia
Dr. Mala Kapadia is a highly accomplished scholar and practitioner with a distinguished
career spanning research, education, journalism, human resources, and consulting. She is a
passionate advocate for integrating ancient Indian wisdom with modern approaches to wellbeing, leadership, and organizational development. Dr. Kapadia is currently the Director of
Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, at the Anaadi Foundation and the Principal
Investigator for a Ministry of Education (India) Indian Knowledge Systems Research Project
on Wellbeing and Happiness based on Ayurveda.
Mentor
Matrushree Ananthalakshmi
Matrushree Smrithi is co-founder, Anaadi Foundation and Dharma Gurukulam.
Mentor
Cibi Raj
Cibi Raj comes from a background which is steeped in Tamil Culture and as he completed his schooling from Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Tirupur, it naturally led him to nurture and care towards the spiritual and cultural richness of India. He did Electronics and instrumentation engg. bachelors and completed his Dual-Masters in Space science and technology, Robotics and Automation from Universities of Germany & Sweden. He has been doing rigorous research in the fields of History, Indian civilization since 2015. He has been a volunteer of Isha Foundation since 2009 and completed his sadhana pada, a 7-month program designed by Sadhguru. He took active part in research that was going on for the #FreeTNTemples movement initiated by Sadhguru. He is designing an elaborate and highly structured syllabus for History and culture course for Isha Leadership Academy.
Mentor
Mallikarjuna Rao
Dr. Mallikarjuna Rao is a Professor and Head of the Department of Dravyaguna Department, Sri Adisiva Sadguru Allisaheb Sivaaryula Ayurvedic Medical College and Research Centre, India.