USIPI Announces First Cohort of Non-Resident Research Fellows

Washington D.C. — January 31, 2022 — Today, USIPI announced the appointment of the first cohort of Non-Resident Research Fellows. Five promising early- and mid-career scholars have been awarded one-year USIPI fellowships for their relentless dedication to producing research that shines a light on socio-religious community data to reduce existing poverty and achievement gaps for these communities.

USIPI’s commitment to this cohort is to provide access to strategic opportunities and connections to a like-minded global network of scholars invested in similar types of research. Their diverse backgrounds and experience have the potential to uplift each other’s work, while USIPI nurtures a pipeline of talent that builds a better tomorrow for all citizens of India and the United States together.

The 2022 USIPI Non-Resident Research Fellows are:

Amit Sharma

Amit Sharma is an economist with 11+ years’ experience in evidence-based economic research. He is well-versed in research design (end-to-end) and has worked on several policy-oriented research studies commissioned by organisations such as the DFID, the BMG Foundation and various Ministries. He has published 16 papers/ book chapters in journals like Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, and books published by Oxford University Press, Routledge etc. He is adept in data management, manipulation and analysis using STATA & SPSS and proficient in statistical and econometric analysis. He has command over large data analysis and STATA programming. He was formally trained in engineering (B.S.) and economics (M.S.). His research interests lie in research on poverty, education and health. He also has a keen interest in programming and social data science.

Rifat Lutful

Rifat Binte Lutful is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware (UD) in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Her research interest focuses on Security Studies, Democratization and Comparative Politics of Developing Countries, and the Politics of South Asia. Her doctoral research focuses on the rise of radicalization. She has worked as a graduate teaching and research assistant. She is the recipient of the Graduate Teaching Assistant Award 2019 at UD. She has worked as a course instructor and taught Introduction to Global Politics at UD. Her research work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and books.

Mohamed Zeeshan

Mohamed Zeeshan is a foreign affairs columnist, consultant and editor-in-chief of Freedom Gazette. He has previously worked with the Indian delegation to the United Nations in New York and with Kearney, the global consulting firm. As a consultant, Zeeshan has advised governments across the Middle East on economic and political modernization, and helped draft a multilateral declaration on cybersecurity at the 2020 G20 Summit in Riyadh. He was also involved in strategizing India’s historic election to the International Court of Justice in 2017. Zeeshan is currently a staff writer for The Diplomat and hosts a monthly Sunday column in Deccan Herald, titled ‘The Z Factor’. He has also written for the Washington Post, the Economist, the Straits Times, the Sydney Morning Herald and South China Morning Post, among other international dailies. Zeeshan holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, where he edited the online edition of the Columbia Journal of International Affairs.

Shahidur Rashid Talukdar

Shahidur Rashid Talukdar is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) at Virginia Tech. His doctoral research focuses on regional governance, sustainability, and development and his research interests also include poverty, economic growth, and inflation in developing countries.
He has published scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Community Change, Discover Sustainability, and International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement on topics related to regional governance, sustainability, and service-learning experience. Given his interest in the political economy of India, Shahidur has also authored numerous articles in newspapers, magazines, and online portals including Mic.com (formerly PolicyMic), Arab News, Khaleej Times, Daily Times, Daily Star, Kashmir Times, to name a few.

In 2020, Shahidur’s paper titled Policy Conflicts in Fair, Affordable, and Inclusive Housing: A Case Study of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area received the Best Student Paper Award at the Northeast Conference on Public Administration held in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally from Silchar, Assam (India) and migrating to the US after completing undergraduate and graduate degrees from Aligarh Muslim University, Shahidur currently lives in Blacksburg, VA with his wife and daughter.

Tanweer Alam

Tanweer Alam is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the University of Oxford. He has been working on the issues of marginalization and socio-economic inequalities. Tanweer is also interested in issues of governance, Indian politics, and the changing character of society and democracy. He has been an activist and worked voluntarily with some Civil Rights Groups and NGOs and was engaged in advocacy on issues related to deprived groups. Tanweer has worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders including research organizations, academics, opinion-makers, community leaders, and policy experts. Every now and then, he writes opinion pieces for The Times of India, Hindustan Times, India Today.

USIPI congratulates these scholars for their accomplishments until date and looks forward to supporting future cohorts of Research Fellows in the next chapter of growth.

About USIPI:

USIPI is the only community-supported nonprofit policy think tank focused on uplifting marginalized and vulnerable communities in India. The organization has produced noteworthy research for 9 years to facilitate evidence-based policies that promote human development and inclusive growth for all citizens of India. Distinguished academic scholars who have generated policy-research include Dr. Abusaleh Shariff, Dr. Amir Ullah Khan, and Prof. Amitabh Kundu amongst others.