The Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania has announced a new fellowship that will enable recent Penn graduates to conduct independent research for nine months or more in India.

The Sobti Family Fellowship, CASI’s first post-baccalaureate fellowship, is funded through the generous support of Penn parents, Rajiv Sobti Gr’84 and Slomi Sobti.

With a noticeable increase in demand for internships and research opportunities in India, CASI is well positioned to offer such fellowships.

“CASI travel awards provide students with the opportunity to access India beyond textbooks and classes,” says CASI director and Madan Lal Sobti Associate Professor Devesh Kapur. “The Sobti Family Fellowship is a sort of intellectual venture capital that will allow graduating students to explore an idea or passion in greater depth and further their personal and professional goals.”

In its introductory year, the Sobti Family Fellowship Fund will enable a graduating senior or recent Penn graduate, who has completed a bachelor’s degree from any of Penn’s four undergraduate schools between May 2012 and May 2014, to pursue independent research over an extended period on a topic related to contemporary India.

Sobti Family Fellowship applications can be submitted online through CASI’s website. The application deadline is March 17, 2014. The winner will be announced in April 2014.

Since 2007, CASI has provided 86 summer travel awards to Penn students, two-thirds of these to undergraduates, to conduct volunteer internships and independent research in India during the summer months. The CASI Internship program is one of the most selective student internship programs at Penn, with just one in six applicants selected. CASI also offers summer funding to undergraduates and graduate students to conduct independent research in connection with their academic studies at Penn.

More information is available at the CASI Open House, which will be held on December 11 from 2-5 p.m. in the CASI office, 3600 Market Street, Suite 560.