The Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania announced today that Penn alumna Sindhuri Nandhakumar is the recipient of the 2015-16 Sobti Family Fellowship.

"This year we are delighted to support one of our former CASI interns return to India to work on a long term research project through our Sobti Family Fellowship,” said Devesh Kapur, CASI director. “There is a rising demand among Penn undergraduate students to pursue learning experiences beyond the classroom, and we are pleased to support current students and recent graduates interested in India.”

Established through a gift from two Penn parents, alumnus Rajiv Sobti and Slomi Sobti, the annual fellowship, now in its second year, provides funding for a recent Penn graduate to conduct independent research in India.

Nandhakumar will use her award for a nine-month research project on how English theater in India has continued to adapt and evolve in relation to the liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy. She will conduct ethnographic research in the artistic communities of Chennai and Mumbai and will be working with Theatre Nisha in Chennai and the Drama School in Mumbai.

“I think India is an exciting place right now for the development of theater and independent film, and I want to learn more about the exciting transformations taking place,”Nandhakumar said.

Nandhakumar graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences in 2014, where she majored in political science with a minor in urban studies. She is from Kandy, Sri Lanka, and moved to Toronto with her family before pursuing her undergraduate degree.

At Penn, Nandhakumar was active in the theater community through her involvement with PenNaatak and iNtuitons Experimental Theater. This past year she developed a full-length play in Toronto. She was a CASI intern at Aravind Eye Care Systems in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in 2012.