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Previewing the Annual Cambridge Symposium: Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep of the World Bank on Rethinking Water Through Data and Systems

Apr 7, 2026 | News, South Asia in the News

Previewing the Annual Cambridge Symposium: Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep of the World Bank on Rethinking Water Through Data and Systems

The Mittal Institute’s Annual Symposium: Living with Rivers on April 17 marks the launch of Living with Rivers, our new interdisciplinary initiative. Bringing together leading scholars and policy experts, the symposium will explore a central question: How well is South Asia living with its rivers? Among this year’s speakers is Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep, Global Lead for Disruptive Technology in the Sustainable Development Practice Group, World Bank. We spoke with Harsh about bridging the gap between water data and decision-making.

PSIL in Goa: From Program to Practice

Apr 5, 2026 | India, News, Students

PSIL in Goa: From Program to Practice

Every January, Dominic Mao, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Andrea Wright, Assistant Dean of Harvard College, train and accompany a group of Harvard undergraduates to India in what’s known as the Program for Scientifically-Inspired Leadership (PSIL). There, they collaborate with local college students to deliver a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences curriculum to high school students. This immersive camp provides intense, hands-on learning experiences, exposing high school participants to diverse academic disciplines, extracurricular activities, and meaningful cultural exchanges. By fostering interactions across these three groups, the program creates a vibrant environment for intellectual growth and cross-cultural understanding.

Contrasts, Mirrors, and Gradients: A Mumbai Design Studio Experience

Mar 27, 2026 | Announcements, News, Students

Contrasts, Mirrors, and Gradients: A Mumbai Design Studio Experience

This February, design and real estate students embarked on an academic journey to Mumbai as part of a joint Development Project and Option Travel Studio at the GSD. Led by Professors Rahul Mehrotra, David Hamilton, and Jerold S. Kayden, the field trip allowed students to translate many of the questions that naturally emerged from their research to the site, particularly those regarding the Elphinstone Estate, an old industrial site serving as the studio’s focal point.

Art, Poetry, and the Feminine Divine: Seema Kohli in Conversation with Diana Eck at the Mittal Institute

Mar 26, 2026 | Announcements, Arts Program, News

Art, Poetry, and the Feminine Divine: Seema Kohli in Conversation with Diana Eck at the Mittal Institute

The Mittal Institute recently welcomed multidisciplinary artist Seema Kohli for a special event exploring the relationship between art, poetry, and the feminine divine in her practice. In conversation with Diana L. Eck, Kohli offered reflections on the deeply interconnected nature of her creative work, where visual art and poetry emerge in tandem.

Reimagining Healthcare in India: Insights from the Jaipur Literature Festival

Mar 18, 2026 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, News

Reimagining Healthcare in India: Insights from the Jaipur Literature Festival

A panel discussion at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival discussed a Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System report on reimagining health care in India, bringing together experts in global health, civil society, business, and medicine including Vikram Patel, Mittal Institute Steering Committee Member, Lancet Commission Co-Chair, and The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, Harvard Medical School; Tarun Khanna, former Mittal Institute Faculty Director and the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School; Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet; and Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India; with introductions by Hitesh Hathi, Executive Director of the Mittal Institute.

Afghan-American Writer/Illustrator Fowzia Karimi on Storytelling, Memory, and Harvard

Mar 18, 2026 | Afghanistan, Announcements, News

Afghan-American Writer/Illustrator Fowzia Karimi on Storytelling, Memory, and Harvard

Fowzia Karimi, a writer and illustrator from Afghanistan, joined Harvard University this academic year as a Radcliffe Fellow. Fowzia’s work weaves fable, dream, memory, biology, and war while exploiting the interplay between text and image on the page. At Radcliffe she is working on The Age of Flowers, a collection of Afghan fairy tales illuminated with her watercolor paintings. We spoke to Fowzia to learn more about her work at Harvard.  

Incubating Impact: From a Mittal Institute Initiative to a Global Nonprofit

Mar 12, 2026 | News

Incubating Impact: From a Mittal Institute Initiative to a Global Nonprofit

The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program, incubated at the Mittal Institute, has grown into the Aspire Institute, an independent nonprofit empowering first-generation and limited-income university students to reach their full potential. Today, Aspire reaches hundreds of thousands of learners around the world, extending the impact of an initiative that began at the Mittal Institute.

Designing for Extreme Heat in a Warming World

Mar 11, 2026 | Announcements, Climate, News

Designing for Extreme Heat in a Warming World

Last month the Mittal Institute hosted the event, Between Comfort and Heat Stress: The Hidden Burden of Everyday Heat, bringing scholars together from building science, urban design, and environmental health to discuss one of climate change’s most pressing yet often overlooked challenges: extreme heat. Moderated by architect and urbanist Rahul Mehrotra,  Professor of Urban Design and Planning and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, the event featured a presentation by building science expert Rajan Rawal, Professor at CEPT University and Senior Advisor at the Center for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE), on how cities, buildings, and policies must evolve to address rising temperatures. Prof. Rawal was joined in conversation by Gary Adamkiewicz, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

Meet the Mittal Institute’s 2026 South Asian Arts Fellow, Swapnaa Tamhane

Mar 11, 2026 | Announcements, Arts Program, News

Meet the Mittal Institute’s 2026 South Asian Arts Fellow, Swapnaa Tamhane

The Mittal Institute’s newly-launched South Asian Arts Fellowship (SAAF) supports artists, curators, and scholars in North America whose work engages critically with the visual and material cultures of South Asia. This four-week residency in Cambridge offers fellows dedicated time to advance their research and creative practice while drawing on Harvard’s exceptional academic, curatorial, and archival resources, including the Harvard Art Museums and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Selected by Harvard faculty and curators, fellows also present their work publicly and engage with the University’s vibrant intellectual community. Our 2026 South Asian Arts Fellow is Swapnaa Tamhane, an artist, curator, and writer. Read on to learn more about Swapnaa, including her practice and her hope for her time at Harvard University. 

Building Dialogue Through the South Asian Studies Colloquium

Mar 10, 2026 | Announcements, Community, Graduate Student Associates, News, South Asia in the News, Students

Building Dialogue Through the South Asian Studies Colloquium

The South Asian Studies Colloquium at Harvard brings together scholars, students, and enthusiasts to share research and ideas across disciplines. With presentations by graduate students, faculty, and visiting fellows, plus a guest lecture series, each session encourages lively dialogue and feedback. Open to the entire Harvard community, the colloquium fosters connections, sparks cross-disciplinary conversations, and explores the rich histories and cultures of South Asia. We spoke with Colloquium organizers Seton Uhlhorn, a Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate and Ph.D candidate specializing in classical Urdu literature, and Afeef Ahmed, a Ph.D candidate who studies Early Modern South India and the Indian Ocean, to learn more about what inspired the series.