HANDRIKA MAHESH (SRINIVASAN)- LILA FELLOW 1996

Completed her M Sc. program with a First Class & Distinction from Pune University. She is a software engineer. Was teaching a course on software engineering for the MCS (part I) students at Nowroji Wadia College, Pune. Got married in Nov 99 and moved to USA.  Is presently working with Tata Consultancy Services and is located at the office of American Express as a team leader. She has been very successful in her job and has received appreciation letters from her Project Managers. "Ms Srinivasan has proven to be a highly skilled technician who has been a valuable asset to the team" " Chandrika has done a great job leading small projects. She not only learns quickly but also helps her colleagues to learn quickly." She received the ‘Certified Software Quality Analyst’ certification in 2001. In August 2002 she got a promotion as IT Analyst / Project Manager.

She received the MCSD certification (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer – a set of 5 exams). In July 2005, got a promotion as Assistant Consultant. Currently posted in Belgium and working as Business Manager. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

ASMITA KATDARE (MONDAL) - LILA FELLOW 1996

Completed M.P.M. from XLRI. She has also done MBA from XLRI, topping the class, in 1998. Then joined ICICI and worked for 3 years. The shifted to US with her husband and did a course in HR from UCLA. Started working for Rain Bird Inc in HR dept. She is working with Jaypar Inc., an IT consulting company in Fremont in Human Resources.

KETAKI DESHPANDE - LILA FELLOW 1996

She completed her MA in French from the University of Pune. Also did her Post Graduation Diploma in Journalism and Communication from The Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication. 
During her MA Ketaki went to France for 6 months on an exchange program and returned in 1999 to teach The Certificate Course in French at The Ranade Institute. She also taught at the Alliance Francaise.
She also won a Scholarship and went as an English Assistant to the Lycée Louis Lachenal (a technical high school) in France from Nov’98 to Apr’99 where she taught English to French students of vocational studies In August 2000 joined JNU Delhi to complete M PHIL in French. In October 2001 she received scholarship from CNOUS (the government organization sponsoring the scholarship) to study at ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE at LYON in France. In September 2002 she presented her dissertation and got A+. Fantastic Taught with Alliance Francaise, Delhi, since October 2002. Recently she has quit JNU Delhi & joined Hewlett Packard in Bangalore as a language specialist since 15/5/03. Her job involved dealing with clients from France She has Left Hewlett Packard in May 2005.
Ketaki works with Robert Bosch Bangalore since May ’05. She joined them as a Senior Translator and is now a Team Lead for the French Translation team.

NUSARAT SHAIKH - LILA FELLOW 1996

Completed M Sc. in Microbiology in 1997. Since then she works as a lecturer at the Abeda Inamdar Senior College for Girls. In 1999 she passed the SET exams in ‘Life Sciences’. She is presently aspiring to clear the UGC-CSIR exams and earn a fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. Since Aug. 2002 she in addition to working in Abeda Inamdar college, works as a lecturer at M.A. Rangoonwalla Dental college. She is also working on a minor research project in collaboration with Chemistry Dept.
She is doing a research project (biodegradation of pesticides) thru her  college. Which has been accepted by the  Pune University UGC-minor for which she has been   sanctioned an amount of 1 lakh She plans to pursue the same subject for her PhD. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

PRERNA KHOLE (GUPTA) - LILA FELLOW 1996

Completed Masters Degree in Computer Science from Pune University in 1997. Joined Patni Computer Systems and worked on a project for GE Aircraft engines. While on the project got an award for the high quality of deliverable. Got married early 1999 and later that year joined her husband in London. In April 2000 got a job with Hemel Hemstead as Analyst Programmer. In April 2001 she joined DST International, a company involved in Asset & Workflow Management Systems for international financial marketplace. In September 2001 she passed, with distinctions, the finance exams held by UK Finance Authorities and she also topped her company. She now has the certification of the same. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

ANAGHA MITRA(NERURKAR) - LILA FELLOW 1996

She got her Masters in Economics from the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics. Recruited by the Development Support Team as a  Research Assistant to work on issues concerning the third world  countries. She also teaches English to the economically backward children through the UWA. She got married in Feb 1999. In 2000 she  went to UK. She received a loan scholarship from London School of  Economics (LSE) to do MSC in Policy and Planning for Developing  Countries. She has topped first term with distinction. She has also  been selected to do research internship on the Informal Sector in Delhi and is working in an organization called World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME), which is the only international non-governmental organization of SMEs enjoying Consultative status with Economic and Social Council of the UN. At WASME she is working on  rural livelihood issues.

She has done M.Sc.in Physics from Pune University. She has completed Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics. She was working as a scientist in Research Wings of department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India, Ahmedabad. She was working on the frontiers of Technology with an amazing proficiency and has made quiet an impact with a few notable publications in International Journals and conferences. The "Pulsed-Power: Computer Modelling and Simulation" group, of which she was a part, has actually breaking grounds and working diligently towards giving our nation the much needed self-reliance in some of the key areas of technology, including defense. She was actively involved in some of those projects.  First, she worked with Institute for Plasma Research under the Department of Atomic Energy and now again she joined ‘Institute For Plasma Research’ as a Scientist. Her institute is joining the international community of fusion research by actively participating in the ITER program (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). IPR represents INDIA in the nuclear fusion club where there is participation from countries like China, Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Europe, and US. She had invited to Cochin University for the talk at ‘National Conference’ on Plasma Science and also to Calcutta for some International Workshop.
She has  been promoted to Scientific Officer-E post which is equivalent to Associate Prof. post of any university.

DEEPALI RAVI (SHAH) - LILA FELLOW 1997

 Stood first in M.A. Part I and Part II examinations of the Pune University in Indian Classical dance ‘Bharatnatyam’. She got married in April 1999 and moved to San Jose in the USA. Cooking is her favorite pass-time and she has her own cookbook and also the website www.wondersky.com/deepscookbook.com. Hope we all enjoy the good food. She also has a website on Indian dance www.nandanaam.com Has recently moved to North Carolina. She participated in classical Senior Solo dance organized by Federation of Indo American Association and got first Prize for her performance. In 2004 she moved to Sydney, Australia.  Then in 2006 she moved to Bangalore. Deepali has stated her own Dance Classes in Bangalore. She is also learning  Carnatic music. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

She has completed Masters Diploma in Business Administration and Post Graduate  Diploma in Comptur Management from  Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. She worked with The Indian Express Newspapers Ltd. as a Marketing Executive from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 she moved to Qatar, Doha and joined.
The Commercial Bank of Qatar (Q. S. C) as an Advertising & PR Officer and now she is Human Resources Manager and Office Manager.

She has done PhD in Computer Law from Pune University. She got married in 2000 and moved to Hyderabad and started a consultancy in Legal work. She was catering to software companies in setting up operations and drafting agreements. In 2002, she moved to Bangalore and started teaching in IIM. She joined GE Healthcare in 2004   She has taken over the role of Compliance Counsel for GE Healthcare for South Asia. She moved from GE's Healthcare division to their Infrastructure Division at the beginning of 2008 Then due to a re-organization in the company with effect from 1st October she has  taken over as General Counsel for GE Transportation in India.

ALEFIYA POONAWALLA (FAIZULLABHOY) - LILA FELLOW 1997

Deserves a special mention - She stood first in the SNDT College of Home Science, Pune and second in the SNDTWU, Mumbai & Pune examinations with a specialization in "Sports Science and Nutrition". She was very highly graded on her dissertation titled "Fat Measurement and Nutritional Status of Wrestlers & Body Builders". The National Institute of Virology, Pune has accepted this, for their library, and the Sports Authority of India, Pune Office. She got married in Feb 2000.
Received her degree in Food and Nutrition from Long Island University. Graduated with a MS Degree in July 2003. Published a paper and received an award of excellence for her degree.
She works part time, as a pediatric dietitian. She has obtained a specialization as a diabetes educator and also works with adults and children. She is married to Mustafa who has his own business- Tradex America which exports industrial and oilfield supplies from the US. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

VIJAYA ARORA (SESHAN) - LILA FELLOW 1997

Completed her M.C.S. from Wadia College with distinction. Specializes in designing Web-sites. She has designed a web site for the modeling agencies in the U.S., using active server pages and a SQL server. She joined Harbingers Pvt. Ltd. in December 1998 and worked as a Project Leader on learning management systems. She got married in Dec. 2002. to Parvinder Arora and stays in Atlanta.
She was with  Infosys till Nov 2007 and is now working through TechDomain for a client called Beazer Homes. As a Software Engineer. Parvinder her husband is working with ADP (Automatic Data Processing, Inc.) since Feb 2008.

KIRTI NALAWADE (SHIRKE)- LILA FELLOW 1997

She has completed her M.SC. in Agriculture, with distinction, from The Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Rahuri, near Ahmednagar. She also cleared The Maharashtra Public Service Examination and joined as assistant in Mantralaya. She is now appointed as Tahsildar - A Class I Officer in the Collector's Office. She is looking forward to solving the problems of farmers, specially the land matters. She further cleared the mains for the higher post of deputy collector and is presently posted in Pune as a Deputy Collector.
She is now in Satara and is promoted as Tehsildar (Government Revenue Officer). Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

BIJOYINI SANFILIPPOO (CHATTERJEE)- LILA FELLOW 1997

Completed her BE (Computer Science) from Pune Univ where she stood 10^th out of 2400 students. Later she completed her Masters from northeastern University USA in Computer Science in 1998, and working as senior software engineer with Groove Networks, Cambridge USA. The owner of the company Mr. Ray Ozzie is the brain behind LOTUS NOTES. Groove is an innovative peer to peer collaborative software that lets individuals groove togather without involving a central server. In 2007, Groove bought by Microsoft. Product of Groove is now a part of Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise version (the latest Microsoft product), She was involved in high tech project of developing these products. She is learning Flamenco and Dhrupad Indian classical music.
She left her job from Microsoft and is now freelancing. She has done advanced photography & film making course and wants to do photography professionally., ,she spend 1 month in Spain for participating in Flamenco competition.

ARCHANA JOSHI (MAVALANKAR) - LILA FELLOW 1997

Graduated in MCM from Garware College, University of Pune in 1999. She got married in Nov. 1999 and moved to USA where she joined Siebel Systems Inc as Technical Support Engineer in San Mateo, California. She also has her own cooking recipes on the web site. She plays Guitar and also paints swims and goes white water rafting.

KANCHAN LAKKAPRAGADA (NIKUMBH) - LILA FELLOW 1997

After completing her B.E. (Electronics & Telecomm), from Pune Engg. College, in 1996, she went to State Univ. of NY, Stony Brook to pursue MS in Computer Science. After her Masters in 1998, she joined Nortel Networks for a year and then, in September 2000, moved on to Cisco Systems California. She got married in Dec. 2001 Presently continues to work with Cisco as a Software Engineer. She also works for a non-profit organization for support of women called "Saheli".

PRITI THAPA (TAMANG) - LILA FELLOW 1997

After completing her B.E. (Electronics) from Cummins College in 1995, she joined XLRI Jamshedpur to pursue post-graduation in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations. In June 1999 she got a job, as a Management Trainee with Maruti Udyog, Gurgaon. Within a year, she got promoted to the post of Dy. Manager. In August 2000 she quit Maruti Udyog and joined. Cummins Infotech Pune, as Project Leader. She got married in March 2001.  In October 2001 she was deputed to USA for a 3-month project work. She worked for KPIT Cummins and specialises in Louts Notes implementation. She moved to Mumbai and joined Patni Computers as Project Manger. She has moved to Port Blair as her husband is transferred and it is difficult to find opportunities for her qualifications. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

MS. HAMSA CHANDRAKUMAR (SUBRAMONIAN) - LILA FELLOW 1997

APARNA BHANDAR - LILA FELLOW 1998

She has done her Post graduation in Computer Management. She did a diploma in Software testing and  Diploma in Cyber Law (distance mode) from Asian school of Cyber law. Aparna has done Madhubani, Egyptian, Warli painting courses and learnt  folk painting styles like Pithora from Gujarat, Mandana from Rajasthan, Tanjore from Tamilnadu, Gond from Madhya Pradesh.  She exhibited some of her paintings at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir in March 2008, which evoked a good response. She  works in software testing at Seed Infotech. She has completed 'Yoga Pravesh' course from 'Yoga Vidya Dham, Nasik'.  

RAJESHREE SINGLA (WAJE) - LILA FELLOW 1998

DR. SUPRIYA PARKHI (KULKARNI) - LILA FELLOW 1998

Dr. JYOTI  MALHOTRA (DALAVI ) - LILA FELLOW 1998

Jyoti completed her Masters in - inorganic Chemistry from the Pune University (1998). Has completed her Ph.D. program in Organic Chemistry jointly from the University of Hull, UK and from University of Missouri-Rolla, USA. Her PhD research dealt with syntheses of ligands based on macrocyclic backbones, which have biological importance. She has passed French examination (level 1) with first division.. In June 2002 she joined the Argonne National Lab’s bioscience division as a postdoctoral fellow. Her postdoc research was emphasized on designing and devising of conjugated polymers for biosensor applications. Currently, she is working at Brewer Science Inc., Rolla MO, USA as a senior research associate in their R&D-Advanced Technologies division. Got nominated as a local section officer for Midwest (for 2006) by the American Chemical Society's-Women chemist committee. 
Jyoti is  affiliated with American Chemistry Society (ACS) for past 7 years  Jyoti  also  leads a 'Gov't Affairs Committee'  for South Central Missouri section and is being trained  by ACS's 'office of legislative and government affairs' in Washington DC on how to conduct gov't affairs committee's matter where scientists and engineers provide their feedback  Part of this duty entails meeting  with senators and gov. officials to bring science-related issues such as say funding, women enrollment in science and engineering etc. to their attention.
She is part of the EYH workshops which promote science and engineering among girls Jyoti daughter Arshia was 3 months old, when Jyoti  wrote a joint proposal between her company and Missouri University of Science and Technology..and this was accepted by  the American Chemical Society.
Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

JOVINA MOHARE (AMOR) - LILA FELLOW 1998

Jovina graduated in Architecture from the Marathawada Mitra Mandal's College of Architecture in 1997. Joined University of Colorade in Denver to study for a Masters in Environmental Design. Restoration, Renovation and Reconstruction's are her Mantras. She dazed her professors with her brilliance and dedication and acquired her Masters in Architecture with Honors. Presently working with Brad Adams Walker Architecture P.C., a renowned firm of Architects in Denver, USA Jovina Amor has sent a Token donation to the Lila Poonawalla Foundation from her first earnings in the U.S. She says it is her tribute to the Foundation. She got married in Dec. 2002. Joined JG Johnson Architects at Denver as a Project Manager, and continues to work there.
Has passed the LEED exam, which promotes sustainable architecture.
Jovina loves creative design and enjoys touching the everyday lives of people through her work. She enjoys the challenges of designing for different cultures and is hopeful of getting projects in India to work upon.  Jovina likes to focus on the global aspects of projects and brings her diverse experiences to her designs. Recently she snagged an award from the American Institute of Architects for her works on Town Homes in Denver.
Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

PRACHI GARGE (INGALE) - LILA FELLOW 1998

JYOTI OTAGIRI - LILA FELLOW 1998

She finished her Post Graduation in Microbiology from The Pune University, in 1999. She joined The Agarkar Research Institute as Junior Research Fellow. She has registered for her Ph.D. programme in Microbiology under the famous Virologist, Dr. Kalyan Banerjee. Jyoti will classify new viruses from the Respiratory and Gastro-Intestinal Tracts of Immuno-Compromised patients. The Ministry of Environment & Forestry, Government of India funds her project.

K.R.SHUBHA - LILA FELLOW 1998

Did her MSC. (Electronic Science) from Pune Univ. Worked with Patni Computers for a year. Later went to USA and received Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering in 2000 from University of Bucknell Lewisburg. Currently working with GE Medical System in Milwaukee as a software engineer. The Company is involved in manufacture of diagnostic healthcare equipment like x-ray, MRI, and CATScan equipment In March 2002 moved into a leadership position into the Healthcare Services group Her thesis work has been published in JCIS Conference, Duke U, NC Parameter Estimation using Genetic Algorithm techniques.

ARCHANA GANDHE (DAMLE) - LILA FELLOW 1998

Completed her M Sc. Microbiology from Abasaheb Garware College in May 1999, where she stood 1st in the University.  She got married in Feb 2001 and moved to Mumbai. In October 2001, she got a job, as a Research Associate, with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai. In August 2002, she moved to Hyderabad, where she cleared her CSIR-UGC exams and joined Centre for DNA fingerprinting and diagnosis. For doing her Ph.D., she has joined the lab of molecular genetics.
Working as a Senior Associate Scientist with Invitrogen R&D Centre, Bangalore Optimized the cloning and recombinant protein expression conditions in insect cells using novel baculovirus vectors.

NEELAKSHI JOG - LILA FELLOW 1998

Completed her M Sc. Microbiology in September 1999 from Pune Univ. Started working at the National Centre for Cell Science, on the characterization of immune response towards vaccination against HIV infection, and was awarded Junior Research Fellowship in January 2001. In July 2001 she joined the University of Louisville, Dept. of microbiology & Immunology, USA, for doing her Ph.D. She defended her PhD dissertation in March 2006 and graduated in May 2006. After that she worked as a ‘Post Doctoral Fellow in same university, University of Louisville, although in a different lab since May' 06. Then she moved to Philadelphia in October 2006. Where she is working as a ‘Post Doctoral Fellow’ at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

SHWETA MAHARANA (SHINTRE) - LILA FELLOW 1999

She has completed M.C.S from University Of Pune (1998 - 2000). Through campus recruitment, she secured a job at  Veritas Software (now Symantec) and worked there till June 2003.
In June 2003 she joined a startup company In-Reality software which was acquired by Symphony Services in November 2004. Where she worked on a project by Mimosa Systems. They sponsored her H1B and she shifted to USA. She is still working with Mimosa Systems. Her expertise is Windows platforms 2000, 2003, Exchange Server 2000, 2003, 2007 - Backup Restore of Exchange, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) of Exchange data, Disaster Recovery of Exchange, CAS storage - EMC Centera etc.

DR. VIJAYALAXMI SHUKLA (MISHRA) - LILA FELLOW 1999

Dr. Mishra has an impressive profile. She studied medicine at the BJ Medical College, Pune, and stood 4th in the University in her finals. She has worked on AIDS awareness, Leprosy surveillance etc. and has been accepted for a Ph.D. by the Georgia State University Studying Developmental Neurobiology at Georgia State University, U.S.A. is a part of a team of scientists researching on deafness gene led by Dr. Sarah Pallas. The path breaking research has opened amazing new avenues. They have developed a new circuit whereby the visual or auditory impulse can be re-routed and you have a ray of hope for patients undergoing surgery for brain tumors, trauma and epilepsy. As one of the pioneering works, it has been published in the journal of Neuroscience's and reviewed in the New York Times. She was doing a residency in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. Side by side she was studying for her USMLE exam 3, which she passed in June 2002. She started her internship in July 2002 in internal medicine in 2 hospitals – Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Bronx Veterans Affair Hospital in Bronx. She got married in Nov 2002. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

RUTA  PARMAR (INAMDAR)  – LILA FELLOW 1999

She did her MBA from The Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Management, with a specialization in Marketing. She now works as a Supply Chain Effectiveness Manager with Kellogg’s in their frozen foods division.
She has been admitted to the University of Nottingham, U. K., for Food Production Management on a full Scholarship. Winner of several Awards, Academic and Non-Academic, Ruta has an impressive Extra-Curricular, Co-Curricular, Research and Training Record. She graduated in Home Science from SNDT College, Pune, in 1997, and was declared the Best All Round Student that Year. She joined University of Nottingham in UK at the end of 2000, to do research in strategy formation for optimizing manufacturing processes in food industry. She stood first in the university and has completed her 2nd masters with distinction. She was working with Nestle Switzerland in their International Headquarters in Vevey, as an Operations Development Specialist. She traveled to many parts of the world during her job with Nestle. She got married in July 2006. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

MADHURIMA SHRIMAL (PAWAR) – LILA FELLOW 1999

Completed her BE (Computers) from Pune University. Then Graduated in May 2001 with Masters in Computers from University of Florida, Gainesville in just a little over One year, which is very rare. She is working with Microsoft at Seattle, as a full time developer, in the core-networking group. She is now working on the latest technology in wireless Networking. She enjoys skiing, rollerblade, river-raft, canoe and trek. She is also an active volunteer for CRY. Got promotion as a Program Manager. Recently she has represented Microsoft at WinHEC 2006 conference targeted for all vendors all over, and amongst 500 odd presentations running back to back for 4 consecutive days, her session was rated among the top 5. She got married in Dec. 2006.
Madhurima was working with Microsoft. She has now joined McAfee Inc. which is a small company specializing in security.

SHALAKA KATHAPURKAR (SANKPAL) - LILA FELLOW 1999

APARNA DHARMA (RABDE) - LILA FELLOW 1999

Completed her MCM with 75% from INDSEARCH and has 5+ yrs of work experience. Has worked for Rotract club in various positions and has been crowned as Pune Miss Beautiful Hair in Hair Beauty contest in May 2003. On professional front, Aparna was recruited in P & O Nedlloyd as a Jr. Shift Analyst from campus in 2001. She was responsible for transferring work to Pune from London and Sydney office. She has won spot awards and Best performance awards during her tenure in PONL. Moved to the position of Project coordinator in PONL and resigned after a span of 4 yrs. Completed the Business English certification from Cambridge University. She has also completed the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from PMI , USA.
Participated in International Conference on Software Process Improvement in SCIT and was also responsible in designing the project management course as a certified PMP. Joined Patni computers in 2005 in the Quality Department and was responsible for setting up the Project Management office (PMO) for one of their strategic clients in embedded systems. Won the Valuable Contribution Award (VCA) within 6 months of joining. Parallely completed courses in water colour and oil colour painting from India art gallery. She joined KPIT Cummins on 30th Oct 2006 as a Process Consultant in the Process Excellence group and is responsible fo setting up the project management office (PMO).Aparna's story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

BALWINDER SAGI – LILA FELLOW 1999

Completed Masters in Mass Communication in June 2001. In January 2001 she joined an event management company Clowns ‘R’ Us in Mumbai. In April 2002 she joined a top PR agency ‘Good Relations India’ where she was handling AXN, complete media policies, and media strategies. There she handled Maharashtra Tourism Development  Corporation (MTDC) also. This means promoting Maharashtra as a tourist destination and taking journalists to different places and initiating stories about tourism. In Dec. 2003 she joined the company ‘Inovators PR’ as a Senior Associate where she handled activities for the brands like BPL Mobile, Indiacom Directories etc. Currently she is working with Synygy India Pvt. Ltd. as a Manager Public Relations. 

SHWETA KARTHIK (LOLAGE) - LILA FELLOW 1999

After completed, M.Sc she got an opportunity to work on a DST (Dept. of Science and Technology) sponsored Project  - Late Quaternary environmental changes of Maharashtra and Gujarat coast at Agharkar Research Institute. This project developed her interest in science of Palynology. She started her research work for Ph. D. in 1999, she got the LPF scholarship  for Ph.D. and in 2001 she received CSIR – SRF fellowship provided by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for three years.  Title of her thesis - Contribution to Palaeopalynology and Palaeoecology of the coastal deposits of Maharashtra, India. She had Ph.D viva -voce on 09.02.2005 and award of Ph.D. degree has been announced. Recently she has received ‘SERC - DST Fast Track Young Scientist Award’.  She is doing research work on mangrove deposits for palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate aspects.

Completed B.E. in Instrumentation Engineering in 1999.  She has done MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.  Recently she started on-line Cummins Alumni Guidance Center (CAGC), wherein the batch mates she had gathered would be able to communicate with students over the web and potentially even have interactive sessions on technical topics or professional etiquette or mentor students for projects.  Also she had conducted lecture series on basic electronics for 2nd and 3rd year engineering students and early industry electronics aficionados. She has invited suggestions and better ideas to help her promote such instruction Sessions and also if anyone would like to volunteer to help her team do ground work in Pune. Suggestions welcome at ukelkar@gmail.com Her ideas for setting up for an Alumni Center are here http://www.speakeasy.org/~ukelkar/crude/index.html

SWATI DHONDSE (CHAWARE) - LILA FELLOW 2000.

She has done masters in Computer Science. Swati is married to Amol and they both work at KPIT-Cummins in Columbus Indiana. She joined the company as Tech Lead in US in July 2007. Earlier she was working in Starent Networks as Sr. Software Engineer. Amol has been with KPIT since last 3 yrs working as System Architect. They have a son, Aditya, who is 1.½ years old

ANURADHA PATANKAR (KARKHAINS - LILA FELLOW 2000

SHAMA MEHENDALE (ZANPURE) - LILA FELLOW 2000

URVASHI DESAI - LILA FELLOW 2000

Completed her BSc from Nowrosjee Wadia College, where she stood 1st. She then completed her MSc Food Production Management from Univ of Nottingham, through a shared scholarship scheme. Later on she did her MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management at the Food and Agribusiness Institute at Santa Clara University. In the first year of internship, she worked as an administrative assistant at the Instate. In this capacity she got opportunities to participate in conferences and seminars both in USA and Overseas. she attended a conference in Sydney Australia. She then completed two 6 months internships at Sinclair Intl, the largest producer of labels for fruits and vegetables, and the second 6 months as a Supply Chain Intern at Seagate Technology LLC, the largest manufacturers and shippers of disk drives in the world. She graduated from Santa Clara University in June 2002. She was  working with Tanimura and Antle, at Salinas, as a Business Analyst with the Harvest Support group. She is currently working at  Symantec in Revenue Forecasting for their Enterprise products.

KOYEL GHOSAL - LILA FELLOW 2000

Koyel did her B.Pharm from Pune University. Completed forth semester of Masters course in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Rhode Island. She was doing research in neurotoxicolgy, especially in Lead Toxicity, which causes severe mental retardation and learning disabilities among children. She has completed writing her thesis and defended it in August 2005. She has passed FPGE (Foreign Placement Graduate Equivalency Exam) and appeared for TSE (Test of Spoken English) exam. Besides research she also is engrossed in culture and music. She was working on Environmental Risk Factors. She then shifted from Pharmacology to Molecular Biology. In March 2002 she attended the biggest International Conference in the field of Toxicology, where she presented a poster. She has given solo Sitar recital at MIT and many other places in the USA. She also taught the tabla to an American gentleman, old enough to be her father. Koyel is the Treasurer at the ‘Indian Concert.  She is also Vice President of the Indian Association, University of Rhode Island.  She is in charge of cultural events.  Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

MITALEE VINNAKOTA (GUJAR) - LILA FELLOW 2000

She completed her BE (Computers) from Pune Univ. Studied at Stanford University, specializing in systems network, databases distributed systems and information retrieval. Worked as research assistant at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center where she did the networking part for the data which included compressing the data collected at various switches and comparing the performance throughout the accelerator. She also studied various compression algorithms to achieve optimal compression at very high speeds. She has donated an equivalent amount of Rs.1 Lakh, which she received as scholarship, to the Foundation. She graduated from Stanford in June 2002. After that she worked with NOKIA and then joined Network Appliance Inc.’, California as a Member of Technical Staff. While working with Nokia, she has filed 4 patents for innovation, and has won multiple awards at NetApp and Nokia. She got married in Dec. 2006. Her story has been included in the book “21st Century Belongs To Them”. In this book LPF has published stories of 23 successful Lila Fellows.

RAJANI DHUMAL (PANCHNAG) - LILA FELLOW 2000

VASANTI KAPARE (KAD) – LILA FELLOW 2000

In January 2002 she completed doing M Tech in Structural engineering, with 1st rank, from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She did her M. Tech project which was sponsored by Indian Space Research Organization. She is the first Engineer from her village, Kadachiwadi. Joined Structural Engg. Research Centre Chennai as a Scientist Gr.IV(1). Presently, working with Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd Bangalore, since September 2002.  She got married in May 2006.

She completed her BCS and MCS from Fergusson College under Pune University. In 2001 she was placed with Assetlink Corporation during the campus placements as a Software Developer and now she hold the designation of a Technical Manager. She had the opportunity to visit her Switzerland office and work with her counter parts there. Also she visited Syngenta, UK on two occasions on official project.  She got married in June 2006.

KAVITA GUPTA (VASANT) - LILA FELLOW 2000

SUMETRA CHAPHALKAR - LILA FELLOW 2001

Sunetra has completed MBA in Human Recourses from Pune University.. She works at Black & Veatch. Sunetra has participated in the  training of a new  software. i.e. KRB software recruitment tracker for the entire global locations of Black & Veatch, This training was imparted by her company at their Singapore office where HR Professionals of the company from international offices of the company have participated  She has been  one of the active crusaders of the Foundation News Letter Inspira  for many years and continues to contribute her time and expertise to the Inspira Team.

SHILPA KHEKALE (TIKEKAR) - LILA FELLOW 2001

DIVYA IYER (KRISHNAN) - LILA FELLOW 2001

JAI KSHIRSAGAR (DESHPANDE) - LILA FELLOW 2001

She completed her B Sc. (Geography) from Univ. of Pune. Later she completed MS - Geographical Information Systems with Remote Sensing with merit 62% from Univ. of Greenwich, England. In Jan 03 she got a job with Genesys International Corporation, Bangalore.  In June 03 she got transferred to Mumbai Office. Till Sept. 2006 she was working with GIS, Pune as Team Leader.  In Oct. 2006 she joined Symantec Corporation as Asso. SQA Engineer. 

She has completed M.A. (English) from Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad.  She has also completed Advance Diploma of French from Ranade Institute.  She was working with EXL Services in the ‘Training Department’ as a FVT Trainer (Fundamental Voice Trainer). She is now working in UAE as an HR Administrator with a US based company called Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) which is an Engineering and Construction Company with its branches all across the globe.  Also working as a freelance essay writer for an Essay Solutions company based in Dubai called AVANT to keep in touch with the literary aspects of her academic life. On academic front she is pursuing MBA in HR through SCDL, Pune.   She got married in July 2006.

ADITEE NAGLE - LILA FELLOW 2002

She has completed MS Mechanical Engineering with specialization in CAD CAM, from University of Cincinnati.  Aditee works in GE-Aviation. She got selected for one of the prestigious leadership programs of GE, called the Edison Engineering Development Program, which offers a mix of classroom courses and hands on trainings / project work in various departments of aircraft engines design and analysis. She also got an opportunity to go to the leadership training school of GE in Crotonville (NY) for leadership trainings.

She has completed M.C.S. from Pune University.  She was working with FEI Software (I) Pvt. Ltd. as Project Leader.  Recently she has joined NCR (National Cash Record) leading company in making ATM.  She is working for IDBI for Airline ticketing and ATM Next functionality.  She is developing new version of software for that and it is going to roll out in 30 live sites at the end of this month. Last project she has done for SBI and its successfully rolled out in 1010 ATM's all over the India.

PREETI NAGARKAR (JOSHI) - LILA FELLOW 2002

ANAHITA POUGET (DUMASIA) - LILA FELLOW 2002

While doing MS – Hotel & Tourism Mgmt in France, stood first in whole of France amongst all institutes in Govt. exam. She also topped in class in her own institute. She finished her Masters in July and she is doing her internship at Hotel Courtyard By Marriott, Paris. She has got a promotion and she has become Front Office Supervisor at The Hotel Courtyard Marriott in Paris.She got married in May 2007.
To Vincent who is a Frenchman. She had an Indian wedding in France. They have moved to Canada and she works at Wickaninnish Inn at Tofino.

She has done Masters in Kathak from Lalit Kala Kendra. In Aug. 2003 she got complementary prize in kathak competition. She choreographed 20 songs in a marathi play ‘Tumche Aamche Gane’. In Sep. 2003 she got 1 st prize and trophy in dance competition organized by Mahalakshmi Mandir for Navratra Utsav. In Feb. 2004 she got 2 nd prize in maharashtra level and 3 rd prize in west zone for solo classical. She performed dance programme ‘Tribute to Lord Ganesha’ and ‘Fusion of Kathak and Japanese dance’ at Empress Garden. She stood third at the Youth Festival at Rajkot. Also performed in the ‘Anubhooti’, the perception in Kathak in Oct. 2004 at Tilak Smarak Mandir. She got two prizes - one in Mumbai and another in Nasik.
In Jan 2006, she has been selected by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for the award of scholarship. She got this scholarship for the advance training in dance for the span of two years. She aspires to take intricate lessons in dance under the guidance of Guru Mrs. Maneesha Sathe during this span. In March 2006 she went to China regarding the programme conducted by one of the Chinese company. She performed this programme with other Indian, Chinese and Japanese dancers in Patana and in Pune in April 2006 .
In Oct. 2006, she performed kathak performance ‘An Ensemble of Diversed Art Forms “KALA-SANYUJ” – A Jugalbandi’ with her friends. The theme of the show was Jugalbandi of kathak dance with santoor, a sring instrument,  tabala and pakhavaj, painting, western dance.  She got 1st prize in competition of TV show “Boogie Woogie” in Semi Classical Dance round.- In Jan 07 she performed in ‘Mumbai Festival’ and she has been selected by Nalanda Vidyapeeth among 16 upcoming dancers from all over India. She was the only dancer from Pune.

She has completed MCS specializing in Databases from Stanford University . Also working a research assistant in field of biomedical informatics with Ralman Lab in Stanford Medical School. She received an offer for a permanent job with Microsoft. But she joined Oracle Corporation. She took a course in ‘Social Dance’ at Stanford. Learnt Salsa, Rumba and Samba. In April 2006, she left the company ‘Oracle Corporation’ and joined company ‘VMW,’ founded by a well know Stanford Prof and recently acquired by EMC. 

She has completed M.S. Biomedical Engg. (Robotic Surgery & Biomechanics) from Texas A&M Univ. She has joined professor in biomed and physiology dept. This professor hired her for a direct PhD in physiology in August. She is doing her research in Tamu which is ranked 1 st in the US.

She has completed her PhD and got married with Girish in Nov’08

She has done Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management from NITIE,Mumbai. Got placed with Cypress Semiconductors (Demand Planning Area), Bangalore, through NITIE. She had been to Philippines for 2 weeks training and then to San Jose for 4 weeks. She got married in 2005 to Deepak.

She completed her B.E. Instrumentation from the Univ. of Pune. She completed  her Masters in Computer Science (Distributed Systems) from the Univ. of Buffalo, USA 10 2004. She has got a permanent job at Bloomberg LP in Manhattan since  in 2005 She got married to Bharat in 2004. Bharat has got admission to do MBA at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.. Due to this she has moved to New Jersey and is planning to do some additional courses and certification and also look for a new job.

VIDYA JAIN (SHINDE) - LILA FELLOW 2002

In 2007 She moved to Bangalore and is working with Reckitt Benckiser Ltd at their R & D unit at Hosur and works as their R & D Executive

She completed her BE (Electrical) from University of Pune and pursued her Masters in Science in Biomedical Instrumentation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York in May 2006 with a Ph. D. Degree in Electrical Engineering.  The subject she has chosen for Ph. D. was microelectronics with focus on use of nanotechnology for microelectronics.  The equipment on which she worked was a Partlcle Size Analyzer which gives sizes from 3 mm to 3000 mm. She worked on preparation and characterization of Quantum Dots or nanoparticles.
She received her Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY in May 2006. There after she joined the R&D group at Cree, Inc. as an Epi Research Scientist.Cree is a leading manufacturer of Gallium Nitride based blue and green Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LEDs are semiconductor diodes capable of emitting light at various wavelengths or of various colors. Main advantages of LEDs are the high efficiency and long life-time over the incandescent light bulbs. She is  mainly researching on improving the brightness of blue LED by improving the Epitaxial growth process. Growth of semiconductor material is what is called the Epitaxial growth which is Ashonita’s area of expertise.  Apart from work she also reviews articles under consideration for publication in various technical journals. In her free time she plays tennis and her new found hobby is snowboarding...

APARNA KALE (DHORMALE)– LILA FELLOW 2002

She relocated to India from CA, USA. She works at Mapyn (www.mapyn.com) – which  works in the domain of Embedded Systems with specialization in Automation, hardware design and microcontrollers.

SUJATA DATAR (DONGARE) - LILA FELLOW 2003

She graduated with distinction in Computer Science from Pune University and completed her Masters degree from the same University. She also passed the second highest level of Japanese Language Proficiency Test conducted by the Japan Foundation, a premier organization recognized by the Foreign Ministry of Japan and has  completed a “Japanese for Professionals” course which is an advanced  course in Japanese at the SJSU. Thereafter, over a period of 4 years she worked with various companies in India and Japan, gaining expertise in Java technologies such as Servlets, JSP and Struts. She has worked with  “Manas Solution”, “Vertex Software” as well as leading companies like “Zensar Technologies”. While working for Zensar she became a certified Java 1.4 programmer by taking the sun certified Java Programming test, which is a highly regarded certification test. She recently moved to California after her marriage and is pursuing her MS in Computer Science at San Jose University.

SWATI RANE- LILA FELLOW2003

She completed MS in Electrical Engineering in Texas and moved to Georgia Institute of Technology to continue with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Her MS thesis was published as a research monologue (book) a few months ago and has been on Amazon for sale. The website is:
http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging-Swati/dp/3836434350/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1201103628&sr=11-1

GAYATRI KESKAR - LILA FELLOW 2003

ALKAB SHAIKH - LILA FELLOW 2003

She has done CIEP Intl. Prog. of Political Studies (Economics) from Foundation Nationale Des Sciences Politiques, France. Stood 1 st in Pune in Diplome Superieure de langue et de cluture francaise with score 135/200. Secured a mention ‘Tres Bien” excellent in diploma in business French conducted by Chambers of commerce and industry in Paris with score 90%. She is Pursuing MBA (European Masters in Business Administration) at Ecole Superieure de Gestion at Paris.

HARIPRIYA SEKAR (RAJGOPAL) - LILA FELLOW 2003

She has done M.S. Computer Science (Networking) from Stanford University. She got assistantship at Stanford Linear Accelator Centre i.e full tution waiver and a research stipend from this quarter. Have been offered an internship at Amazon as a software Development Engineer. For internships joined VMware, a Systems Engineering Company and also accepted job offered by them after graduation.She got married in August 2007.

GAURI KULKARNI (MUTALIK) - LILA FELLOW 2003

She has done Master of Computer Applications from Pune University. As a part of MCA syllabus she handled two projects. One is ‘Menu Builder Tool’, a tool is designed for developer himself to provide a direct menu building facility available in JAVA code just by selecting a tree node. Second project she handled is ‘Reporting Tool’, this tool is plug able tool, which provides a direct facility to the developer to attach this to tool to their application. She has been Short-listed in the test and interview conducted by National Stock Exchange, Dadar, Mumbai. 10 from 100 MCA have been short-listed and she appeared in first 10 of entire Pune group. She got a job in Cognizant Technology Solutions as a ‘Programmer Analyst’, through campus interviews and tests.
She is currently working for Global Nest as Programmer Analyst. She has also learnt Crochet designing.

DEVIKA WALSANGKAR (DAFTARDAR) – LILA FELLOW 2003

RAASHEDA SHAIKH - LILA FELLOW 2003

RACHANA GUPTA  - LILA FELLOW 2004

She completed her MS in US in Aug 2004 and is now doing  PhD in Robotics and Intelligent Control systems. She is among the very few girls who are doing PhD in two subjects i.e. in robotics and control system area,  She also teaches a few courses in her own University. She along with a  few Indian students have started a non-profit organization named "Two cents of Hope" in 2005. The cause is to support/fund education for the kids who cannot afford it. Their website is http://www.twocentsofhope.com

RAGINI RAHALKAR - LILA FELLOW 2004

She has completed her Masters in Computer Science specializing in networking and computer security from the State University of New York, Buffalo. She has joined as a software engineer on investment and portfolio management system and accepted a position in investment and portfolio management domain so that she can learn about finance while working as a software developer.

SHWETA BRAHME - LILA FELLOW 2004

She stood 5th in the University in her HSC and received the State Government and National merit scholarships.  She completed her Masters in Computer Engineering from University of Massachusetts. She is working in EMC2 (a hardware-software company in Massachusetts) as a software developer.

NISHA PANDYA - LILA FELLOW 2004

MANASI ARMANI - LILA FELLOW 2004

She completed her M. Sc. in Statistic from Pune University. She is working for Novartis, One of the leading Pharmaceutical Company since last two years in Hyderabad. In Novartis she is involved in statistical analysis of clinical data; her Work mainly involves SAS Programming.

She works in Dolphin Integration based in Grenoble France,  as a Sales person for India, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland.. 

SHWETA BRAHME  – LILA FELLOW 2004

She completed her Masters – Computer Science (Database systems) University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She defended her thesis in Oct. 2006. Now she is working with EMC2, a hardware-software company in Massachusetts as a software developer.

NEHA PRABHU ((GUHAGARKAR) – LILA FELLOW 2004

She completed her Masters in Personnel Management. She scored 72% and topped in her college. She ranked 7th in the Pune University and now she is working with i-flex Solutions Ltd.

She works at Dolphin Integration as a sales person for India, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland.
She works in Dolphin Integration based in Grenoble France, as a Sales person for India, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland... 

DEVNA ARORA - LILA FELLOW 2005

She completed her Masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from Napier University, Scotland. She is also Authorized Volunteer with WWF – India.  She has participated in the French Student Exchange Programme.  She moved to Loch of the Lowes, Dunkeld as an Assistant Ranger. Currently she is volunteering full-time with the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

She completed her M. Tech in Agriculture Engineering from Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani. She worked in Agricultural Business Management College, Narayngaon as Assistant Lecturer (Specializing in Post Harvest Technology for Commercial Crops & Horticulture Crops). Currently she has joined in 'Netafim India Pvt. Ltd.' as a design engineer in project department. It is world no. one micro irrigation company.

She completed her Masters in Business Administration. She worked with Reliance Retail in Mumbai. Now she is working in Symbiosis Institute of Management (SIBM) as an Assistant Professor at Lavale, Mulshi. She is active member of  Foundation’s magazine ‘Inspira’.

She completed her Masters in Development Studies from University of East Anglia, U.K. and now started working as a Research Assistant in YASHADA, Pune. In annual exam she stood II in her class. Also she was chosen amongst Indian students in University to be a Student Ambassador for India. She has submitted my dissertation on "Citizen Resistance to Water Privatization: Understanding the Case of Delhi, India" in September.

She is doing M.A. in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She has topped her department in the Second semester and stood 2nd in the first year. Apart from academics, she did an internship with Cell for Aids research Training Programme, in Tata Institute. She is doing research project with National alliance of People's movement on the issue of health status of evicted slum dwellers in Mumbai. When the Narmada valley villages were drowned under water, she headed the relief team of 9 students from Tata institute of social sciences. She is doing her field work in the Aghai village and adjoining Tribal Padas in Aghai village,Thane district. The issues of Tribal health, livelihood, land rights are taken up in the field work. She participated and won prizes in several debate competitions.

She completed her MSc (Environmental Science) with 7.45 grade points and A grade. She got the job in NERIL (Naik Environmental Research Institute Limited).

She completed MS in August’07 and has been working in Boston with Zoran which is  an embedded electronics company and a leading provider of digital solutions in the growing digital entertainment and digital imaging markets

She has got National level 1st prize for Technical Paper Presentation in 2005 and National Level Students Awareness 1st prize in 2004. She has won second prize in Science Forum Paper Presentation. She has participated in IUCAA Science Quiz Competition on Astrophysics, TITANS Hardware workshop. She has cleared Spanish Certificate Examination from University of Pune and also participated in Spanish Poem Competition. 
She completed Masters in Computer Science, with specialization in software engineering and network management, from University of Southern California. Currently she is working with KPMG, in Los Angeles, California as a Software Engineer.

PALLAVI OZARDE - LILA FELLOW 2007

PRIYA KADAM - LILA FELLOW 2007 

She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, Pune. She now heads for the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago for Master in Architecture. She got ‘Maharshi Karve Trophy and Kale Award 2006-07 at National level for excellence in Architectural Design. She won various prizes in music. Ms. Bhakti Purandare has received the highest scholarship this year in the overseas category and is named Lila Fellow of the year.

MS. SARIKA NIGADE- LILA FELLOW 2008