Hi! I’m Pranet, a junior in Berkeley College at Yale, studying Physics, Economics, and Computer Science. I’ve grown up all around the world, but currently call North Carolina his home. I speak Hindi and Marathi with his family.

At Yale, I’m involved in research on building quantum computers with the Yale Quantum Institute. I also dance with Yale Jashan Bhangra and am a Yale First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trip leader. You can find me listening to music, reading, and hiking in my free time, while talking about the universe to anyone who will listen.

Hi, my name is Samaa Burte Nadkarni, and I'm a sophomore in Pierson College. I'm studying Economics and Energy Studies, with a passion for sustainability, energy policy, and ESG strategy.

I took Hindi L5 last semester, and enjoy engaging with Hindi language and discourse, especially through debate and writing.

Hi! My name is Aryan Agarwal, and I'm sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College at Yale, studying Cognitive Science and Computer Science. I'm an international student from Mumbai, and have studied both Hindi and Sanskrit during high school. 

I am extremely interested in human cognition, and am a research assistant in the Turk-Browne lab at the Wu Tsai Center where I study multisensory memory. I'm also involved in organising conferences and events with the Yale Artificial Intelligence Association. In my free time, I love to debate, listen to music, and play chess! 

Swapna Sharma is a Senior Hindi Lector at Yale University. Before joining Yale in 2009 she was a Lecturer in Hindi at the University of Chicago. Swapna started her career as Hindi lecturer at the University of Leipzig in 2007. She had been engaged with a dictionary project for several years at Katholieke University, Belgium.

Swapna Sharma received Ph.D. for her pioneer work on early Hindi devotional poet ‘Gadadhar Bhatt’ from Agra University.

Her research concerns Hindi language and literature with a focus on Braj Bhasha, its role in temple rituals and performing arts, hagiography and lexicography of the devotional literature of the middle Indo- Aryan languages, twentieth-century Hindi poetry, and gender.

Mansi Bajaj (she/ her) joins Yale as a Lector of Hindi. She will be working on strengthening the Hindi program at the MacMillan Center with a special focus on theme-based language learning. As a language educator, there are three main values that she seeks to exemplify: addressing socio-cultural issues for a broader understanding, utilizing diverse language inputs, and creating an interactive and safe classroom space.

In pursuant to the fact that language is ever evolving, she has adopted certain inclusive tweaks to the teaching methodology. She arrives from the University of Texas, Austin (UT) where she was teaching Hindi as an Assistant Professor of Instruction. She was on the panel of “Tackling Online Instruction of Less Commonly Taught Languages in a new Academic Year” at the Department of Asian Studies, UT. She is an active participant of workshops on “Diversity and Inclusivity in Language Classrooms”.

She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Delhi. In the field of foreign language pedagogy, her research interests are focused on communal conflicts, gender and sexuality, caste, religion and politics in South Asia. In addition, she has enhanced K12 programs in Texas by creating Open Educational Resources and Credentialing Exams for Hindi. Her current research projects include developing curriculum and study material to suit the needs of heritage learners, using technology innovatively to encourage creative language use, using assessment as a learning tool and literary realism in language class for social sensitization.