Duolingo launched the DETermined Scholarship in India in partnership with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, with the goal of helping young women in STEM pursue their dreams.
Gender parity in STEM has been a big focus for the Indian government, and accessible tools like the Duolingo English Test (DET) are helping close that gap. Since the DET can be taken online, anytime and anywhere, it removes many of the traditional barriers to testing.
After reviewing numerous inspiring applications, we've shortlisted ten candidates who embody the scholarship's mission: innovation, leadership, and a commitment to creating meaningful impact in India.
Now it’s time to meet our finalists!
Sahasra Kokkula from Hyderabad
MS in Computer Science, Columbia University
Growing up with limited resources, Sahasra built her first tech solution, a water sensor, out of necessity. This early challenge sparked her drive to create accessible, purpose-driven technologies, and evolved into a broader pursuit of sustainable systems.
She has developed MindSync, a real-time mental health platform; led a microplastics detection system using computer vision; and built a hybrid detection framework for prompt injection in large language models, enhancing the security of generative AI systems.
Her long-term goal is to develop resource-aware AI infrastructure, especially in water-stressed regions of India. By working with startups at the cutting edge of green AI, she hopes to bring scalable, energy-optimised systems to Indian cities.
Bhavana Anand from Chennai
MS in Computer Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bhavana’s perspective was shaped by watching her own family navigate unfamiliar digital systems—an experience that sparked her interest in building technology that is simpler, safer, and more inclusive.
Bhavana focuses on building accessible tech solutions. She co-developed ‘DigiWe,’ a multilingual mobile app to help first-time smartphone users understand basic digital tools; ‘SheStrides,’ a VR-based safety app designed for women navigating public spaces; and ‘EquiGo,’ a chatbot that guides differently-abled commuters with accessible transit information.
Her long-term goal is to return to India and design natural language processing (NLP) systems that work across low-resource Indian languages to improve access to education and digital services for underserved communities.
Aishani Singh from Noida
MS in Business Analytics, Columbia University
Aishani’s motivation stems from her in-depth work in urban slums, where she witnessed how delayed diagnoses and lack of preventive care disproportionately affect women.
She is the founder of Thrive Together, a grassroots NGO that has impacted over 100,000 lives through health, education, and sustainability initiatives. She has also advanced gender equity through her work with Girl Up India, a UN-backed initiative for young women’s leadership.
Her research bridges data science and social equity. One of her key projects used AI to support early disease prediction in women, which was published in Springer; Another study applied behavioral modeling to improve customer retention, reflecting her ability to translate machine learning techniques across both social and commercial contexts.
Kashish Bansal from Indore
MS in Financial Engineering, Columbia University
Coming from a modest background, Kashish is the first in her family to pursue graduate studies abroad, and sees advanced education not just as a personal milestone but as a tool to modernise India’s financial systems and expand economic access.
Kashish’s work bridges technology with real-world impact. She has developed automated solutions and forecasting models to improve operational efficiency and decision-making in complex financial environments, and has applied machine learning to nano-biosensing for cancer detection.
Her long-term goal is to return to India and build a research-driven fintech enterprise that empowers MSMEs, rural investors, and underserved communities with accessible, data-driven investment tools.
Varsha Simpadipura Prasanna from Bengaluru
MS in Engineering, Purdue University
Growing up in a farming village shaped Varsha’s deep understanding of agricultural communities' struggles. She became aware of how limited access to timely information can constrain even the most capable producers.
Now, she focuses on bridging real gaps through thoughtful and well-executed tech. She developed an ensemble model that improved product prediction accuracy, which was later presented at IIIT-Bangalore’s innovation centre. While working at Capgemini, she improved telecom service flows that affected thousands of users.
Her long-term goal is to build a tech-enabled ecosystem that helps farmers make autonomous decisions using real-time data on soil health, water availability, and market demand.
Keerti Panchakshari Charantimath from Hyderabad
Master of Integrated Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University
Having witnessed the disconnect between literacy and opportunity in under-resourced communities, Keerti envisions building inclusive, skill-building tools that promote digital fluency and financial literacy among students in India.
Her undergraduate thesis involved designing a privacy-preserving chatbot that can extract information from personal documents without compromising data security. She has also built machine learning models to identify cause-effect relationships in time-based data, and designed algorithms that improve how decisions are made in complex systems.
Keerti combines technical depth with a clear social mission: to create equitable, India-focused tools that empower learners and communities through ethical technology and thoughtful design.
Srividya Srinivas from Bengaluru
MS in Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University
Srividya’s motivation comes from observing how technology can serve as a frontline protector in life-threatening situations, and she uses her technical skill to serve India's public safety ecosystem through robotics.
As the founder of her university’s Mars Rover Team, she led the design and development of AI- and sensor-integrated terrain navigation systems. Her rover team placed among the top 30 in ISRO’s IRoC Robotics Challenge.
She intends to return to India and lead the development of autonomous robots for use in border security, disaster relief, and hazardous environments. She intends to build systems that reduce human risk, especially for those working in the most high-stakes situations.
Namita Jalan from New Delhi
MS in Business Analytics, Columbia University
Working on analytics for major corporations, Namita was struck by the fact that while large firms base much of their decision making on analytics, small enterprises often lack the tools and infrastructure to benefit from similar insights. This motivated her to build technology that empowers underserved segments in India’s grassroots ecosystem.
Namita has consistently engaged with applied data science across business, research, and public interest domains. Her work spans a range of technically grounded projects, from modeling customer risk to analyzing market engagement and platform performance.
Namita’s goal is to return to India, where she seeks to empower MSMEs. She is determined to build tailored data analytics platforms that help small businesses achieve sustainable growth and resilience.
Priyanka Prakash Nair from Gurugram
MS in Business Analytics, Columbia University
Priyanka has always been drawn to the power of data to drive clarity in decision-making, and she aspires to bring the best structured analytics solutions to Indian enterprises and startups, especially in sectors that lack access to modern data tools.
Her professional experience spans building customer identity linkage models to support Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts, enabling stronger data governance across the Eurozone market. She has worked on product validation, dashboarding, and root cause analysis, collaborating across risk, compliance, and technology teams.
Her long-term goal is to return to India and scale her family’s business or launch a data-driven startup that applies global analytics best practices in an Indian context.
Varshini Vellingiri Chandrasekar from Coimbatore
MS in Engineering and Technology Innovation Management, Carnegie Mellon University
Varshini was inspired by her early exposure to entrepreneurship through her father’s business, and from observing how small manufacturing companies often underperform not because they lack potential, but because they have limited access to modern tools and strategic support.
Her technical grounding is evident in projects such as a computer vision-based maintenance alert system, an AR demo app for robotics training, and an automated irrigation solution using sensors and IoT, each developed to solve specific, real-world challenges in industrial and agricultural contexts.
Varshini is focused on applying accessible, modular tech interventions in settings where large-scale infrastructure is often lacking. Her long-term goal is to launch a consulting and innovation firm focused on Indian MSMEs, helping them adopt automation, sustainability practices, and AI-led operations.
Looking ahead
Each of our exceptional finalists embodies our vision for the DETermined Scholarship: to nurture STEM leaders who will return to India ready to innovate, address critical societal challenges, and inspire future generations.
We’ll announce the scholarship recipients in September, so watch this space!