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About Us

Dr. Ranjini Ramachander Kaushik

President and Founder

Dr. Ranjini Ramachander Kaushik is a Biochemist and Molecular Biologist by profession. Ranjini obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2004 in Biochemistry and specialized in understanding signal transduction mechanisms of MAP Kinase pathways in mammalian cells. She obtained her Masters in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai. She also has a regulatory certification from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Ranjini is the founder of a Biotechnology Consulting Firm, NuBioVista LLC, where she leverages her decades of experience in the biotechnology industry to provide expertise to biotech start-ups and well-established biotech firms.

Ranjini has previously held roles of increasing responsibility as a Process Development Group Leader at Amgen, Inc, a leading global biotechnology company based in Thousand Oaks, California. Ranjini brings years of expertise serving on conference panels, speaking at international venues, and leading cross functional groups and initiatives. She is the recipient of several awards from her company for her technical and leadership skills. Ranjini is also an avid promoter of the Arts. She is a passionate artist herself who paints and sketches in her free time and leverages her art to fund causes that she believes in. Ranjini is a passionate aficionado of classical music and is also actively involved in helping promote Western and Indian Classical Music mainly Carnatic and Hindustani as well as dance, both globally and in the Los Angeles area. Ranjini volunteers her time and serves on the board of the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic and Carnatica Archival Center, USA where she is actively involved in fundraising and promoting awareness of classical music. In her free time, Ranjini paints, and learns music to keep her mind actively engaged.

As the founder and CEO of SciArtsRUs, Ranjini has made significant strides in bringing in diversity and inclusion in the sciences, visual and performing arts. The various initiatives in the organisation has created a global movement in the area of accessibility, disability inclusion, cross-culture art forms and initiatives at the interface of arts and sciences. Having featured over 400 artists in just 2 .5 years across the various initiatives over 21 countries and 5 continents, these programs have made a significant impact globally. Ranjini has been recognised with several awards from senator of California to several proclamations and citations received from the mayors in USA and disability commissioner from India. The work done via SciArtsRUs verticals has been published in over 50 publications over just 2 years in several media outlets in countries like USA, India, Indonesia, Rwanda-Africa, Oman to name a few. By shining the light on under represented populations of artists, scientists and everyday professionals, Ranjini has taken accessibility in the arts and sciences to include the most marginalised communities.

Ranjini lives in California with her husband, and two children, who are also students of the arts.

Dr. Rahul Rajan

Vice President and Corporate Relations

Dr. Rahul Rajan received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in Cell Biology, where he discovered mechanisms underlying the cause of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.) Mumbai, where he graduated as class Valedictorian. Growing up in India, Dr. Rajan was a national level tennis player, representing his State in the National Championships. Dr. Rajan is currently the Senior Vice President and Executive Team Member at FibroGen, where he and his team oversee a large network of contract manufacturing organizations as well as internal development capabilities to produce clinical and commercial biologic therapeutics for patients suffering from a range of grievous illness. Dr. Rajan is an eminent personality in the Biopharmaceutical Industry; he has been featured as a speaker in numerous international conferences for over two decades. He served on the leadership committees of prominent organizations such as the American Chemical Society and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Dr. Rajan is passionate about enhancing community awareness related to Science and Arts. He avidly supports both Indian and Western Classical Musical events. He spends his free time playing the guitar and jams with his friends on musical performances.

Rishabh “Rishi” Kaushik

Inclusion Board Director and Secretary

USA

Rishabh “Rishi” Kaushik, is a prodigious 14 year old from Los Angeles, California and a High School Freshman at Newbury Park High School in Newbury Park, CA. He is a meritorious student across disciplines, excelling in Math and Science, Linguistics and the Arts. He is part of the “Gifted and Talented Education” (GATE) program.

Rishi is a multi-genre Classical Music Vocalist, a Piano and Keyboard artist (Carnatic and Western). A disciple of Vid. K N Shashikiran and Smt Srivaralaxmi Maya, Rishabh comes from a family with significant musical lineage traced back to eminent mridangist Vidwan Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer through his paternal side to senior violinist Vidwan Mullaivasal Chandramouli and percussionist Vidwan Rohan Krishnamurthy on his maternal side.

His maiden public performance was at age 9 in the renowned music festival in Chennai, India’s Marghazhi season and has since has performed in several prestigious venues such as Brahma Gana Sabha, Chembur Fine Arts, Hamsadhwani, Global Carnatic Music Association, Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Madhuradhwani, Carnatica and Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Tamil Nadu Govt Music College, Mani Krishnaswami etc in India. Internationally, in the USA he has performed in the prestigious Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana (Ohio), Carnatica Global-Silicon Andhra University (San Fransisco), SciArtsRUs USA in Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Janet and Scherr Performing Arts Theatre, Bharat Sangeet Natya Kala Utsav (San Jose), Nadotsavam at SV temple (Minneapolis), Mahaperiva Manimandapam (NJ) etc and at the International Carnatic Music Festival in Malaysia. Rishi is the youngest inductee for Carnatic keyboard in the Live4You Hall of Fame award 2022 received from Shri N. Murali of Music Academy. Rishabh is also a Gold Medal winner in advanced contemporary piano. He is the recipient of several prizes in Carnatic Vocal and Keyboard in prestigious competitions like Cleveland Aradhana and won over 13 prizes in the Sugam Culture and Heritage Foundation music contest and recognized as a role model for students by the Conejo Valley School Board of Directors, Thousand Oaks for leveraging his musical talent to bring awareness of inclusion in the performing arts. Rishabh has been accompanied by stalwart musicians in India and USA.

Rishi has leveraged his initiative “Service Thru Music” to promote inclusion in the performing arts by not only bringing about awareness but also consciously making his own performances inclusive. His performance reviews and social initiatives has been published in several international newspapers and magazines such as The Hindu, Times of India, Mylapore Times and other city papers in India, Conejo Valley lifestyle, Simi Valley Acorn and Dos Vientos living in USA.

Spoorthi Rao

Inclusion Ambassador, Student Board Member
and Communications Director

INDIA

Spoorthi Rao is a prodigious 18-year-old Carnatic classical vocalist, student of music under the tutelage of the RaGa sisters, and a science student from India. She regularly performs in various states across the country and internationally, in prestigious platforms, and her captivating performances have amassed over 30 million views on YouTube and Facebook.

At the age of 9, Spoorthi won the coveted Super Singer Junior 4 title, and went on to be part of a world tour in London, Australia, Canada and Singapore alongside renowned names in Indian cinema music, including SP Balasubramanian, KS Chitra, Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Prakash, among others. She recently successfully completed her first solo concert tour in the USA with over 15 concerts in different states in 1.5 months. She won the National Level competition, Kala Utsav conducted by the Government of India in the vocal music category, was awarded the Best Junior Vocalist award from Vani Mahal, the Young Achiever Award from Rotary Club of Chennai and the Kempegowda State Civilian Award from Government of Karnataka to name a few.

Driven by a deep-rooted passion for making a positive impact in society, Spoorthi aspires to leverage her art, privilege and platform to promote change, acceptance and equity. She believes in respecting and embracing our unique differences and strives to inspire others to do the same, by using her voice not only to sing beautiful krithis but also to be vocal about topics such as menstrual awareness, LGBTQ rights, inclusivity, mental health and gender equality.

Spoorthi will be our youth and student board member and will work on inclusive initiatives with the SciArtsRUs team in visual and performing arts in addition to managing SciArtsRUs social media content management and communications.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Katelyn MacIntyre

Artablities 4 All Advisory Board Member and Ambassador for the Blind

USA

As a blind vocalist and speaker, Katelyn MacIntyre enjoys sharing her inspirational life story and dynamic music which spans many genres with all audiences. Studying with Maria Spacagna for her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at Carnegie Mellon University, she premiered the opera Cold Hands with CMU and Pittsburgh Opera, soloed with the AIMS Festival Orchestra around Austria, and covered the soprano solos of Mozart’s Requiem with Maestro Manfred Honeck and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic. She has performed numerous operatic and musical roles including The Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Beth in Little Women, Monica in The Medium, and the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a featured soprano soloist she has performed at such notable venues as Tokyo Billboard Live! Japan sponsored by Fox International, the Völkerkundemuseum Heidelberg, Germany, the Kennedy Center, Union Station, DC, and all across N. America.

Katelyn received the 2012-13 Presser Scholar Award, won the VSAarts International Young Soloists Award, was a National Federation of the Blind 2014 National Scholarship winner, and has garnered top prizes and scholarships in the US and Canada.

Currently, Katelyn teaches voice, piano, guitar, and music theory privately. Other performing arts include acting and competitive ballroom dancing. She has been on this talented board since 2014 and is thrilled to continue raising expectations and increasing opportunities for all blind performers. Follow Katelyn at: www.katelynmac.com, www.facebook.com/KatelynMacMusic, or on Twitter @KatelynMacMusic.

Purnima Anand

BRICS Cross-Cultural Advisor and Ambassador

BRAZIL, RUSSIA, INDIA, CHINA AND SOUTH AFRICA

Purnima’s main role is building relations with the diplomatic sector and state governments for ‘Vision for Future’.Honorary President of International Federation of Indo-Russian Youth Clubs (IFIRYC) at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture to target the program to develop the spiritual and moral culture of the younger generation of Russia and India. Working for the Global Go-Green Mission project, to inspire, educate, and empower young minds through Art & Nature Camps.

Working to bring socio-political-economical understanding to bear on larger issues among the younger generation, developing strong networks and leadership for innovative startup entrepreneurship in the digital era. Managing Director, BRICS International Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., Consultancy to share experiences of business developments among partners, various organizations, and specialists among BRICS (+) nations.

Sikkil C. Gurucharan

Creative Lead and Advisor Science Meets Music

INDIA

Sikkil C. Gurucharan is a leading musician and a youth ambassador for Carnatic music. A prime time artist during the Chennai music season and a recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar Award and Tchaikovsky Award for the best musician of the year among many, Gurucharan has not only made a mark in the traditional concert paddhati style but also worked to broaden audience
appeal by creating collaborative projects with world-renowned musicians while retaining the spirit of the art form. In 2015, Gurucharan received a Nehru-Fulbright Excellence Award and was in residence at UC Davis between January and April 2015.

The album “Miles from India”, a collaborative effort, was nominated for the Best Contemporary Jazz Album at the 51st Grammy Awards. The magazine India Today featured him among 35 Game Changers under the age of 35 in India. The Tamil Nadu Government conferred its highest honor of Kalaimamani on Gurucharan in 2020. He has also acted in two Tamil movies, Sarvam Thala Mayam and Putham Pudhu Kaalai.

Website : www.sikkil.com, Instagram : @sikkilgurucharan

Habiba Osman

Artabilties and Cross-Culture
Advisor for Malawi, Africa

MALAWI, AFRICA

Ms. Habiba Osman is a lawyer whose work has focused on human rights, gender and governance. Habiba, is the current Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Commission in Malawi, a Constitutional body that promotes, protects, and investigates human rights violations in the broadest sense possible, including advising the Government on all areas of human rights.

Habiba, serves on several boards regionally and internationally. Habiba has previously worked for the UN and other international organizations as a gender and human rights specialist/ advisor. She currently serves as an ambassador for the global youth against slavery movement, an advisor to the World Leaders for Mental Health platform, and was also been recognized as the Vital Voices Top 100 Women in the world (2016). In 2022, she was appointed to chair as Trustee for the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi. Habiba, graduated from Keele University (UK) with a dual honors degree in Law (LLB), International History, and has an LLM in international human rights law obtained from Notre Dame Law School, USA.

Habiba, has written numerous articles on human trafficking, disability rights, gender-based violence, and various human rights topics.

Yogendra Puranik

Indo-Japan Cross-Cultural  Advisory Board Member

JAPAN

Yogendra Puranik, popularly known as Yogi, is a first generation migrant from India in Japan. He is the first India-born Asian-origin elected assemblyman in Japan. He is also the first person of foreign-origin to become the Principal of a Public High School and thus a Grade V gazetted officer in Japan. Yogi is highly active in community work and is the President of All-Japan Association of Indians (AJAI).

Yogi is educated in Economics, Information Technology and Management. He has worked for global IT companies and banks at senior positions. He takes interest in vivid writing and organizing cultural activities. He runs 2 restaurants and a culture center in Tokyo as a social entrepreneur.

Yogi takes deep interest in Indian music, culture and history. Yogi established a 50 seater Edogawa India Culture Center in Tokyo, where he has hosted more than 150 live concerts of Indian music and dance since Jan 2017. The ambience of the culture center is such that some Padmashree awardees have also chosen to perform at this hall. Weekly yoga, music and language classes are also conducted at this culture center. Yogi has also offered lectures on Indian culture, history and economy to ministries, city offices and corporates in Japan. He has spoken at many international conferences and is a common figure in television and media of Japan.

Professor Abhiman Kaushal

Advisory Board Member

USA

Abhiman Kaushal is an outstanding tabla artist who is much sought after for his sensitive accompaniment and intense solo playing. He represents the Farukkabad and Lucknow styles of tabla. Having been initiated into the art by his father R. B. Kaushal, who was a disciple of the legendary Ustad Amir Hussain Khan, Abhiman later continued his training under the famous Ustad Sheikh Dawood of Hyderabad, India, and the Ustad’s senior most disciple, Pandit B. Nandkumar. Abhiman has accompanied most of the leading musicians, singers and dancers of North Indian classical music.

He has toured around the world performing in prestigious venues. He has numerous recordings and world music collaborations. Abhiman was the featured percussionist of the Grammy award winning AlbumWhite Sun II under the New Age Music category. Some of his other noteworthy recordings has been “Passages” that was short-listed for a Grammy. Prof Kaushal has appeared at major international venues in England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Belgium, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, United States, and India. His performances have been with leading musicians of the world.

Abhiman is currently on faculty at UCLA and UCR as Director of the North Indian Classical Music ensembles.

Dr. Vibha Jawa

STEAM Advisory Board Member

USA

Dr. Vibha Jawa is an Executive Director for Biotherapeutics Bioanalysis in Nonclinical Disposition and Bioanalysis (NDB) organization at Bristol Myers Squibb. Vibha is responsible for leading biotherapeutic and cell /gene therapy bioanalytical (BA) function supporting DMPK and immunogenicity, and provide strategic and scientific oversight for BMS developmental portfolio. Vibha was at Merck for 4 years where she led the Predictive and Clinical Immunogenicity group and at Amgen for 14 years supporting Discovery to Development for biotherapeutics.

Vibha enjoys volunteering as a board member for the state youth orchestra and mentoring high school students on STEM related projects in her free time.Vibha’s involvement in mentorship of students has ranged from supporting science and arts initiatives in STEM magnet schools, mentoring female high school students as part of the Honors Advanced Research program, and college graduates. She is also an active board member of the New Jersey State Youth Orchestra (NJSYO). Her collaboration with the non-profit STEAMPARK, a NJ-based education center, to improve science literacy in children, and especially girls, from low-income communities is worthy of highlighting. She has extended this mentorship effort to support Women in the pharmaceutical sciences through AAPS mentors high school students as part of the Honors Advanced Research program.

She co-sponsored a proposal with the AAPS Women’s Leadership community and the AAPS Students Community titled “ Promoting STEM in Schools; Women in Science Initiative” for the career development track for the 2020 Pharm Sci 360 meeting. The panel discussion on how to build the next generation of women scientists, especially strategies to engage young girls at the elementary school level through peer mentorship, introduction of novel contemporary science topics through hands on workshops, and mentorship on presentations and public speaking skills for science fairs and competitions, was very well received by the meeting attendees. This initiative has since evolved into an outreach program to promote STEM to young students from elementary schools. Despite her many professional commitments, Vibha serves as an active mentor for the Early Career Bioanalytical Scientists representing the Therapeutic Protein Immunogenicity (TPI) Community and guides graduate students and early career scientists in writing programming proposals.

Dr. Wendy Phillips Rodriguez

Cross-Cultural Advisory Board Member for Mexico

MEXICO

Wendy holds a PhD in Sanskrit from the University of Cambridge, a Master’s degree in Sanskrit Studies from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Her doctoral dissertation received the D. K. Award for the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Sanskrit, granted by the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS).

Wendy is currently a researcher at the Center for Classical Studies of the Institute of Philological Research (IIFL-UNAM), where she is dedicated to the study of classical India. Since January 2012, she has served as IASS Regional Director for Latin America.

In 2014 she received the National University Distinction Award for Young Scholars (RDUNJA) for her teaching work. Her main areas of research are Sanskrit epics, textual criticism and compared literature.

R.S.V. Prakash(aka Nathan)

Advisory Board of Directors

INDIA

On behalf of the board of directors, we are delighted to welcome finance professional, event management extraordinaire, Founder of Live4You and Hall of Fame, Mr. R.S.V. Prakash aka R.S.V. Nathan to our advisory board of SciArtsRUs. SciArtsRUs has had several productive collaborations with Mr. Prakash including the “Kala Rachana” series, Live4you Hall of Fame, and Marghazhi Sammelan. Live4You has also been associated with the SciArtsRUs initiative Artabilities 4 All in 2022 and 2023 on our annual inclusive showcase, “Marghazhi Matram” featuring inclusive concerts and dance performances. Prakash will continue to engage with us, now in an official capacity on various collaborative projects within the arts and we are excited to have his support and decades of experience in our rapidly growing organization.

A very warm welcome to Mr. Prakash!

Prakash is a finance professional and a wealth management expert with over 23 years of experience in the field. Prakash is also a passionate fine arts promoter in addition to managing diverse events, and adventure tours, launching novel initiatives such as the immensely successful Live4You online concert streaming platform, the Live4You Hall of Fame, the one-of-a-kind Mahanavarathari Utsavam, that have received rave reviews for novelty and grandeur to name a few. With over 30 years of experience in this space, Prakash leads as a team player and believes in engagement by empowering. In 2014 she received the National University Distinction Award for Young Scholars (RDUNJA) for her teaching work. Her main areas of research are Sanskrit epics, textual criticism, and compared literature.

Kalaimamani Anil Srinivasan

Advisory Board of Directors

INDIA

Anil Srinivasan is one of India’s most renowned musicians. He has been awarded the highest honors for the Arts both nationally (Sangeet Natak Akademi award) and in his home state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India. (Kalaimamani). With an M Phil from Columbia University and a strong background in cognitive neuroscience, Anil has been spearheading a revolution in Creative Intelligence through Rhapsody, founded by him in 2013.

Rhapsody currently reaches over 450 schools across India as the first in-curriculum Art Integration and Creative Intelligence program. Rhapsody was ranked #1 worldwide in ‘Innovation in Learning’ by ReImagine Education – an initiative of Wharton Learning Labs and QS in 2021.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/rhapsody-wins-prestigious-global-reimagine-education-award/article64911680.ece

Kruu, his next venture, was founded in 2022 and now brings Universities and high schools together through project-based learning. Ahead of its launch, it has already reached over 120,000 students. As a philanthropist and changemaker, he is an Aspen Global Leader and has been involved in various community initiatives and active social work. He recently pledged his entire music-based earnings to charity. He is also a Professor of Practice at KREA University and handles courses on creativity, design thinking & interdisciplinary arts.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/brunch/music-playing-it-forward-101655492368060.html

VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/zoQ_9zPtE9Q