Indian-American law scholar Shyamala Ramakrishna received the 2023 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a merit-based program that supports graduate study for immigrants or children of immigrants.
Over 30 participants the country and world who are pursuing graduate school in the United States were selected for the 2023 fellowship from nearly 2,000 applicants, according to a press note.
A graduate of Yale Law School, Ramakrishna worked at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian American Arts Alliance, and New Jersey’s state government. She is a scholar in the selective Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights with a focus on arts and advocacy.
Born to parents of Tamil heritage from India, Ramakrishna is a trained musician who has been performing onstage at South Indian music festivals since the age of four. She directed Shades, a singing group that centers Black musical traditions and conducts vocal music workshops at underserved public schools around the United States.
Peggy Browning Fellowship recipient, Ramakrishna has a keen interest in labor movements. She plans to dedicate her career to workers’ rights including supporting arts workers in their collective efforts to be valued fairly in the age of digital music distribution.
As part of the fellowship, Ramakrishna will receive up to $90,000 in funding over two years. She joins an active community of past recipients of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows which include U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the first surgeon general of Indian descent, who helped lead the response to Ebola, Zika, and the coronavirus; and other distinguished individuals from diverse fields.
