Two Indians selected as Yale 2012 World Fellows

Washington: Two Indians are among 16 people selected by the prestigious Yale University in 2012 as its World Fellows, bringing the total number of fellows from India to 11 since the programme started in 2002.

"Two of the 16 Yale World Fellows for the year 2012 are from India," the university said in a statement.

Ayush Chauhan co-founder and managing director, Quicksand and Ruchi Yadav, senior programme officer, The Hunger Project are the two 2012 Yale World Fellows.

With this the total number of fellows from India to 11 since the program started in 2002. India and Britain each with eleven fellows have had more fellows in the program than of the seventy-nine countries represented since 2002.

Chauhan heads Quicksand, a multi-disciplinary design and innovation consultancy working at the intersection of business, development, and culture.

With a background in advertising, human rights, and the women s movement in India, Yadav's focus is to empower elected women representatives at the grassroots level as key change agents in local institutions of government across seven states in India.

In the statement, the Yale University said each year since 2002, it has welcomed a group of exemplary mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.

"We are thrilled once again to welcome an outstanding group of World Fellows to Yale," said Dr Michael Cappello, director of the programme and professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine.

"We will be so fortunate to have these extraordinary men and women at Yale," said Yale President Richard C Levin. "The University community is always so enriched by the World Fellows. We hope they take full advantage of all our community has to offer them," he said.

From August to December, the 2012 World Fellows will enroll in a specially designed seminar taught by leading Yale faculty; audit any of the 3,000 courses offered at the University; participate in weekly dinners with distinguished guest speakers; receive individualised skill-building training; and meet with US and foreign leaders.