Profiles

How do you feel at home in a new place? How to build community here? And how do you hold on to who you are while growing into someone new?

Those are huge questions for people like Shruti Chandrashekhar Nadkarni, who are working hard to navigate the often-invisible threads of belonging. But now, as a fourth-year international PhD student in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Guelph, Shruti’s journey is yielding results. She hopes her story offers hope for others facing challenges finding their way.

Naythrah Thevathasan, a Guelph native and a proud Gryphon, has achieved remarkable milestones in her journey as a health care professional. Her path reflects a deep dedication to pediatric care and public health, shaped by diverse academic experiences, a global outlook and factors in her own home.

Guneet Kaur’s academic journey started with a deep dive into biological sciences, exploring how living systems work at a fundamental level. This sparked an interest in applied genetics, where she dug deeper into how cells function and interact. But just understanding wasn’t enough—she wanted to take it a step further and start designing and modifying biological systems. That curiosity led her into biochemical engineering, where Kaur now uses her knowledge to manipulate cells, including microbes, to create bio-based products.

The practice of sharing tea cuts across cultural and temporal lines. As a platform for social connection, chaa (Punjabi for ‘tea’) brings people together to soothe difficult conversations, celebrate milestones and share good news. This ubiquitous drink is the inspiration behind Chaa da Cup, a research project by Harnaaz (Naaz) Kaur Grewal-Greeno, MSW, B.Sc.

Aparna Swarup (visual artist, painter and photographer) and Susan Dobson (lens-based artist and professor at the University of Guelph) met in Dobson’s office to discuss photography, art and culture during Aparna’s six-week stay in Guelph. 

Listen to the podcast conversation between Aparna Swarup and Prof. Dobson. 

Read the full podcast transcript.

Read on for an abridged version of their conversation. 

Sunand Sharma came to Guelph to attend a college in a city not different from his hometown, St. Catharines. It was a safe place, one in which he could learn, grow and go on to develop a career as a rising star in student leadership, citizenship and engagement.

Women are political trailblazers in India. Breaking the glass ceiling in their chosen careers, women have powered India through to a more equal world.

As a tutor and music teacher for underprivileged youth in Scarborough, in the final year of his undergraduate studies in Toronto, Dr. Shivajan Sivapalan met many families— and was shocked to learn they were often misguided or ill-informed about mental health. Dr. Sivapalan met a child on the Autism spectrum, who was of Indian background. “The family wasn’t sure what Autism was or meant . . . The mother had never heard the word before. And the worst part was that she felt it was her fault that her child was on the spectrum.” This was a life-changing encounter for Dr.

In the 1990s, while other agricultural scientists in Ontario were mostly planting crops in their research plots, agroforestry pioneers Andy Gordon and Naresh Thevathasan were instead planting trees—and turning heads.

Naresh and Andy at the Ontario Agricultural College were working to give producers a long-term income prospect and environmentally friendly alternative to monocultures, by intercropping lucrative hardwoods among rows of cash crops.

Dilshan Fernando (PhD candidate in Sociology; CIRCLE Student Writer) and Dr. Sharada Srinivasan (Associate Professor; Director CIRCLE) spoke to Vikas Swarup on the occasion of the awarding of the Doctor of Letters, honoris causa by the University of Guelph on 16 June 2022.

Listen to the podcast interview with Vikas Swarup on a wide range of questions.