Rutgers–Camden Professor Receives Fulbright Fellowship

CAMDEN — Rajiv Gandhi, an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University–Camden recently taught in India through a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship.  

As a Fulbright scholar, Gandhi taught algorithms and approximation algorithms at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Bombay, India, and will do research with students and faculty from VJTI and other colleges in and around the city of Mumbai.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to work with such motivated students,” Gandhi says.

Gandhi, a Haddonfield resident, currently teaches “Data Structures” and “Combinatorial Optimization” at Rutgers–Camden.

He interacted with a group of VJTI students during a visit to India in December 2008, when he introduced them to approximation algorithms during a classroom talk and during tutoring sessions at his home in India.

“It was this experience that has inspired me to apply for the Fulbright lecturing award,” Gandhi says. “The students were very motivated and eager to learn.”

Before joining the Rutgers–Camden faculty in 2003, Gandhi received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from VJTI, his master’s degree in computer science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and his doctorate in computer science from the University of Maryland.

Gandhi was presented with the Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Rutgers–Camden in 2006.

Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world.  Approximately 300,000 students and scholars around the world have participated in the program since its inception.  It awards approximately 8,000 new grants annually and operates in more than 155 countries.

Supported by an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress and by the people of partner nations, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.