Three of the six Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) visiting scholars are completing their program this month and will return to their home institutions in India.
The WARI program is a partnership between the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Government of India, the Indian Department of Science and Technology, and the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum. The WARI program resumed in 2025 after completing previous funding rounds from 2016 to 2019.
The WARI program connects students and early-career faculty at universities and institutions in India with faculty at partner universities in the United States to conduct research together. Selected fellows from India spend three to twelve months in the United States working on their research in water-related fields. The goals of the WARI program are to conduct impactful research, make professional connections across countries, and prepare students and early-career faculty for impactful careers in water research.
WARI scholars completing their programs at the end of 2025 include:
- Jew Das, studying flash droughts and compound meteorological extremes under DWFI Faculty Fellow Tirthankar Roy. Das is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Warangal, India
- Mithun Karayi, studying surface water monitoring for organic contaminants under Water Sciences Laboratory Director Dan Snow. Karayi is a PhD scholar at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India
- Deepak Verma, studying the assessment of dam deformation under DWFI Faculty Fellow Francisco Munoz-Arriola. Verma is a PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India
“Through the WARI program, I have been able to access several valuable opportunities at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln that would not have been available to me otherwise,” Deepak Verma said. “The program has enabled me to collaborate and interact with researchers and stakeholders working on various water resource management challenges.”
Jew Das shared the impact he expects the WARI program to have on his future career. “The skills and insights gained through the WARI program will be essential for my future career development. Hands-on training with advanced research facilities will enhance my technical abilities, while participating in interdisciplinary problem solving will strengthen my capacity to address complex environmental and water challenges. The international research experience and professional networks I develop here will support future collaborations, foster my academic growth and allow me to make more impactful contributions to research, policy and innovation in my field.”
Living and working in Nebraska is often a new experience compared to the cities and institutions the WARI scholars call home in India. “Beyond the lab, I have found Nebraska to be welcoming,” Mithun Karayi said. “The peaceful environment, with its low population density and calm surroundings, has been a refreshing change from the busy and crowded city life I am used to. The climate has also been an interesting experience—especially getting to see the seasonal changes, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The people here have been incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming, which made it easy for me to feel comfortable from the very beginning.”
Das, Karayi and Verma will return to India soon and will apply the knowledge gained from the WARI program to their future studies and research.
