Saswathi Natta is a Doctoral student at the University of Maryland. Her dissertation fieldwork was completed with the help of a Fulbright fellowship in 2018-2019, interviewing over 100 female respondents in rural India on topics of caste socialization, women's empowerment and work behavior. Her work experience includes contract work with the National Center for Health Statistics - Center for Disease Control (NCHS-CDC) conducting cognitive interviews and data coding. She also served as an international contractor with the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (UN-DPA) using a mixed methods approach to Evaluate the Gender/WPS training for DPA staff. Before her graduate studies, Saswathi's previous work includes a year long fellowship in the microfinance industry in India, experience at Lok Foundation as a Research Associate working with survey creation and data analysis, experience with the National Human Rights Commission of India, and as a Research Assistant at the Center for Advanced Study of India at Upenn working on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) data from the Indian census and qualitative interviews of diaspora populations. Saswathi also has 2 years of moderator experience leading discussion groups focused on social identity through the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. She holds a B.S.E in Electrical Engineering and a certificate in South Asian Studies from Princeton University.
Areas of Interest
- Social Stratification - Caste, Race, Ethnic, Immigrant Diaspora
- Gender Issues - Roles, Work, Family, Empowerment
- Social Policy
- Demography
Degrees
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BSElectrical Engineering with a Certificate in South Asian Studies, Princeton University
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MAMasters of Sociology, University of Maryland
Awards
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2018-10-152018 - 2019 - Fulbright US Student Program Grant
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2017-06-01Sociology 2017 Summer Research Grant
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2016-06-01University of Maryland Dean’s Fellowship
Conferences
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Population Association of America Conference 2020; Washington DC (moved online due to COVID); Flash Presentation: “Intersectionality of Women’s Empowerment: Education & Labor Force Variation across Castes in Rural India”
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Asian & Asian American Studies 2019; Madison, WI; Paper: “Indian Caste Lines & Co-ethnic Divergence: Ethnic and Racial Identity Formation in the U.S."
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2019 Fulbright 2019 Conference, South Asian Region; Kochi, India; Presentation: “The Ideal Indian Woman: Family Aspirations and Implications for Women’s Empowerment"
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American Sociological Association Conference 2018; Philadelphia, PA; Presentation: "Divergence Within? Indian Caste Lines and Immigrant Ethnic and Racial Identity Formation in the U.S."
