URBANA-CHAMPAIGN , IL (TIP): Two Indian Americans are among Fourteen University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students and recent alumni who were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research and teaching experiences across the globe this coming year.

Rina Ravisundar, of Willowbrook, Illinois, and a graduate of Hinsdale Central High School, was offered an English Teaching Assistant position in India. Ravisundar graduated cum laude from Illinois in December as a James Scholar honors student with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She served as a teaching assistant for Leadership and Society, an orientation course for freshmen James Scholar honors students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Ravisundar also worked as a research assistant studying gender violence and substance misuse, applying that research as a legal case worker at the Parliament of the United Kingdom. A first-generation American, Ravisundar tutored refugee children in English and math through the organization Refugee Tutoring. Ravisundar is currently employed by Fragomen LLP as a paralegal and said she hopes to begin law school and pursue a career in family law.

Aboorva Sivasankaran, of Huntley, Illinois, and a graduate of Huntley High School, was offered an English Teaching Assistant position in South Korea. Sivasankaran graduated from Illinois in 2019 as a James Scholar honors student with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She currently resides in Atlanta. On campus, Sivasankaran served as a lead peer adviser in the Division of General Studies and as an English native speaker volunteer with English Corner. She also worked to destigmatize mental illness as a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Sivasankaran served as an event coordinator of KConnect, a social organization for fans of Korean pop culture, and regularly participated in Korean conversation tables. Sivasankaran said she plans to attend graduate school in family counseling upon her return from her Fulbright year. She said the Fulbright would help her understand Korean families, which would inform her studies and career helping Korean and other Asian families and children in the U.S.