IE Professor Bopaya Bidanda joins elite faculty as a dual Fulbright award winner

The University of Pittsburgh's Bopaya Bidanda has received the prestigious 2023-24 Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award. This is Bidanda's second Fulbright Award after his role as a 2005 Fulbright Senior Specialist in Uruguay in 2005. 

“This is a wonderful capstone to my career,” said Bidanda, who is the Ernest Roth Professor of Industrial Engineering at Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering. “With this award, I hope to spread the access to industrial engineering education and research on a global level.” 

Bidanda will be based at the National Institute for Industrial Engineering (NITE) in Mumbai, India for his sabbatical. As part of the award, Bindanda plans to: 

• Implement a Global Doctoral Colloquium to raise the quality of PhD-level industrial engineering research in India and throughout South and Central Asia 
• Further his research on “Frugal Engineering,” which focuses on providing value-based solutions based on customer need, the  with the possibility of establishing a lab at Pitt 
• Build networks in South and Central Asia with an additional grant from the US called the India Bi-National Fulbright Commission 

Bidanda also hopes to establish a heavier Pitt presence in South and Central Asia. 

"Professor Bidanda will be representing Pitt throughout the world, and I couldn’t think of a better educator and researcher to do so," said Interim Dean of the Swanson School Sanjeev Shroff.

Bidanda is one of a handful of Swanson School faculty to receive a Fulbright award.  In 2022, Pitt was named a top producer of Fulbright US students – with chemical engineering student Benjamin Hudock being one of them. 

Bidanda is among over 800 U.S. citizens who will teach or conduct research abroad for the 2023-2024 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.

As Fulbright Scholar alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Notable Fulbright alumni include 62 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and 41 who have served as a head of state or government. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries - chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to challenges facing our communities and our world.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program. In the United States, the Institute of International Education supports the implementation of the Fulbright U.S. Student and Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships.     

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org.