Two PhD students at the MIT Media Lab have been selected as recipients of the 2026–27 Tata Center for Technology and Design Fellowship: Anku Rani from the Multisensory Intelligence group and Shrihari Viswanath from the Conformable Decoders group.

Anku Rani's research addresses a critical public health challenge: how to replace dangerous traditional remedies with accurate medical information in Indian communities. She develops AI technologies that adapt medical advice to be culturally appropriate and linguistically accessible for rural Indian villages, using multimodal approaches that modify language, speech, and gestures to ensure health information resonates with local communities.

Shrihari Viswanath's research centers on a cost-effective volumetric (3D) ultrasound imaging platform for operator-independent breast cancer screening. With screening coverage in India still in the single digits, he hopes that through the Tata Center he can build a strong network to support future deployment, anticipate potential challenges, and advance solutions that improve accessibility, safeguard privacy, and ultimately reduce breast cancer mortality.

The Tata Center for Technology and Design, part of the MIT Energy Initiative, supports MIT graduate students via endowed fellowships for work on projects aimed at developing appropriate, practical solutions for resource-constrained communities, with a focus on India. Preference is given to proposals with direct community impact and stakeholder engagement.