I am lucky that my parents instilled in me a great passion for social justice and the desire to give back to society, which allowed me to pursue public policy research. I am also thankful that they let me pursue my interests instead of being told to follow the well-tested paths that many in the Indian-American community do.

What is your advice to students interested in following career in public policy?

My advice to the students is that the career horizons have expanded. There are many more opportunities in social science and qualitative research related to policy and in academia. I hope they will view them as viable places and, hopefully, I can inspire some of them to do it.

Being a child of immigrants, I am aware of the history of immigration and Indians in the U.S., and this had a big impact on me. I tell everyone to follow their passions and try to make a difference in the world. And, yes, you can be gainfully employed doing it.