Dr. Preeti Rao is a senior data scientist at IFF, a community development financial institution based in Chicago. She worked in nonprofits after graduating from IIFM and got into academic research as part of a mid-career move. After almost two decades, she has come full circle and is excited to be back in the non-profit space where she can help disadvantaged communities.
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/preeti06rao/
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. Pretty long and quite eventful, I must say! I came to IIFM because I fell in love with forests during a 15-day trek in Himachal and was determined not to get stuck in the computer job that I was doing then. Studying at IIFM was like a dream come true with the entire hill and all its wilderness to explore. After graduating from IIFM, I started working in the National Tree Growers Cooperative Federation now known as the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). After some years of working in community-based natural resource conservation and management, I found myself helping set up the GIS lab at FES and developing geospatial applications for conservation. Around that time, my one-year old son started suffering from asthma due to several environmental factors despite being the relatively clean and small town of Anand, Gujarat. The best option seemed to be to explore opportunities abroad and ensure a normal healthy childhood for him. I was lucky to get the Erasmus Mundus scholarship to do an M.Sc. in Geo-information science. I chose this program over the Full bright mid-career program in the US mainly because I would get to live in four European countries! That’s what we did during 2005-2007 with Manish (my spouse from PFM 92-94) taking care of our son while I studied. After completing my M.Sc., I went on to join Manish who had already started his PhD program at Boston University in Fall 2007. I took the GRE, submitted applications and finally enrolled in 2008 in the same PhD program at Boston University. My PhD research was on urban ecosystems and their impact on the Carbon and Nitrogen cycles. After graduating, I worked as a postdoc in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, developing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories at high spatio-temporal resolutions and collaborating with other scientists and engineers to design an integrated GHG emissions monitoring system. Most recently I worked as a research lab manager at the University of Michigan. There, I realized I enjoyed my interactions with students, helping them in their research and mentoring them more than publishing research. I needed to get back to more meaningful work and so here I am at IFF, helping strengthen nonprofits and the communities they serve.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. I came to IIFM to have fun and didn’t care much about the academics. I did enjoy the fieldwork, the OTs and forestry topics though. I ended up marrying Manish Verma of PFM 92-94 who convinced me that it would be great to study abroad just because HE was keen on doing a PhD in the US. That’s the key learning – that I ended up doing something that I had never dreamt of. So do most of us and we wonder, “Yeh kahaan aa gaye hum”! On a more serious note, I am proud of my achievement of completing a PhD successfully while setting up playdates for my son and actively volunteering at his school amongst other things. Manish helped me of course but there are certain limitations in how much a man can help, right?
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. I am part of the Research and Evaluation team at IFF which is spread across all the midwestern states of the US. As the senior data scientist at IFF’s Detroit office, I am in-charge of all Michigan-based research and evaluations, and provide data and analysis to help nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies in Michigan to make better decisions about resource allocation and real estate investment.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Yes, it definitely has. Even though I grew up in Rourkela, a steel city with a diverse population, it was only at IIFM that I started learning how to navigate life in general and specifically, develop awareness about diversity and inclusion. All this helped me in my work with rural communities, interactions with field teams, and especially when I went to live and study abroad in 2005. My passion in forests motivated me to focus on subjects I liked such as Environment & Ecosystem, Forest Management etc., and that helped me get into environmental applications of GIS and remote sensing. I was interested in trees so I put in extra effort to learn more about different tree species on my own time and this made me a better learner in general.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
A. My trek in the Himalayas inspired me to join IIFM and I chose to work in nonprofits after graduating from IIFM mainly because I was interested in environment and ecology. My son’s asthmatic condition persuaded me to become an “environmental refugee” and go abroad. Manish encouraged me to do a PhD and continues to push me out of my comfort zone!
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. I enjoyed exploring the campus, going on nearby hikes, experiencing the amazing forests during fieldtrips and my first OT in Uttarakhand. It was fun hanging out with the late nightgang at the Lantana Block listening to a wide range of conversations (made me a great listener, I must say!).
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. I learnt a lot about the different tree species on the IIFM campus from Kotwal Sir. My second OT with Rathore Sir helped me build up on my computer skills. And most importantly, I learnt to be tolerant. IIFM helped grow my passion for trees and forests. I am currently converting my front and back yard from lawn to native trees/shrubs (called a homegrown national park by Douglas Tallamy) and encouraging my neighbors to do so too.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. Once I found some bottles of liquor in the water cooler of my hostel block and hid them, causing a great deal of anguish ;-D. Pradeep, my senior used to live in my hostel block and always had a carton full of homemade chutneys and pickles. Sunita and I had his standing permission and we raided it pretty often! I enjoyed hanging out with Varsha and exploring the horse farm nearby, attending Santosh Passi’s meditation sessions at the back of the hill near the mess…. I was pleasantly surprised that Dhol Singh remembered my name when I met him a few months back. Apparently Sunita and I would encourage him to sing songs pretty frequently!
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. My advice would be to figure out your interests and work on them with the help of all the resources that IIFM has to offer. But also do enjoy your time at IIFM because it’s a really unique place in all aspects.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. I spend a great deal of my time on geospatial data analytics and also trying to understand client requirements. I acquire data from diverse sources, bring them to a common platform, analyze them, and finally deliver to the clients in a format that they can use for decision making and strategies.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add?
A. I like going on hikes, bicycle rides and camping. I recently went on a 7-day trek to East Arunachal and hope to explore more of Northeast India. I have gotten involved in native plant conservation and volunteer in local initiatives to promote the same.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. I haven’t had time to sit down and read a physical book for ages. The last time I read physical books were with my son during his elementary school days but I do listen to audio books and podcasts. A favorite book that immediately comes to mind is Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy. For fiction, I normally select titles recommended by the local public library. I enjoy watching horror and anime movies with my son but unfortunately forget the titles immediately afterwards.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. I have been involved in the Alumni Association for the past 2-3 years. I am currently a board member in the association and rather heavily involved in motivating my batchmates to contribute money, help clean up the alumni database and in the initial discussions to develop a gender-sensitization strategy/support platform for students and alumni.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. I visited IIFM recently in July 2022. My hostel block was looking pretty run down, which was too bad. I was planning to climb the tower for old times’ sake and Shri Sankari along with a few other students passing by volunteered to accompany me but the rains thwarted our plans. On the bright side, it was good to reconnect with Chandu bhaiya and Dhol Singh.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Swati Pant, Sunita Dogra, Pooja Srivastava, Leena Bakde, Kamakshi Tella, Meera Iyer – all from my batch.