Kool receives third Fulbright Award

SUNY Poly Professor of Psychology Dr. V.K. Kool has received his third Fulbright award, second as Fulbright Specialist, to deliver a series of lectures to faculty and postgraduate students at Mahatma Gandhi University in India.

Each year, the American Psychological Association’s Peace Division invites proposals for the award, with the competition open to scholars around the globe.

“We received a huge volume of strong applications from all over the world and it was a challenging task for the committee,” said the President of the Association’s Peace Division.

Kool’s Fulbright-winning proposal was about writing a book on Gandhi and Modern Psychology to highlight the psychological aspects of Gandhi’s life and work, with plans to publish it on Gandhi’s 150^th birthday – October 2, 2019. In the proposal, Dr. Kool emphasized that after the Pulitzer Prize winning book Gandhi’s Truth was published in 1969, not much work has been done in psychology, such as the significance of self-control, a relatively new concept in the current neuro-social psychology, Kool says, as a tool in that Gandhian movement.

Dr. Kool was also invited to present his keynote speech, “The Art and Science of Self-Control and Yoga,” at the inauguration of the university’s Yoga Center on January 12, 2016.

“Fulbright Awards have long been known as evidence of success in the American academic life. I have been very fortunate to have not only received this award on three occasions but was also approached to help in the selection of Fulbright scholars. Each award motivated me to work harder to receive the next higher level of award,” Dr. Kool said. “It was indeed very gratifying to compete and subsequently, to succeed in competition with scholars from so called “elite” universities. Also, it offered me opportunity to learn from scholars around the globe to broaden my own cross-cultural perspective.”

Dr. Kool in India in 2013.

The opportunity allowed Dr. Kool the chance to discuss with those at Mahatma Gandhi University the world-class opportunities available at SUNY Polytechnic Institute since its formation out of the merger between the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and the former SUNY Institute of Technology. Kool said he especially described the unparalleled work being done by the SUNY Poly computer science department, with numerous faculty and students from Mahatma Gandhi University showing great interest and several questions.

With the help of Dr. Kool, SUNY Poly Psychology major Stacey Griffith presented her paper via Skype on January 6 to the faculty and students of the Behavioral Sciences Department at Mahatma Gandhi University. Kool says the interaction facilitated a great dialogue between the students of India and the United States. Throughout Griffith’s almost 75 minute presentation, she answered several questions from the faculty and students, keeping her focus on how cultural understanding and misunderstanding can be managed through continuous dialogues.

Dr. Kool has also seen success in the publishing world, recently co-authoring the book Psychology of Technology with Dr. Rita Agrawal. The book is slated for a 2017 release through Springer Publishing. Dr. Kool and Dr. Agrawal also co-wrote a chapter titled On Using Experimental Designs in D. Hegde’s book Essays in Research Methodology from Springer Publishing in 2015. He has previously published six other books.