Indianapolis, Indiana – While many researchers spend their careers rooted in a single place, Arya Karumanthra has taken her academic journey across continents — from the classrooms of Bloomington, Indiana, to the bustling academic halls of Hamburg, Germany, and the vibrant university community of Kerala, India. A doctoral student at Indiana University’s School of Education, Karumanthra is not just exploring ideas on paper; she is immersing herself in different cultural contexts to better understand how future educators engage with one of the most pressing global issues of our time: sustainable energy.
With support from the Primary Partner Graduate Student Grant, Karumanthra was able to expand her research on sustainable energy education to include two diverse international locations. Her study focused on teacher candidates — university students preparing to become educators — and how they understand and approach the topic of sustainability in their respective countries. The grant, which supports collaborations between IU faculty or students and international partner institutions, gave her the tools and resources to take her project global.
Karumanthra, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a minor in international and comparative education, said her research was driven by both curiosity and urgency. She became particularly interested in how education systems can help shift public attitudes about energy use and environmental responsibility — especially in democratic nations like the United States, Germany, and India, which rank among the highest greenhouse gas emitters on their respective continents.
“It’s not always about the technological shift, but also about the mindset of people,” Karumanthra explained. “Education plays a key role in shaping that mindset, and teacher candidates — who will educate the next generation — need to be part of this shift.”
Her study takes a global competence approach to education, a framework that promotes understanding and engagement with global issues from diverse cultural perspectives. In the context of sustainable energy, this means examining how cultural, social, and educational factors influence how future teachers process and teach information about sustainability.
Karumanthra began her research in India, where she independently contacted a local university in Kerala. She reached out, explained her project, and was welcomed by faculty who supported her interviews and survey collection. Her findings there provided key insights into how teacher candidates in India understand environmental responsibility, often shaped by both national policy and local experiences.
Her experience in Germany followed a different path, relying on the institutional partnership between Indiana University and the University of Hamburg. Thanks to the Primary Partner Grant, she spent three weeks embedded in the School of Education at Hamburg, interviewing 10 teacher candidates — each twice — and administering two surveys. These conversations focused on whether the participants were approaching sustainable energy from a global mindset and whether their teacher preparation programs were equipping them to think critically and culturally about sustainability.
“I was apprehensive because I don’t speak German, but the faculty and students were incredibly supportive,” she said. “My host professor, Dr. Sandra Sprenger, was extremely helpful, and one of my colleagues even volunteered to translate during an interview.”
The support she received in Germany went beyond the classroom. Karumanthra said one of the most memorable aspects of her stay was the sense of community she found among her colleagues. “One of my favorite memories was having lunch with my research group every day,” she said. “It really made me feel like I belonged, and it deepened our collaboration on both academic and personal levels.”
The experience not only advanced her research but also provided valuable professional and cultural insights. Karumanthra said that navigating the grant application process was challenging but worth the effort. Her advice to other graduate students thinking about applying? Be proactive, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to reach out for help.
“There’s no single resource listing all available grants, so you have to search actively,” she noted. “Don’t be intimidated by the application process; reach out to the contacts listed and ask questions. You’d be surprised how helpful they can be.”
As her research continues, Karumanthra hopes her work will contribute to the design of teacher education programs that promote both global understanding and environmental stewardship. Her findings may help inform how educational policy shapes curriculum — not just in the U.S., but in partner countries as well — especially when it comes to preparing teachers who can think globally and act locally.
“These three weeks in Germany were some of the best in my last four years,” she said. “Academically, it was a huge success, and personally, it was an unforgettable experience.”
For Karumanthra, sustainable energy education is more than a research topic — it’s a mission to build cross-cultural understanding and empower the next generation of teachers to lead their students toward a more sustainable future. And with the support of international collaboration, she’s showing that meaningful change often begins in the classroom.
