Nigel Hughes, a professor of geology in UC Riverside's Department of Earth Sciences, will travel to India this fall as a Fulbright-Nehur fellow for 2019-2020.

Hughes was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship, which provides U.S. faculty and researchers an opportunity to teach and research at an Indian academic institution.

Hughes will be hosted at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, for five months from November to April 2020.

He plans to work on a book called “The Cambrian Geology of the India Subcontinent,” which has three co-authors. Hughes will present material for the book to students and colleagues at the institutute's geological studies unit in order to find ways to best tailor it to audiences in the subcontinent and abroad.

"I have a long-standing research connection with India and will also be working with colleagues in the National Institute of Design at Vijaywada on novel ways to present India's tremendous fossil heritage to its citizens, and other ventures in educational outreach including the new "The Indian Museum of the Earth (TIME) initiative," he said.

Hughes will also devote time to improving his knowledge of the Bengali language. His first book, "Monishare pathorer bon" or "Monisha and the Stone Forest," was published in India in 2012.