What follows is a record of Akshat's formal schooling, residential research programmes, and competitive fellowships, assembled between 2022 and the present. Admitted into the country's most selective mathematics programme at a 3.2% acceptance rate, appointed to a paid research apprenticeship in analytic number theory, and accepted into competitive programmes internationally.
Entries are ordered roughly by academic weight, not chronology. Dates are of participation.
Subjects: Pure Mathematics,Number Theory,Public Policy,Financial Literacy,Entrepreneurship · resume.pdf
Paid research and teaching position at the Lodha Genius – Ashoka University Programme. An explicit institutional exception was made to include Akshat as a pre-undergraduate applicant. Research focus: algebraic number theory, under Professor Shanta Laishram (Head of the Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit (Stat-Math Unit) at Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Delhi), alongside faculty from IIT Delhi, CMI, ISI Kolkata, ISI Delhi, and Ashoka University.
Admitted into the fully funded Lodha Genius Programme 2025 Cohort, specialising in Pure Mathematics, Number Theory, Group Theory, Linear Algebra, and Geometry. Attended alongside top undergraduate mathematicians from across India.
Attended intimate colloquia with Nobel laureates, leading scientists, and mathematicians, including Sir Paul Nurse (Nobel Prize in Physiology, 2001), Professor Brian Schmidt (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2011), and Professor Haruzo Hida (AMS Steele Prize), among others.
[4] August – November 2025 · University of California, Santa CruzShadow the Scientists Programme
Selected for the competitive Shadow the Scientists Programme at UC Santa Cruz, pairing students with active UCSC researchers to observe and participate directly in ongoing scientific work.
Completed secondary and senior secondary education at one of India's most selective schools. Elected President of the Student Council. CBSE stream: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Economics.
†LG-AUP is a paid research and teaching appointment at the Lodha Genius – Ashoka University Programme. Akshat joins as a pre-undergraduate student, an exception made explicitly for this role.
‡
The Lodha Genius Programme is fully funded and residential, designed for India's most mathematically gifted students. Acceptance rate: 3.2%.
§
The Great Ideas Seminars are small, invitation-only colloquia held within the LGP. Past speakers include two Nobel laureates and a recipient of the AMS Steele Prize in Number Theory.
¶
The Shadow the Scientists Programme at UC Santa Cruz pairs selected students with faculty researchers engaged in active scientific inquiry.
‖Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram is among India's most competitive schools, with over 5,000 students. Akshat served as Student Council President in his final year.
Selected for YC's inaugural Startup School India, among 2,000 founders, builders, and engineers from across the country. Pitched his financial literacy initiative directly to Jared Friedman, received a $25K+ AI compute grant from Y Combinator, and met the founding teams of Zepto, Razorpay, Groww, and Meesho.
[7] June 2025 · Hong Kong Baptist UniversityHKBU Summer School, ESG & Culture in Marketing
Nominated as one of five students from Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram (from a school of 5,000+). Studied ESG and culture in marketing under Professor Barry Hung, Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems.
Completed a selective three-month entrepreneurship development programme run by the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay. Developed and pitched FinKid, a financial literacy initiative, to industry leaders and CXOs.
[9] May – September 2024 · Online · Selected from 32,000Innovator, s3 Cohort, buildspace
Selected for the s3 Cohort of buildspace, a global programme for early-stage builders and founders. Chosen from among 32,000 applications worldwide; the programme focused on shipping real products with real users within a compressed timeline.
**Y Combinator's Startup School India was YC's first event of its kind in the country. Akshat received a $25K+ AI compute grant from YC and pitched to partner Jared Friedman.
††HKBU Summer School, Akshat was among only five nominees from a school of over 5,000 students, taught by Professor Barry Hung at Hong Kong Baptist University.
‡‡Eureka! Juniors is the high school track of IIT Bombay's E-Cell, one of India's most prominent undergraduate entrepreneurship organisations.
§§buildspace received over 32,000 applications for its s3 Cohort worldwide. The programme was known for its constraint-driven approach to building and shipping.