Pankaj Jain

Dr. Pankaj Jain recently published Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains (January 2017),and is also the author of Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability(May 2011), which won the 2012 DANAM Book Awardand the 2011 Uberoi Book Award, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religion. He has published articles in journals such as Religious Studies Review, Worldviews, Religion Compass, Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, and the Journal of Visual Anthropology. He also contributes to the Huffington Post, Washington Post's forum On Faith, Times of India's Speaking Tree, and Patheos.

His research has been supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, Charn Uswachoke International Development Fund, and Wenner-Gren Grant. His teaching interests include Religion and Ecology, Asian Diaspora, and Sustainability of Religious Communities in Americas. Interested in connecting ancient practices with contemporary issues, he is exploring the connections between religious traditions and sustainability in the USA and in India. He has helped two temples in the Dallas area to get grants from their energy company to help them make more sustainable and energy efficient. One of his graduate students has also designed an environmental curriculum for a Sunday School.Before joining UNT, he taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers, Kean, and New Jersey City University. He serves or has served as a research affiliate with Harvard University'sPluralism Project, as scholar-in-residence with GreenFaith, as a board member of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies, as the India representative for the International Society for Environmental Ethics, and as a board member of the Executive Advisory Council of Hindu American Seva Communities, an NGO working with the White House Office for the faith-based initiatives. He has presented his research at Columbia University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, University of South Florida, Florida International University, University of Toledo, Texas Christian University, High Point University, Portland State University, Lancaster University (UK), Andhra University (India), Univ of Rajasthan (India), and several conferences, high schools, radio and TV stations, temples, churches, Yoga centers, and