Lakshmi Chilukuri [updated] Jun 2026

Chilukuri is currently scaling Sankalp across three countries, but she refuses to call it expansion. “That sounds like extraction,” she says. “We’re deepening. We’re asking: what does a support system look like that lasts 20 years, not 20 months?”

One of her most notable pedagogical contributions is her work with . Chilukuri is credited with integrating practical, discovery-based activities—such as yogurt-making modules —into laboratory curriculums. These activities serve as a bridge to teaching complex genetic topics like CRISPR immunity and bacterial natural history, allowing students to engage with real-world biotechnology in a tangible way. Scientific Research and Contributions lakshmi chilukuri

Today, Lakshmi continues to be a prominent voice in the Hindu community, advocating for women's rights, social justice, and interfaith understanding. Her story serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of women's leadership in faith communities and the impact that one person can have in promoting positive change. We’re asking: what does a support system look

Chilukuri didn’t set out to become a bridge-builder between Silicon Valley capital and rural development. Raised in a Telugu-speaking household in the American South, she grew up straddling two worlds: the data-driven pragmatism of her engineer father and the deep community-rooted wisdom of her grandmother, a village schoolteacher in Andhra Pradesh. is also an academic

Beyond the classroom, Chilukuri has a robust background in specialized biological research. She has been affiliated with the , where she served as a Research Specialist focusing on immunology and epigenetics. Her research involvements are often at the cutting edge of medical science:

Her husband, Krish Chilukuri, is also an academic, serving as a professor of aerospace engineering at San Diego State University.