Dr. S. Palaniappan is the President of South Asia Research and Information Institute. He completed his undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Madras, India. He earned an MBA from the Wharton School and a PhD from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Pennsylvania. He is passionately interested in researching Indian cultural history using philology, linguistics, and epigraphy. At Harvard University’s Roundtable on Ethnogenesis in South and Central Asia, he has presented papers on varied topics such as culture change in ancient Tamil society and Dravidian etymological research. His current areas of research include the origin of untouchability in South India, the Bhakti movement, and the history of Bharatanāṭyam. A major paper by Palaniappan dealing with Jainism and ancient Tamil society has been published in the current issue of International Journal of Jaina Studies.