Mira Kamdar has been a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute at The New School in New York City since 1992. She is the founder of the Institute's Emerging Powers Program: India, Brazil, South Africa, and currently directs the India segment of the program. From May 1996 to June 1997, she served as Acting Director, managing all aspects of the Institute's programming, educational outreach, and fundraising activities. Her research and writing focus on economic and political transition in South Asia, particularly India, on the status of women in the evolving global economy, and on cultural aspects of global political change. Her work has appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Times of India, WorldBusiness, The American Journal of Semiotics, The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, and World Policy Journal. She is a member of the Editorial Board of World Policy Journal.

Mira Kamdar holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. Of mixed European and Indian descent, Dr. Kamdar grew up living between the United States, Europe, and India, and is fluent in English, French, and Hindi. Her latest book is the much acclaimed Motiba's Tatoos.