Tau Beta Pi invites all students to attend the annual undergraduate research interest session at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 3, in Gearhart Auditorium 026. In recent years, the U of A has placed a great emphasis on the development of undergraduate research programs for incoming students.

There has never been a better time to get involved in research at the U of A than now, especially due to the influx of investment the university has been able to provide — namely with developments such as the I3R "Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research" projected to come as soon as 2024.

Tau Beta Pi has invited asssociate professor Narasimhan Rajaram of the Department of Biomedical Engineering to speak on undergraduate research. Rajaram will speak to his own experience as a researcher and discuss the rich future of research at the U of A — including how his current projects fit into this ecosystem. 

Rajaram received his Bachelor of Engineering in electronics and instrumentation engineering at Anna University in India in 2005. He then received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 2010 and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University from 2010 to 2014. Rajaram is the principal investigator for the Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy in Biomedical Engineering. In general, his research entails the development of quantitative optical imaging techniques that can identify treatment response in cancers much earlier than currently possible. His lab is also exploring imaging methods to distinguish between aggressive and indolent tumors so that tumors can be matched to the appropriate treatment. Rajaram has been endowed by numerous grants, including the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. Rajaram is no stranger to navigating the world of research, and his wealth of knowledge will plainly show undergraduate students from every discipline the ample opportunity that exists in research.

This event is supported by the Student Activities Fee as a funded event by the Associated Student Government and is free to all currently enrolled University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, students who pay the student activities fee. For questions about the event or for accommodations due to disability, please contact Aaron Rieth at carieth@uark.edu or 479-575-5255.