Dr. Smitha Rao

Smitha Rao received her MS and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Texas at Arlington in Electrical Engineering in 2004 and 2009, respectively. She pursued her research interest as a principal scientist in a startup company from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, she returned to academia as a faculty associate researcher, managing a laboratory, extending her research, and gaining teaching experience. She is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI. Her research focuses on inter-disciplinary areas, including MEMS, microfluidics, tissue engineering, and nanofibers with application in wound healing, cancer studies, and the impact of heavy metals. Her teaching includes biomedical instrumentation and micro- and nanotechnology for biomedical applications. She has been awarded two patents and is a senior member of the IEEE. She is a guest editor for Jove Methods and serves on the editorial board for MDPI Fibers and IEEE OJEMB.