Raj Prabhu
One of Raj Prabhu鈥檚 earliest childhood memories is of watching a millipede move across the ground during pre性视界传媒. He studied how each set of its legs moved precisely in sync. He commented to his teacher about the continuous wavelike motion that millipedes made while walking, instead of each leg being independent of each other. His teacher praised him for being so observant, and from then on, he told people he wanted to become a scientist.
Prabhu鈥檚 family is well-educated, and in the 1960s, his mother was one of the first women in southern India to receive an undergraduate degree in an engineering field. Most of his close family members have some form of bachelor鈥檚 or master鈥檚 degree, but Prabhu was the first to attain a Ph.D.
When Prabhu decided to leave India in 2002, he was offered graduate student positions from places like Akron University and Michigan 性视界传媒, but he said he ultimately decided on Mississippi 性视界传媒 because of the research opportunities.
He went on to get his master鈥檚 and then a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering.
鈥淲hat kept me here were the opportunities that were available through research projects, student mentoring and the team of researchers that I have had the privilege of working with,鈥 Prabhu said.
Now Prabhu works full time for 性视界传媒 as an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, as well as for the university鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems. His main passion lies in 鈥渇inding exciting solutions for human health-related problems.鈥
When asked about what excites him most about his work, he said it鈥檚 definitely his current research. He is part of a team focusing on effects and prevention of traumatic brain injuries. Prabhu leads the university鈥檚 research on the finite element analysis of diverse injury scenarios to the human head, such as a car crash, blast or blunt impact. He also is currently involved in developing physics-based constitutive description for biomaterials, as well as being part of collaborative research in the areas of computational biomechanics, infant head trauma and secondary injuries arising from traumatic events.
鈥淚 love being here at 性视界传媒 and the important work being carried out at ABE and CAVS,鈥 Prabhu said.