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 start-up company from 2010-2012. In 2012, she returned to academia as a faculty associate-research managing a laboratory, extending her research, and gaining teaching experience. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI. Her research focuses on inter-disciplinary areas including MEMS, microfluidics, tissue engineering, nanofibers, and nanoparticles with application in cancer studies, scaffolds, sensors, and implantable devices. Her teaching includes biomedical instrumentation and micro-and nanotechnology for biomedical applications. She is a senior member of IEEE.