Hrishikesh M. Rao

Dr. Hrishikesh M. Rao is an assistant leader in the Human Health and Performance Systems Group where he leads a portfolio focused on developing technologies to accelerate learning. In his current role, he oversees projects in pilot training, medical education, and language learning, leveraging his expertise in neuroscience and sensor technologies to optimize human performance. Rao joined the Laboratory as a technical staff member in 2017 and spearheaded the development of wearable eye-tracking technologies that use electrooculography to assess cognitive and physiological status.

Rao has a longstanding interest in neuroscience, human systems research, and human-systems integration and holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke University. His research interests encompass multimodal physiological sensing and analytics to create models of the human that guide decision making. He has also worked on assessing brain health by tracking physiological changes in servicemembers exposed to blast events. Rao has contributed to the Heat Injury Prevention System, which was recognized by an MIT Lincoln Laboratory team award, and to the Electrooculography and Balance Blast Overpressure Monitoring system — a system designed to monitor eye movements and balance in blast overpressure environments — which received an R&D 100 Award in 2024.