About Rakshita
Rakshita is a first-gen Honors Terp studying molecular, cellular and physiological neuroscience. She is passionate about neuroscience research and is currently an undergraduate researcher working on her senior thesis in the biology Honors program. In addition to research, she was a teaching assistant in the neuroscience department and is currently a student course facilitator in the biology department.
Aside from her scientific interests, she enjoys connecting and collaborating with her peers as a student ambassador for the Honors College and neuroscience major at UMD and a member of the Rising Researchers club at UMD. In her free time, Rakshita enjoys biking, reading and trying new bubble tea flavors.
Achievements/Accomplishments
Rakshita’s independent research over Summer 2022 was supported by a Maryland Summer Scholars Award, as well as by a generous Undergraduate Summer Research, Travel, and Educational Enrichment Award from the CMNS Alumni Association.
Passion Project
As an undergraduate researcher in the Caras Lab at UMD, Rakshita explores the biological basis of auditory perceptual learning, a means by which, through consistent training, we may sharpen our ability to differentiate between increasingly similar auditory stimuli. For example, perceptual learning helps a trained violinist pinpoint whether a pitch is slightly “sharp” or “flat” while tuning their instrument, whereas an individual with an untrained ear may report no differences in pitch.
Rakshita’s senior thesis project investigates how breaks in daily training may affect perceptual learning at the neuronal level. In addition to her research, Rakshita enjoys teaching and communicating about science. She is a co-president of the Rising Researchers club at UMD, where she and fellow undergraduate STEM students create original lessons and host workshops to teach high school and college students about getting involved in scientific research and careers in STEM. You can follow Rising Researchers on Instagram at @risingresearchersumd!
