Preetha Ram

Preetha Ram
Born	(1961-05-30) May 30, 1961 Chennai, India
Nationality	American
Alma mater	PhD: Yale University MBA: Emory University MS: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi BS: Women's Christian College
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry, science education, education technology
Institutions	OpenStudy, Emory University
Doctoral advisor	James H. Prestegard

Preetha Ram is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Inquus Corporation, also known as OpenStudy. Currently on leave, she serves as the associate dean for prehealth and science education in the office of undergraduate education at Emory University. Here, she has held multiple distinguished roles, including founder and executive director of the Emory PreHealth Mentoring Office (PHMO), founding co-director of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, and founder and director of the interdisciplinary science program for integrating science into education. During her tenure at Emory, she has founded numerous educational initiatives such as Science Experience Abroad, the ChemMentors peer-to-peer learning program, which later developed into the supplemental instruction model for Emory College, and the International Research Experience for Science fellowships.

Early life and education

Ram was born in Chennai, India, and was raised alongside a younger brother and sister. Her father, Rajagopalachari Parthasarathy, worked as a railway engineer, while her mother, Choodamani, was a homemaker.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Women's Christian College in Chennai, India, and later received a Master of Science in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. In 1983, she moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in chemistry. She first enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she met Ashwin Ram, her future husband, whom she married in 1984. Later that year, she transferred to Yale University to further her studies in biophysical chemistry. Ram earned her PhD from Yale University in 1989 and her MBA from Goizueta Business School in 2010. Currently, she resides in Palo Alto and is the mother of three children, Nikhil, Maya, and Naveen.

Career

Ram joined Emory University in 1989 as a faculty member in the chemistry department, where she taught introductory chemistry, analytical chemistry, and physical chemistry. She developed a novel problem-based learning approach to introductory science education, applying this method in both large freshman classes and smaller upper-division seminars. This innovative approach was later published. Additionally, she served as associate faculty in educational studies and director of undergraduate studies in chemistry. In 2005, she transitioned to higher university administration, taking on a role as a dean in the office of undergraduate education.

As founding co-directors of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), Ram, alongside Lobsang, collaborated with the Dalai Lama to create a curriculum and instructional model for educating Tibetan monastics. Under her guidance, ETSI faculty taught Tibetan monastics about western science, covering topics such as cosmology, biology, physics, chemistry, and neuroscience, all while integrating Western thought with Buddhist theology. She also served as editor for the instructional handbooks, A Handbook of Science and The Structure of Science. ETSI aimed to establish "a comprehensive science curriculum" within the framework of monastic education at major academic monastic institutions by 2013.

Ram strongly advocates for international experiences as a crucial component of the college education, especially for science students. She spearheaded Emory's first science-focused summer study abroad program, Chemistry Studies in Italy, and successfully replicated this model with Neuroscience in France, Environmental Science and Biology in Australia, and Global Health in South Africa. Her study abroad program was recognized with the Best Practices in International Education Award in 2007.

Preetha Ram is a member of Project Kaleidoscope.