Sophomore in Bioengineering
Intends to pursue Ph.D in Biophysics
James Scholar Honors, Cancer Scholar, International Baccalaureate Diploma. National Merit Commended Scholar

As a first-year student, Varshini quickly found a place in Jensen Lab as an undergraduate researcher, where she developed her research skills and learned about datamining educational platforms for mistakes made in coursework to improve access to high quality virtual education. She already has presented her work in the Engineering Research Fair. In her second year at university, she will be working at the lab of Prof. Rohit Bhargava to train and optimize a machine learning model to identify the presence of a tumor using breast cancer data from Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Her research experiences have inspired her to pursue a graduate degree in biophysics and explore the world of computer-aided diagnosis. Aside from doing research at UIUC, Varshini is also a general engineer at Illinois Medical Advancements through Design and Engineering (i-MADE) collaborating with an engineering team and St. Ambrose University to develop a Smart Balance Board for ankle therapy. She is also a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society team creating an American Sign Language Translator app that turns gestures into short words and phrases. Varshini is not only a researcher but also an innovator who is passionate about artificial intelligence and decision making in healthcare.