NIH Honors

The Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review has chosen Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Associate Professor Bharath Chandrasekaran to serve as a member of the Language and Communication Study Section for a four-year term beginning July 2018.

Bharath Chandrasekaran

“This is indeed an honor and speaks to recognition of his outstanding research accomplishments,” said Rajinder Koul, chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. “This is great news for the department and gives us greater national visibility.”

The appointment will allow the opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort and the quality of the NIH peer review process. The Language and Communication Study Section is composed of 20 standing members who review applications investigating normal and disordered language and communication and their development across the lifespan from infancy through old age. Research methods include psychological experiments, naturalistic observation, linguistic and logical analyses, computational modeling, neuroimaging, and genetic studies.

Study sections review grant applications submitted to the NIH, make recommendations on these applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science. These functions serve as a great value to medical and allied research.

Members are selected based on their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Service on a study section also requires mature judgment and objectivity as well as the ability to work effectively in a group.

Chandrasekaran’s research examines the neurobiological computations that underlie speech perception and learning using an interdisciplinary, computational, and lifespan approach. He currently receives support from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. Chandrasekaran co-founded the Multimodal Neuroimaging Initiative and directs the SoundBrain Lab at The University of Texas at Austin.