Aakarsh Rao is a PhD candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, India and a Masters degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. He worked on robotic path planning algorithms for the Computer Assisted Surgical Trainer. He currently works on software frameworks for ensuring security and safety, and security risk assessment and management in life-critical embedded systems. His other research interests include formal modeling, applications of embedded systems, and hardware/software co-design.

He is a wildlife enthusiast and loves to travel, hike and do stand-up comedy.