Grant of more than $866,000 will help further research.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant of $866,902 to Dr. Khaleel A. Razak, a neuroscientist in California who works extensively with how the brain and the body’s auditory functions are related and communicate with one another.
The five-year grant was given as part of the Faculty Early Career Development Program, otherwise known as CAREER, and was awarded so Razak can continue his research into brain processes related to sound. Specifically, how sound waves of various frequencies are picked up and interpreted by the brain, and how those functions deteriorate due to disease and aging.
Razak is currently an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California at Riverside (UCR). His lab there, in addition to conducting research on auditory brain processing, also looks into Fragile X Syndrome, an autism-related disorder that currently has no cure.
Originally from Chennai, Razak earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Wyoming. According to his staff page at UCR, Razak “seeks to understand development of the mechanisms underlying echolocation and passive sound localization.”
“Current projects in the lab focus on the development of both sound localization and echolocation behaviors in the pallid bat. The pallid bat belongs to a small group of bats called gleaners,” says Razak. “My lab also studies the mouse auditory cortex to determine relative contributions of genetic and experience-driven factors underlying plasticity of complex sound representation.”
Razak has been featured in at least 30 scientific publications over the course of his career. He is a proponent of allowing both undergraduate and graduate students to work in his lab to gain experience and facilitate his research.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com