Rahul Satija, PhD

Having both music and science in my life is immensely satisfying”, Rahul says. “The violin is so ingrained in me that my fingers become stiff and antsy after a single day away from it.” The violin provides a creative outlet for Rahul, who keeps busy these days conducting computational research on genome annotation the process of understanding organisms and their genetics through the analysis of patterns in raw genomic sequence. He believes that this kind of bioinformatics research will significantly augment scientific understanding of molecular genetics, answering such important questions in biology such as how the cell regulates the expression of genes and the replication of DNA.

Rahul studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England.

An accomplished violinist, Rahul first played the violin at age two. He has performed in prestigious orchestral concerts in Washington, D.C., and New York. A natural teacher, Rahul spearheaded a volunteer program to demonstrate violin techniques to inner-city elementary school students in Durham, NC, and raised funds to support ongoing lessons for the children.

Rahul graduated from the Math, Science and Computer Science Magnet Program of Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Md., in 1998. He holds bachelors degrees in both music and biology from Duke University, Durham, N.C., where he graduated summa cum laude in 2006. Rahul is a Rhodes Scholar, and was also selected for the Marshall Scholarship and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Rahul’s undergraduate research, which focused on the sea urchin and smallpox genomes, won him additional scholarships from the Barry Goldwater Foundation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was also awarded the Duke Biology Faculty Award and the Louis J. Sudler Prize for an outstanding record in the arts, and he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His father, Sushil Satija, is a physicist at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and his mother, Indu Satija, is a physics professor at George Mason University, Washington, D.C. Rahuls sister, Neena, is a high school senior.