Dr. Lalit Verma, biological and agricultural engineering department head, has served at the University of Arkansas since 2000, following his time as department head at Louisiana State University.
Education
Originally from India, Verma chose engineering as his major before entering college, when agricultural engineering was a new discipline.
“There was a great need for engineers in India. Other engineering fields were mature, established and you had to compete for jobs, but this was new and it was in high demand.
"At the time, India was not self-sustaining for food production, preservation or storage. We needed to be more efficient, and have less waste.”
He saw it as a quick window to building a career and a chance to contribute to India’s national growth.
Verma earned his bachelor’s of science in Agricultural Engineering from the J.N. Agricultural University in India; his master’s of science in Agricultural Engineering from Montana State University and his Ph.D. of Engineering from the University of Nebraska.
Influential Researchers
While an undergraduate, Verma developed particular respect for the Post-harvest Technology Program that was in collaboration with both his university and the University of Illinois, and hoped to continue improving the storage and preservation of grains and other protein sources, through an USAID initiative in Asia.
In this program, he worked towards establishing biological and agricultural engineering programs.
Vision
“In the future, we want to be able to diagnose a disease without taking a blood sample, customize health plans to include preventative health care, and take fewer, less invasive tests,” Verma said.
Among the research efforts is the hope for preemptive diagnosis, the ability to detect likely disease as early as birth through DNA analysis.
“We will be able to accurately predict or pre-diagnose diseases such as diabetes, the tendency to be overweight, and more,” he said. “We study diagnosis and treatment, and the more cost-effective medical routes.”
University of Arkansas Experience
When Dr. Verma arrived on the University of Arkansas campus, “there was a need, an interest for the transformation of the department from traditional, production engineering to biology-based engineering.”
“It was an opportunity to address agricultural, ecological and biomedical engineering,” he said. “It’s been exciting to be able to transform biological engineering curriculum and start ideas for faculty research, which is well funded by the NIH, NSF, USDA, EPA and more.”
Biological engineering at the University of Arkansas
“This department stands out because the subject is vastly different from other engineering focuses,” he said. “Other engineers deal with bridges and buildings, which aren’t going to change. We work with living things,” Verma said, emphasizing the increased pace of learning.
“Living things-and biological engineering- are constantly changing and evolving. It’s breathing.”
Such a complex ever-changing subject requires a duel role of students.
“A biological engineer is two professionals in one: an engineer and a life scientist,” Verma said.
That makes an extensive range of study for biological engineers: humans, plants, animals, our environment, and even the ocean.
The Biological Engineering slogan is “Healthy Planet, Healthy People.”
“ We work with cells, microorganisms, solving problems-- that can be anything,” he said. “For example, human chemical makeup changes a few times a second. We have to develop solutions, medicines and techniques that will continue to help, even during such constant change.”
Verma’s vision for the department required an expansion of focus in matters of ecological engineering, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology on food production, the interaction of nutrition and health, and the environment.
Two continual challenges for biological engineers are food safety and bioremediation.
“We deal with bioremediation, such as the BP oil spill, the effects on wildlife, ocean life…biological engineers figure out how to remediate,” he said. “The ocean is living and changing.”
Other department goals are to “detect dangerous pollutants in environment, detect toxins in produce without breaking them open,” Verma said.
In creating a biomedical engineering program, he hopes his engineering students will bring down the costliness of healthcare, design technology to more effectively target the disease and both develop various biomaterials and improve synthetic material for better joints.
The department of biological engineering exists to create the ground-breaking solutions that have long been needed, he explained.
Students at UofA
“What makes the students at the University of Arkansas stand out are their senior design projects and social contributions,” Verma said. “These design projects have real world implications. The students are going on to face challenges, bringing solutions like the Artificial Limb Drive for Haiti and the innovation winners of the WERC Environmental Design Competition, and Dr. Matlock’s project on low impact housing.”
“Students here want to make a difference, to make a contribution.”
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