Work

Publications · Research · Training · Teaching · Service · Education

Sundararaman Rengarajan
Sundararaman Rengarajan PhD Candidate  ·  Playful Mind Laboratory
Human Movement & Rehabilitation Sciences
Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
[email protected]
Eye Tracking Autism & ASD Sensorimotor Prediction Gamification Digital Health Type 1 Diabetes HCI Neuromorphic Computing Computational Neuroscience
Email LinkedIn Scholar GitHub X Instagram Facebook Medium Bluesky YouTube

Publications

Journal articles

Sugar Slay: Gamified Decision Support Ecosystem for Type 1 Diabetes
Rengarajan S., Abrams N., Tabar A., Sundaram H., Singh K., & Chukoskie L.
Under review  ·  Frontiers in Digital Health, 2026
News
Comprehensive Analysis of Multi-omics Single-Cell Data Using the Single-Cell Analyst
Pan L., Tang B., Zhang X., Parini P., Tremmel R., Loscalzo J., …, Rengarajan S., …, Li X.
iMeta, 2025  ·  doi:10.1002/imt2.70038
Paper
Single Cell Atlas: A Single-Cell Multi-omics Human Cell Encyclopedia
Pan L., Parini P., Tremmel R., …, Rengarajan S., Li X., & SCA Consortium
Genome Biology, 25(1):104, 2024  ·  doi:10.1186/s13059-024-03246-2
Paper
Eye Movement and Pupil Measures: A Review
Mahanama B., Jayawardana Y., Rengarajan S., Jayawardena G., Chukoskie L., Snider J., & Jayarathna S.
Frontiers in Computer Science, 3, 2022  ·  doi:10.3389/fcomp.2021.733531
Paper ★ Editor's Pick
Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation as a Scalable Method for Distinguishing Children With Autism
Tunçgenç B., Pacheco C., Rochowiak R., Nicholas R., Rengarajan S., Zou E., Messenger B., Vidal R., & Mostofsky S. H.
Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 6(3):321–328, 2021  ·  doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.09.001
Paper
Are We Carrying Too Many Nephrons?
Jagadeesan K., Angelina J. T., Mohandas K., Jagadeesan K., Sangeetha P. T., & Sundararaman R.
Bombay Hospital Journal, 57(1):88–90, 2015

Conference proceedings

Measuring the Interaction of Conflict-Minimizing and Goal-Seeking Motor Imperatives in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Rengarajan S., Cannon J., Baron B., Mohan N., & Chukoskie L.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 185–198, 2023  ·  ISAGA Conference, Boston  ·  doi:10.1007/978-3-031-37171-4_13
Paper

Full list: Google Scholar

Research

Gaze and sensorimotor prediction in autism — Northeastern University

My dissertation investigates how autistic individuals entrain saccadic eye movements to visual rhythms and how thin-slice perceptual judgments of movement differ across populations. I use EyeLink 1000 and Pupil Labs Neon eye tracking, OpenPose motion capture, and BTrackS balance plates. The work builds toward a computational model of sensorimotor prediction differences in autism, drawing on tools from the OpenNeuromorphic ecosystem and the Nengo neural simulation framework.

Sugar Slay / Mith.AI — Digital health venture

A sensor-integrated, gamified decision-support tool combining CGM data and wearable biosignals to provide real-time monitoring, personalized feedback, and predictive insights for Type 1 diabetes. Funded by the Northeastern SPARK Fund ($50,000, 2024) and the MassVentures Acorn Innovation Grant ($36,000, 2024) — one of ten statewide awards. Selected as one of ten presenters at the Northern New England MedTech Conference (2024). Presented at the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes Conference in Florence (2024) and Amsterdam (2025). Featured in Global News through Northeastern, January 2026. Manuscript under review at Frontiers in Digital Health. Incubated in part through the NSF i-Corps Northeastern Site Program (30+ customer discovery interviews, Fall 2024); presented at the 18th Annual Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day (MALSI 2025).

Motor imitation in autism — Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins

Contributed to an imitation-based intervention for autistic children using Kinect Xbox cameras and iPi Motion Capture software, collaborating with Prof. René Vidal on machine learning approaches. Managed resting-state fMRI preprocessing with MATLAB SPM under Dr. Mary Beth Nebel. Seed for two INSAR presentations (Montreal 2019; Virtual 2020) and one Flux Congress presentation (NYC 2019).

BCR signaling and ROS — Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Investigated the role of NADPH Oxidase isoforms in BCR ligation-induced prolonged ROS production in primary B cells and cell lines using NOX inhibitors and a novel DOCK2 inhibitor. Improved B cell purification protocol to 98% purity. Presented at the Japanese Society for Immunology Meeting (Sendai, 2017) and the Japanese Biochemical Society Kanto Branch Meeting (Tokyo, 2017).

Pro-bono consulting

OmniSync Inc. (San Diego, Winter 2021) — assessed academic interest in TurboSBIR grant management software; estimated market size; competitive landscape analysis; pricing model exploration.
Keen Eye Technologies (Paris, Fall 2020) — identified key players in digital histopathology; analyzed competitive landscape and value addition per competitor; established market pricing trends; identified unmet market needs.

Summer schools & training

Nengo Summer School 2025  ·  Competitive international program in neuromorphic and neural simulation methods (Nengo framework, spiking neural networks). Highly selective — accepts a small cohort from hundreds of global applicants.
OpenNeuromorphic Contributor to the OpenNeuromorphic open-source community — collaborative initiatives in neuromorphic hardware and software for brain-inspired computing.
European Summer School on Eye Movements (ESSEM) Athens, Greece  ·  September 2024  ·  Certificate
IEEE-EMBS Summer School on Neural Engineering (ISSNE) Shanghai, China  ·  July 2024  ·  Certificate  ·  Best Oral Presentation Award from Shanghai Jiao Tong University & IEEE EMBS
NSF i-Corps Northeastern Site Program Boston, MA  ·  September – November 2024  ·  30+ customer discovery interviews to validate Sugar Slay
Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop 2020  ·  Highly competitive; small cohort selected from hundreds of global applicants in computational neuroscience
Micro-MBA UC San Diego  ·  Summer 2020  ·  Certificate
Essentials of Entrepreneurship UC San Diego  ·  Spring 2020  ·  Certificate

Awards & funding

Total: over $91,000 in competitive grants and awards.

Teaching

Recitation Leader — Biostatistics (PHTH 2211)Northeastern University  ·  Fall 2023  ·  Led weekly R-based sessions; graded assignments; office hours
Teaching Assistant — Motor Control of Human Movement (PT 3500)Northeastern University  ·  Fall 2022  ·  Recitation sections; lecture prep
Teacher — MIT SplashMIT  ·  Fall 2022
Mentor — Academic Internship Program (AIP 197)UC San Diego  ·  Fall 2020, Winter 2021  ·  Weekly check-ins with undergraduate interns
Tutor — Design Analysis Research (PSY 770A/B)San Diego State University  ·  Fall 2020, Spring 2021
Tutor — Bioassay Development (AS.410.696)Johns Hopkins University  ·  Fall 2018

Certifications

Service & leadership

Community & impact
Data Analyst Volunteer — Association for Autism and Neurodiversity (AANE) November 2025 – March 2026  ·  Watertown, MA Independently designed and executed a rigorous quantitative analysis of over 15 years of participant data (2008 to present) from AANE's LifeMAP coaching program — a program that generates roughly 30% of AANE's annual revenue and supports free and low-cost services for the autistic community. Integrated data from multiple sources, performed extensive cleaning and anonymization, conducted detailed statistical analysis, and produced a comprehensive written report with professional data visualizations. Presented findings to both the LifeMAP team and AANE's Executive Team. Results are now directly informing LifeMAP's budgeting and marketing strategy. Completed an analysis that had been a standing organizational priority for years but had not previously been executed due to its complexity — praised by the supervising Director as one of the most rigorous and actionable analyses produced by any analyst or volunteer in her experience.
Tutor Coordinator & Academic Tutor — EVkids Boston Northeastern Community Service & Civic Engagement  ·  2022–2024  ·  Dorchester & Roxbury, Boston Tutored 5th and 8th grade students in math and literacy across two years of weekly 90-minute sessions — connecting word problems to video games and pop culture to make numeracy concrete and engaging. As Tutor Coordinator, mentored and built community among 30+ Northeastern peer tutors and collaborated monthly with leaders across universities on programming and logistics. Contributed to measurable improvement in students' math and English performance. EVkids serves 150+ students from underserved communities; this work represented a sustained, two-year commitment to educational equity beyond the university.
Super Mentor — Johns Hopkins Alumni Network 2023–present Provides ongoing one-on-one career mentorship to alumni and students navigating transitions from academia to industry and research careers. Featured as an invited speaker for the Johns Hopkins "Ask A Mentor" series (December 2025), sharing guidance on pathways to advanced STEM careers with a live audience of students and early-career professionals.
Treasurer — College of Engineering Guindy Alumni Association of North America (CEGAANA) 2025–present  ·  Managing finances and supporting alumni community of Anna University from abroad
Reviewing & chairing
2026
2025
2022–2023
Organizational leadership
2025–present
2022–2024
Judging
Volunteering

Education

Ph.D. Human Movement & Rehabilitation Sciences Northeastern University, Boston, MA  ·  2019–present  ·  GPA 3.84/4.0 Advisor: Leanne Chukoskie  ·  Transferred from UC San Diego (SDSU joint program), Fall 2021
M.S. Biotechnology  ·  Concentration: Molecular Targets & Drug Discovery Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD  ·  2018–2019  ·  GPA 4.0/4.0 Advisor: Stewart H. Mostofsky (Kennedy Krieger Institute)
M.S. Immunology Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan  ·  2015–2017  ·  GPA 3.58/4.0 Advisor: Takeshi Tsubata
B.E. Biomedical Engineering College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, India  ·  2011–2015  ·  GPA 3.33/4.0 Best undergraduate thesis award  ·  Advisors: Sudha Priyadarshini, S. Muttan, K. Jagadeesan

Scholastic achievements