Besides an award-winning performer, Rohan is also an innovator. His two-year independent research project on the construction of the mridangam led to a revolutionary new design of the ancient instrument. A blend of modern technology and traditional aesthetics, Rohan's new design has numerous advantages over the traditional, including greater ease and range in tuning, do-it-yourself head replacement, etc. A full description of the design was published in August 2006 in the premier journal for professional percussionists, Percussive Notes. In July 2007, Rohan conducted fundamental acoustical research on the mridangam and his new design at Coe College (Iowa). His work showed, amongst other things, that his new design is nearly acoustically identical to the traditional instrument, confirming it as a viable substitute. He was invited to present his work at the Acoustical Society of America’s annual conference in New Orleans last November, where he was awarded the Best Student Paper Award. Rohan is now working on patenting the design and making it commercially available.

Rohan's dual interests in music and the sciences traces back all the way to elementary school. This interest ultimately paved the way for a college-level research project he conducted during his high school tenure. Working in collaboration with NASA scientists, Rohan's biochemistry project, entitled "Carbon Isotope Fractionation During Photosynthesis in Microgravity," investigated the photosynthetic process in plants grown aboard the NASA space shuttle in microgravity.

His hours of laborotory work at Western Michigan University earned his project numerous awards from prestigious science competitions like the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, etc. He was also specially invited to present his work at distinguished colloquiums like the Michigan Space Grant Consortium, etc.

Kalamazoo College, a nationally recognized private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan, awarded Rohan a coveted Heyl Foundation Scholarship for undergraduate studies at the institution. Rohan is pursuing his dual interests in the form of a double major in music and chemistry.

Awarded the prestigious Provost's Fellowship, Rohan will be joining the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, one of world's top music schools, this fall as a Ph.D student in ethnomusicology. Expect to see more of Rohan in Rochester, New York!