Nishant Rao

Nishant Rao currently serves as the Director of Infrastructure and Security at Northwestern University since February 2024. Prior to this role, Nishant held multiple positions at Purdue University over a span of 24 years, including Director of IT for the College of Science, where leadership and strategy were provided for information technology initiatives. Nishant also managed a Service Desk team providing support for a vast user base across several campus units and has experience as a Systems Engineer supervising IT support for engineering schools. Early career experience includes serving as an Assistant Site Specialist in the Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department and as a Post-doctoral Researcher. Nishant holds a PhD and MS in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University, as well as a BTech in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.