Preetha Ram received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1989. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Chemistry Department at Emory University. and the current Director of Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Ram teaches courses in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and NMR. She has been doing research on the design, development and evaluation of Problem Based Learning for undergraduate curricula. 

One of her educational projects, the Water Quality Project, involves the design and development of problem based learning techniques for undergraduate education. This is a collaborative project that involves students in her lab and other faculty from Emory with K-12 schools in the area. 

Another project involves the development of web based PBL programs for freshman / high school courses. Virtual Sherlock is a web based problem based learning environment for general chemistry/ analytical chemistry courses.

She has developed a Chem Mentors Program with other faculty in the department, to support freshman learning and to develop mentoring skills in advanced students.

She is the 1998 recipient of the Emory College award for Excellence in Teaching in the Natural Sciences. Recently she was selected from Emory University as one of Faculty for the 21st Century by Project Kaleidoscope.

Funding for these projects has been provided in part by the Culpeper Foundation, the Department of Education, the Pittsburg Conference, the Hughes Foundation, Hewlett Packard, Emory College, the Instructional Technology Division of Emory College and the Office of Naval Research. Her research interests lie in the areas of undergraduate science education, NMR spectroscopy and biophysical chemistry.