Major: Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology
Major: Economics

Smaran Garlapati is a Baker College sophomore majoring in Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology, as well as Economics. As an aspiring physician and an avid sports fan, Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology is the perfect fit for Smaran. Coming into Rice, Smaran was not sure what he wanted to major in, but after speaking with the Kinesiology Department faculty and students at the O-Week Academic Fair, he was sure that Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology was the right choice for him.

So far, Smaran has taken several Kinesiology courses and has thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. He enjoys applying concepts from class to daily life and hopes to translate these concepts to a research setting very soon.

Seeing the lack of a dedicated student organization for Sports Medicine majors at Rice, Smaran helped found SARCOMERE (Students at Rice Committed to Optimizing Medical and Exercise Rehabilitation Education), an organization for majors to interact and network with each other, as well as, with professionals in the field. In the coming years, he hopes to grow SARCOMERE’s presence on campus and help fellow Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology majors succeed in the field. He currently serves as a Co-President of the club. 

On campus, Smaran is also active in other organizations such as UNICEF, RPC, Camp Kesem, Rice Undergraduate Investment Fund, and more. He enjoys hanging out with his friends, watching television, and rooting for Houston sports teams, especially the Rockets and Texans.

Smaran is excited about his future, learning from and working with the Rice Kinesiology Department. He looks forward to utilizing what he learns in the classroom in other settings such as research, medical school, and his future career, hopefully as a Sports Medicine Doctor or Orthopedic Surgeon.