Dr. T.K. Rama Krishna Rao is a distinguished academician and administrator with over 28 years of rich experience in higher education, research, and institutional leadership. As the Director of the Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE) at KL (Deemed to be) University, he leads the university's digital and distance learning initiatives with a vision to expand access, quality, and innovation in online education.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Rama Krishna Rao served as Principal and Professor at multiple reputed engineering institutions, including Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Aditya College of Engineering & Technology, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, and King Khalid University (Saudi Arabia). His leadership has been instrumental in securing NAAC accreditations, NBA renewals,autonomous status grants, and various national and international collaborations.TEQIP initiatives and secured major institutional grants for research, faculty development, and academic quality enhancement.

Dr. Rao is an AICTE Margadarshak,Faculty Champion (UIF), and a content developer under the AICTE SLA project. He has successfully guided several Ph.D. and postgraduate scholars, and continues to mentor research in emerging domains of Data Science, Machine Learning, Bioinformatics, and Computational Intelligence.

A prolific researcher, he has published more than 35 papers in Scopus-indexed and peer- reviewed international journals and presented his work at prestigious international conferences across the USA, South Korea, Israel, Malaysia, Thailand, and the UAE. His interdisciplinary research contributions span software engineering, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, and e-learning technologies.

Dr. Rao has also played a leading role in implementing Learning Management Systems (LMS)and other technology-enabled learning environments in engineering institutions. His expertise includes NBA, NAAC, AICTE, TEQIP, and NCAAA (Saudi Arabia) quality frameworks, reflecting his deep understanding of national and international accreditation standards.

Dr. Rama Krishna Rao holds a Ph.D. from Acharya Nagarjuna University, along with M.Tech degrees in Computer Science & Engineering and Information Technology,MCA from Andhra University, and a B.Sc. (Computer Science) degree.

A visionary leader and passionate educator, Dr. Rao continues to steer CDOE towards becoming a model centre for quality digital learning — integrating advanced pedagogy, analytics, and AI-enabled systems to ensure holistic student learning experiences.