Rajinder Koul is the Chair of the department and Houston Harte Centennial Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. He holds a Ph.D in Speech-Language Pathology with an emphasis in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) from Purdue University. He served as the Chair, Associate Dean for Research, and Assistant Vice President for Research at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center before joining the University of Texas at Austin. His research efforts have primarily focused on understanding the symbol, referent, and instructional variables that influence graphic symbol learning in persons with severe communication impairment as a consequence of developmental or acquired disabilities. Within this broad area, he has focused on synthetic speech perception, role of synthetic speech output on graphic symbol learning, and efficacy of AAC intervention in persons with aphasia.