Prof. Usha Vijayraghavan obtained her Ph.D. in 1989 from California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, U.S.A. in yeast genetics and her post-doctoral research was at Caltech with Prof. Elliot Meyerowitz where she began work on transcription factors that regulate plant development.

She is currently Dean, Division of Biological Sciences and Professor at Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She holds the J N Tata Chair, at IISc, instituted by Jamsetji Tata Trust. Her group uses genetic and genomic tools to investigate key factors that control complex gene networks. A focused research area of her group is on the regulation of flowering and plant architecture in rice. Her group uses genetic and genomic tools to investigate key factors that control complex gene networks. A focused research area of her group is on the regulation of flowering and plant architecture in rice.

She is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, and a JC Bose fellow of Department of Science and Technology. Her work has been recognized several awards some of which are the Har Swarup Medal of the Indian National Science Academy, The National Bioscience Award of the Department of Biotechnology and the C. V. Raman award of the Karnataka State Science and Technology Council.