Amita Ramanujan

Amita Ramanujan (portrayed by Navi Rawat) is a newly-appointed (as of the third season), though tenured, CalSci professor of Indian extraction. She received her doctorates in computational mathematics and astrophysics at the same institution with Charlie Eppes and Dr. Kepler, respectively, as her thesis advisors. Because of this association with Charlie, she assists him with various mathematical problems offered through his connection to the FBI and frequently helps him see cases in a new light. She is the best programmer Larry and Charlie know and is an expert on asymptotic combinatorics. At the close of season one, in which she had completed her graduate work under the supervision of Charlie, she decided to pursue a second doctoral degree in astrophysics with a new thesis advisor, Dr. Kepler. When Dr. Kepler became ill, she taught his course on the structure and dynamics of galaxies. She has also given a solar physics presentation. To her surprise, Amita won the 2006 Milton Prize for her dissertation on combinatorics, which Charlie, a previous recipient, presented to her. She decided to use the money to fund a trip to India with her grandmother in an attempt to become attuned with her heritage and help with the education costs of two Indian girls she met through one of Don's cases. Dr. Mildred Finch (Kathy Najimy), the new Chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division and an experimental neutrino astrophysicist working on the construction of the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA), has given her tenure and made her on the curriculum committee. Amita is currently doing research with her.



She has a romantic interest in Charlie, if only he could not see everything in the world in mathematical categories. On the other hand, she deeply admires his work, and is filled with awe after touching a chalkboard full of his elegant equations. A while back (Season 2), she stated she had no time for a serious relationship due to her graduate work on astrophysics after Charlie became concerned with her association with Dr. Penfield, and assured him her interest was only of the intellectual nature.



At times, she has felt that her work has been subsumed by Charlie's research. Amita's professional career further created a conflict for her following an offer for a three-year assistant professorship at Harvard University. At the close of season two, she had not decided if she would accept the position, or remain in California and apply for a similar position through CalSci. With the start of season three, she decided to take the CalSci position and kindle a romance with Charlie. However, Amita said that it would be arrogant for Charlie to think that she only stayed for him.

She is having problems accepting her role as a professor, especially in the view that she was a student only recently at the same university where she now holds a faculty position. Dr. Fleinhardt advised her in recreating her image of herself, for only then would other professors accept her as a colleague. Dr. Finch said harsh words to Amita about her needing to act like a professor and be more than Charlie's assistant and even stated that she dresses like a kid. Mildred disapproved of her dating her thesis advisor. This caused her to doubt her relationship with Charlie, but he took it to the next step in kissing her in his garage and she did not hesitate. When Dr. Finch saw this, Charlie and Amita were temporarily shocked.



Amita understood Charlie's sentiments over Larry's leave of absence to the ISS and could discern that Eppes had never been in a situation where he was not able to get what he wanted. In "Killer Chat," she stated that she could distinguish between "Professor Eppes" and "Charlie Eppes." Megan said it was nice that she worked well with Charlie. Also, the two women were proud to see Charlie help Larry accomplish his dream.

Amita was born in California and her family was from South India, speaking Tamil. She mentioned in the pilot episode an arranged marriage (she described her would-be fiancé, a banker from Goa, as "a total ass") but it was unclear if she was serious or teasing Charlie.

Her name is an obvious homage to Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.