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In the Fall 2014 the new batch of doctoral students embarked upon their research journey. In the first year of the program they dive deep into the MVS knowledge under the guidance of the professors. In the second year, the individual research begins. We’d like to present the PhD in Vedic Science program through the new students and their impressions of the program.


Louis Biegeleisen

Louis K. Biegeleisen was born in Oklahoma but grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Rev. Martin Luther King, at a time that was formative for both Lou and the nation as a whole.

Lou’s early adult education was in science and mathematics. He received a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Physical Chemistry with additional concentrations in mathematics and physics. He was invited to join the nuclear Navy where, after commissioning, he taught various technical subjects to officers and enlisted men at the Navy Nuclear Power School.

He then wCIMG1848ent through a qualification process, including submarine duty, resulting in his qualification as an Engineering Duty Officer, Qualified in Submarines.

Subsequent tours of duty in the Navy included various medium and large scale management positions in Naval Shipyards, a naval ship, and staffs. His management duties included various program, project, financial, and organization management responsibilities.

He retired from the US Navy as a Commander. During his naval career, he received an engineering S.M. (Master of Science) degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After he retired from the Navy he came to Fairfield, Iowa to extend his knowledge and practice of Maharishi’s programs and its Vedic basis as taught to us by Maharishi. He received an M.A. in Maharishi Vedic Science and, later, attended the Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Course.

Forever following his curiosity, he attended Law School in Topeka, Kansas. He subsequently passed bar exams in both Kansas and Iowa and currently is licensed as an attorney in both states. In recent years he has “juggled” his legal practice in Iowa, attendance at the Invincible America Assembly, and assisting his mother in Atlanta, Georgia. He is deeply involved with the Masons and various Masonic organizations in Atlanta.

He is currently a Ph.D. student in Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi International University. He is not married and has no children; but he is really keen about cats and goats.

PhD-class-2015+-TravisThe following are his thoughts on the Ph.D. in Maharishi Vedic Science program:

“Consciousness based education has its roots in the Veda and the Vedic Literature. This is not new but of antiquity and of great significance. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s great gift to the modern world is that he eliminated the misinterpretations and errors that had severely crippled and covered this ancient and eternal knowledge and its implementation and made it available to literally every person in our beloved world.”

“Maharishi International University is very, very special because its whole foundation not only incorporates this special and corrected knowledge in a western university, but integrates it with modern science, economics and business, education, and all other facets of western thought. It does so while applying those universal Vedic virtues in the very lifestyle of the student.”

PhD-2015-class-“The Doctor of Philosophy in Maharishi Vedic Science (Ph.D. in M.V.S.) represents for me the culmination of a life-long desire to integrate Maharishi’s knowledge: Transcendental Meditation and the TM Sidhi program, and his many other programs to eliminate suffering in the world. My experience is that a very troubled world is seeking the very knowledge that is offered in the Ph.D. program and all other curricula at MIU—relief from suffering. The Ph.D. in MVS program is a very serious and complete program of advanced education in Maharishi’s knowledge. The faculty and my fellow students are terrific people! We laugh a lot while maintaining the dignity of Maharishi’s knowledge. I can heartily recommend it to the serious student of consciousness and the Veda.”