Sumaraj has completed her BE in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Engineering, Mysore (2007-2011). She obtained her M.Tech in Civil Engineering with specialization in Environmental Engineering and Management from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (2012-2014). She has worked as an Assistant Professor at Manipal Institute of Technology (2014-206).

Sumaraj is a passionate researcher in the field of Environmental Engineering pursuing her PhD (thesis submitted) from University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her current research focuses on understanding the chemisorption mechanisms of pollutants by various adsorbents in aqueous media. She has previous research experience in development of biosensor using microbial fuel cell technology to detect biological oxygen demand.