Previn Chandraratna brings over fourteen years of coaching experience to the MIT staff. 

No stranger to the collegiate level, Chandraratna was the freshman men’s heavyweight crew coach at his alma mater, Columbia University, from 1999 to 2003.  As Director of Recruiting, he tripled the size of the varsity squad, and he coached his crews to some of the program’s fastest results in decades, including finishes ahead of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Cornell.  

As a junior coach at Community Rowing, Row New York, and PCRA, Chandraratna helped his squads to achieve tremendous success, including over sixty medaling performances, ten state championships, and a national championship. As a Director of Programs and Head Coach at Row New York, he was a founding member of the US Rowing Task Force that focused on broadening access to the sport of rowing, he earned the 2008 PASEsetter Award for excellence in youth development across all New York City non-profit organizations, and his program earned the 2011 US Rowing Anita De Frantz Award.

A 1997 graduate of Columbia University, Chandraratna was a three-time member of the first varsity heavyweight eight, a team captain, and a Most Valuable Rower Award recipient. He was an accomplished sculler with Riverside Boat Club and Union Boat Club High Performance Camp and won a National Club Championship with New York Athletic Club. Shortly after graduating, he trained with the U.S. National Team at the National Sculling Center in Augusta, Georgia.

A former university lecturer and stand-up comedian, Chandraratna earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in international relations from Columbia.