Dr. Suresh Rao is the Lee A. Rieth Chair & Distinguished Professor in the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. He holds a joint appointment in the Agronomy Department within the School of Agriculture at Purdue. He also serves as the Associate Dean of Engineering, heading the Office of Graduate Education & Inter-disciplinary Programs within the Schools of Engineering at Purdue. Prior to arriving at Purdue in June 1999, Dr. Rao was on the faculty at the University of Florida for 24 years, where he now holds an appointment as an Emeritus Graduate Research Professor. His professional interests include inter-disciplinary research and graduate education in environmental science and engineering.

At Purdue, Dr. Rao teaches graduate courses in contaminant hydrology and remediation engineering. His research has been documented in over 250 refereed publications, book chapters, technical reports, and conference proceedings. He has been named as one of the most cited authors by the ISI Highly Cited Researchers. His work has also led to two US patents for new approaches to subsurface characterization at contaminated sites.

Dr. Rao has been actively involved in efforts to translate scientific knowledge in developing sound environmental policy. He has worked on several advisory committees to state and federal agencies. He served on three National Research Council (NRC) committees, and was appointed to a three-year term as a member of the NRC's Water Science and Technology Board. He chaired the NRC Committee (1997) on Commercialization of Innovative Remediation Technologies. He currently is serving on the NRC’s Committee on Long Term Institutional Management of DOE Legacy Sites; and is the Co-Chair of the USEPA Expert Panel on DNAPL Source Zones.

Email address: pscr@purdue.edu