My research is focused on understanding how the spatial, temporal, economic, and health components of environmental information influence public policy. Such a focus has led to research findings in support of: a policy framework for setting environmental priorities in the Midwest and the nation, a comprehensive assessment of the water resources of the United States, and the development of state-of-the-art screening techniques for the rapid detection of contaminants in the environment. Much of my research on environmental policy has a foundation in one or more of the following areas: place-based approaches; watershed protection; agriculture; measurement, monitoring, and modeling; integration of science & technology; environmental justice; environmental and natural resources economics; environmental impact assessment; and regional & international development.

Research interests

• Water quality
• Optimal monitoring designs in time and space in relation to land use practices

Courses

• Contemporary Environmental Issues
• Environmental Classics: The Power of Enduring Ideas
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Environmental Quality: Science, Technology, and Policy
• Environmental Problem Solving
• International Environmental Policy
• Environmental/Social Systems Analysis
• Introduction to Research Methods
  • A special course prepared and offered to students enrolled under DOEd-sponsored Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education and the NIH-sponsored Iowa Bioscience Advantage Programs. Most of the students are selected from underrepresented populations in American higher education.
• Environmental Economics for Judges
• Creative New Product Development
• Sampling, Statistics, and Screening for the Forensic Scientist
• Mathematical, Statistical, and Computational Principles for Bioinformatics
• GIS Applications for Rural Development and Banking
• GIS Applications in Modern Management
• Design and Development of a Modern GIS Facility
• GIS Applications in Watershed Management and Development
• What Is It to Be Creative?

Grants and fundings

• Principal Investigator. Two proposals currently under preparation for submission to the USDA with a total requested funding of approximately $600,000. Deadline March 2005.
• Co-PI with Bill Smith, PhD. A Place-Based Model for the Provision of Safe Drinking Water in Small Island Communities:The Case of Chuuk, Micronesia.A travel grant support from the University of Iowa for a two-week study tour ($5,200). 2004
• Principal Investigator (with Bennett, Brands, and Osterberg). Water Quality Protection in Agroecosystems: Integrating Science, Technology, and Policy at the Watershed scale. Funded by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), USDA. $394,000. 2001-04
• Co-investigator (with Sheeley, URS and Forkenbrock, Public Policy Center, UI, Co-PIs). Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment, Funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), NAS. $499,000. 2001-03.
• One year funding of about $20,000 from the UI Graduate College for Jonathan Keck to complete an Ad-hoc Interdisciplinary PhD dissertation. 1998-99.
• In-kind support (over $50,000) for hydrological field monitoring, as part of Mary Skopec's dissertation research, received from private corporations, the UI Office of Research, and the UI Foundation.1993-99.
• In-kind support (of over $20,000) for laboratory chemical analyses at UHL, as part Mr. Scott Dickson's dissertation research. 1998.
• Co-investigator (with Campbell, Greenough, Mutti, Roberts, Silliman, and Willis). A View through a Multi-faceted Window: NGOs and the Narmada Dam, Project in Central India. A Bridging Project, Funded by the Ford Foundation. $37,950.1996.
• Principal Investigator (with Skopec, Armstrong, and Osterberg). Water Quality Protection at Watershed Scale: Integrating Science and Policy. Proposal submitted to NSF/EPA. Award request: $833,502. Recommended for funding (top 30 out of 900 proposals) contingent on congressional budget authorization. Due to federal budget cuts, this proposal was not funded.1995-98.
• Principal Coordinator. Geographic Information Systems Instructional Laboratory (GISIL). A University of Iowa/Private Sector partnership. Estimated funding, including in-kind support: Over $1.5 million.1995-98.
• Principal Investigator. A Policy Framework for Environmental Priorities. The Joyce Foundation. Award Amount: $244,000. 1992-95.
• Principal Investigator. Utility of Screening Concepts at Selected DOE Sites. US DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory. $259,845.1993-94.
• Principal Investigator. Knowledge-Based Systems for Ground-Water Quality Assessments. Funded by the U.S. EPA. $233,000. 1991-93. 
• Principal Investigator. Water Resources of the United States: Problems, Risk Perceptions, and Priorities. Funded by the National Geographic Society. $47,460. 1992. 
• Principal Investigator. An Approach for Assessing the Utility of Large Data Bases in Ecological Monitoring and Assessment.Funded by the U. S.EPA. $119,040. 1989-92.
• Assisted two of my Ph. D. candidates secure major laboratory analytical assistance valued at over $80,000 from private and governmental laboratories. 1991. 
• Principal Investigator. Information-Integration Software for Ground-Water Quality Assessments. Funded by the U. S. EPA. $115,213.1989-90.
• Principal Investigator. Design of Ground-Water Quality Monitoring Strategies.Funded by the U. S. EPA. $346,262.1986-89.
• Principal Investigator. Ground-Water Quality Assessments for Public Policy. Multi-year Grants Funded by the Joyce Foundation. $142,000. 1983-88.

Selected honors and awards

• Invited to participate in the Oxford Round Table (for one week) on “International Trade, Environment, and Social Justice,” Oxford University, England, August 2004 & 2005.
• Invitee to the Governor’s Water Quality Summit. Iowa. November. 2003.
• Member, USDA Review Committee for the SBIR Program, 2000-01
• Member, NSF Review Panel, Water and Watersheds. 1999.
• Member, Elected to the Board of Trustees, The Environmental Careers Organization, A 15+ million dollar/year Non-profit Organization that assists and counsels students and professionals with career choices, 1998-2000.
• Nominator (1985-95), Annual Japan Prize (Japanese equivalent of the Nobel), since its inception in 1985.
• Listed in the Directory of Distinguished Americans, in Who's Who in the Midwest, in Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and in Who's Who in Global Conservation.
• Member, Health Effects Advisory Group, The Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF). It is a 100+ million dollar endowment established to protect the Great Lakes, 1992-95.
• Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, The Environmental Careers Organization, 1988-96.
• Member, International Committee, Universities Council on Water Resources, 1990-91.
• Chair, Steering Committee, The National Environmental Intern Action Project. Pew Charitable Trusts, PA. 1989-90.
• Recognized by the US EPA for Outstanding Contribution to the Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory's Problem-Solving and Creative Thinking, 1988.
• Founding Editor. The quarterly journal "The Environmental Professional" 1979-84. Currently Published by the Cambridge University Press under the title “Environmental Practice.”

Selected publications 

• 8-10 coauthored papers from the USDA grant (2001-04) are currently under preparation for submission to various environmental and policy journals in the next month for publication in 2005.
• R. Rajagopal with the assistance of Mark Weldon.Environmental Protection in a Recessionary Economy.Paper under review in the journal “Environmental Practice” published by the Oxford University Press.2005.
• Brands, E. P. and R. Rajagopal. The Evolution of Environmental Innovation: A DynamicFeedback Process Linking Technology, Culture, and Policy.Revised paper under consideration for publication in the journal “Environmental Practice,” Oxford University Press. 2005.
• Charles W. Emerson and R. Rajagopal. Measuring Toxic Emissions from Landfills Using Sequential Screening, Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems, 28(2004): 265-284.
• A draft of a 1,500+ page manuscript on “Environmental Monitoring” has been collated and organized in a consistent digital format (2001-2003). To be edited, reviewed, and modified for submission to a book publisher in 2005.
• R. Rajagopal and D. Osterberg. 1995. A Framework for Environmental Priorities. Midwestern Perspectives. Research Notes #1-6: Comparative Risk Assessment and Congressional Regulatory Reform, Environmental Justice, Pollution Prevention, Environmental Innovation, Unfunded Mandates, and Takings/Private Property Rights. Research sponsored by the Joyce Foundation, Chicago. Department of Geography. The University of Iowa.
• R. Kuchibhatla and R. Rajagopal. 1995. A Comparative Analysis of Water Quality Sampling Decisions in Aquifers. The Environmental Professional. 17(4): 316-330.
• U. Natarajan and R. Rajagopal. 1994. Economics of Screening for Pesticides in Ground Water. Water Resources Bulletin. 30(4):579-588.
• R. Rajagopal and P. C. Li. 1994. Utility of Screening in Environmental Monitoring. Part 1: Occurrence and Distribution of VOCs in Ground Water. American Environmental Laboratory. 6(4):16-19.
• P. C. Li and R. Rajagopal. 1994. Utility of Screening in Environmental Monitoring. Part 2: Sequential Screening Methods for Monitoring VOCs at Waste Sites. American Environmental Laboratory. 6(5):63-66.
• P. C. Li and R. Rajagopal. 1994. Utility of Screening in Environmental Monitoring. Part 3: Sample Compositing Methods for Monitoring VOCs at Waste Sites. American Environmental Laboratory. 6(9):37-45.
• U. Natarajan and R. Rajagopal. 1993. Pesticides in Water: Surveying the Situation. Part I. Environmental Testing & Analysis. 2(1): 40-50.
• U. Natarajan and R. Rajagopal. 1993. Pesticides in Water: Screening with Sequential Analysis. Part II. Environmental Testing & Analysis. 2(2): 60-67.
• U. Natarajan and R. Rajagopal. 1993. Pesticides in Water: Sample Compositing. Part III. Environmental Testing & Analysis. 2(3):54-63.
• G. A. Tobin and R. Rajagopal. 1993. Groundwater Contamination and Protection Problems in a Small Community. The Social Science Journal. 30(1):113-128.
• R. Rajagopal, U. Natarajan, and J. Wacker. 1992. Information Integration for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment: An Annotated Bibliography. The Environmental Professional. 14(2): 151-177.
• R. Rajagopal and G. A. Tobin. 1992. Economics of Ground-Water Quality Monitoring: A Survey of Experts. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 22(2): 39-56.
• R. Rajagopal et al. 1992. An Approach for Assessing the Utility of Large Databases in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. A report Submitted to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 163p.
• R. Rajagopal, D. Osterberg, F. Ogden, U. Natarajan, C. Emerson, and W. Krajewski. 1992. Water Resources of the United States: Problems, Risk Perceptions, and Priorities. 254 p. A Research Report Submitted to the National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. 254p.
• R. Rajagopal and P. C. Li. 1991. Comparison of Two Screening Methods for the Detection of VOCs in Ground Water. Journal of Chemometrics. 5(3): 321-331. 1991.
• R. Rajagopal and G. A. Tobin. 1991. Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Survey of Expert Opinions. Environmental Geochemistry and Health. 13(1): 3-13.
• R. Rajagopal. 1990. Economics of Screening in the Detection of Organics in Ground Water. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems. 9: 261-272.
• R. Rajagopal and G. A. Tobin. 1990. Radioactivity in Drinking Water: Expert Opinion and Policy Choices. Environmental Geochemistry and Health. 12(4):267-276.
• G. A. Tobin and R. Rajagopal. 1990. The Point-of-Use Water Treatment Industry: Expert Opinion on Regulation. The Environmental Professional. 12(4):298-304.
• G. A. Tobin and R. Rajagopal. 1990. Expert Opinion and Ground-Water Quality: The Case of Agricultural Drainage Wells. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 45(2): 336-341.