Deepak Rajagopal is a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability where he conducts research on life cycle assessment, agricultural economics and policy, and climate policy. Interests include energy markets and policy, impact assessment of climate change and climate policies, energy systems, and the economics of food and agriculture. He is also the Director of the Leadership in Sustainability Certificate Program at UCLA. 

Dr. Rajagopal received his Ph.D in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, where he was a researcher at the Energy Biosciences Institute. He holds a M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park. He earned a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India. 

Ongoing research

1. Electric vehicles in ride-sourcing applications, public buses and heavy-duty trucks with a focus on developing countries
   • Electric Vehicles: Survey of Lyft and Uber drivers in Los Angeles
   • Electric vehicles in shared-mobility applications
   • Fast charging infrastructure needs for electric ride-sharing vehicles
   • Electric vehicles for public transportation
2. Life cycle assessment
   • A Heuristic Screening Aid for Consequential Life Cycle Assessment
3. Economics of Biofuels
   • Effect of ethanol production facilities on land use

Courses

Environment 159: Life Cycle Analysis and Tools for Sustainability Assessment

• View the course syllabus

Environment 157: Energy, Environment and Development

• View the course syllabus

Environment 180: Senior Practicum

• 2011-2012: Lifecycle analysis based comparison of Battery and gasoline vehicles
• 2012-2013: Lifecycle analysis of building

Undergraduate Mentoring

• A Supply Chain Risk Analysis of Cobalt Used in Electric Vehicle Batteries in the US

• View Dr. Rajagopal’s CV

Personal blog: Watt’s green?

• Life cycle assessment (LCA) in an environmental and innovation policy context

• Questions to ask oneself before choosing an interdisciplinary PhD