University Directory

Usha Rao, PhD


Usha Rao

Department

Usha Rao is a recipient of the Association for Women in Science’s Zenith Award, which honors lifetime leadership and achievement. She has also received the Distinguished Research Lectureship from the Association for Women Geoscientists, and the Elizabeth Bingham Mentoring Award from the Philadelphia chapter of AWIS. She frequently writes and speaks on water chemistry, higher ed, and leadership for US and international organizations. Her work has appeared in media outlets such as FOX29, CBS Philadelphia, WOGL Radio, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Lab Manager, and the New York Times.

Dr. Rao's chemistry teaching has been recognized with the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Medal for Distinguished University Teaching. She has also received three merit awards for "exceptional achievement in teaching" at Saint Joseph's University and was named a Most Valuable Professor (MVP) by the SJU women's basketball team.

At Saint Joseph's, Dr. Rao co-developed the John P. McNulty Program for Leadership in Science and Mathematics, an initiative that has supported over 130 emerging leaders since its inception in 2009. She also established the University’s first faculty development office, offering resources and mentoring to hundreds of faculty members, and serving as its Founding Director. Dr. Rao’s board service includes the Ardmore Library of the Lower Merion Library System and the Frances M. Maguire Art Museum at the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion.

    • PhD, University of Rochester
    • Environmental Research Council Post-doctoral Fellow, Northwestern University

  • Dr. Rao’s research focuses on water chemistry and treatment. She is a coordinating editor for Springer-Nature's Environmental Geochemistry and Health, the journal of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Her research at SJU has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, the Lindback Foundation, Purdue University’s PRIME particle accelerator laboratory, the Michael J. Morris Grant Program, and the Saint Joseph’s University Board on Faculty Development and Research. She is currently accepting inqueries from graduate students.

  • Publications, Books, and Book Chapters

    Students indicated by *

    Reynolds, M., Rao, U., Pogash*, S., Saul*, A., Barr*, G., Ortiz de Montellano*, E., Falgie*, B., Stefanic*, I., Barry*, D. The role of horse hemoglobin and horse heart myoglobin as green catalysts in the bioremediation of four classes of industrial textile dyes. Biocatalysis and Biotransformation, 2024, 43(1), 71-83.

    Rao, U., Saul*, A. From the Green Revolution to the Green Chemistry Revolution:  In Pursuit of a Paradigm Shift in Agricultural Sustainability. In:  Go Green for Environmental Sustainability:  An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Theory and Applications; X. Savarimuthu, U. Rao, M. Reynolds, Eds.; CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, 2021, pp. 47-66.

    Savarimuthu, X., Rao, U., and Reynolds, M. (eds.) Go Green for Environmental Sustainability:   An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Theory and Applications. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, 2021, 276 pp.

    Rao, U., Corabi, J., Porth, S. Cura personalis in Higher Education (invited paper), Journal of Jesuit Business Education, 2021, 12(1), 70-79. 

    Rao, U., Muramatsu, Y., Sherman*, J., Frunzi*, M.N., Swatksoski*, S.J., Hammons*, A.L., Eisele*, I., Brame*, N., Troutman*, A., Kruge, M., Mukhopadhyay, P.K. An investigation of 129I from Regional Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing in the Terrestrial Sediments of Lake Ontario, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B:  Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2020, 476, 52-58. 

    Rao, U., Eisele*, I., Hammons*, A., Muramatsu, Y., Marvin, C., Kruge, M., Mukhopadhyay, P.K. Evaluating the Sediments of the Great Lakes as a Long-Term Sink for 129I Released during the Nuclear Activities of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Applied Geochemistry special issue AIG-6, Eds. Novak and Bindler, 2008, 23(10).

    Rao. U., Hollocher, K., Sherman*, J., Eisele*, I., Frunzi*, M.N., Swatkoski*, S.J., Hammons*, A.L. The use of 36Cl and Chloride/Bromide Ratios in Discerning Salinity Sources and Fluid Mixing Patterns: A Case Study at Saratoga Springs. Chemical Geology, 2005, 222, 94-111. 

    Rao, U., Muramatsu, Y., Kruge, M., Elmore, D. Incorporation of I-129 from Nuclear Sources into Lacustrine Sedimentary Organic Matter:  a Case Study in the Great Lakes, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2005, 69, A713.

    Snyder, G.T., Fehn, U., Muramatsu, Y., Sultana, M.S., Moran, J.E., Rao, U. Factors Influencing the Global Distribution of Iodine-129 in the Environment:  A Look at the Iodine Cycle in Surface Reservoirs, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2004, 68, A491.

    Rao, U., Fehn, U., Muramatsu, Y., McNeil*, H., Sharma, P., Elmore, D. Tracing the History of Nuclear Releases: Determination of 129I in Tree Rings, Environmental Science and Technology, 2002, 36, 1271-1275. 

    Rao, U. and Fehn, U. Sources, Reservoirs, and Transport Pathways of Anthropogenic 129I in Western New York, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1999, 63, 1927-1938.

    Rao, U. and Fehn, U. The Distribution of 129I around West Valley, An Inactive Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facility in Western New York, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B:  Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 1997, B123, 361-366.

    Rao, U., Fehn, U., Teng, R.T.D., Goff, F. Sources of Chloride in Hydrothermal Fluids from the Valles Caldera, New Mexico: A 36Cl Study. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 1996, 72, 59-70.

    Rao, U., Fehn, U., Teng, R.T.D., Goff, F. (invited chapter) Application of 36Cl to the Tracing of Hydrothermal Fluids in the Valles Caldera System. In:  F. Goff, B. S. Kues, M.A. Rogers, L. D. McFadden, J. N. Gardner [eds.]; Jemez Mountains Region, New Mexico Geological Society, University of New Mexico Press and Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1996, pp. 463-468.

    Rao, U. and Fehn, U. Application of Anthropogenic 129I as a Tracer of Nuclear Emissions:  a Study around Potential Point Sources at a Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant and two Nuclear Power Plants in Upstate New York, Radiocarbon, 1996, 38(1), 102-103.

    Moran, J., Santschi, P., Schink, D., Oktay, S., Fehn, U., and Rao, U. Surface 129Iodine/127Iodine Ratios:  Marine vs. Terrestrial, Radiocarbon, 1996, 38(1), 88-89.

    Rao, U., Teng, R., Fehn, U. Chemical Preparation of Environmental Water and Biological Samples for the detection of anthropogenic 129I by AMS, Radiocarbon, 1996, 38(1), 103-104.

    Moran, J.E., Teng, R.T.D., Rao, U., Fehn, U. Detection of Iodide in Geologic Samples for Environmental Applications. Journal of Ion Chromatography A, 1995, 706, 215-220.

    Fehn, U.; Moran, J.E.; Teng, R.T.D.; Rao, U. Dating and Tracing of Crustal Fluids using 129I and 36Cl:  Results from Geothermal Fluids, Oilfield Brines and Formation Waters, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B:  Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 1994, B92, 380-384.

    Fehn, U., Rao, U., Moran, J.E. and Teng, R. Detection of 129I in Environmental Samples associated with the Nuclear Facility at West Valley, NY. U.S. Geological Survey 1107, 1994, 96.