USHA P. RAGHUPATHI is a Research Professor at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in New Delhi. She is currently holding the additional charge of Director and has also held the position of officiating Director of the Institute for over a year (in 2005-06). She worked with the UNDP (India) from January 2007 to June 2008 on a project. Her responsibilities at NIUA include guiding, supervising and conducting research on contemporary urban issues. She has extensive experience of working on issues pertaining to environment, poverty, infrastructure and services. Her expertise is in the area of urban services i.e., water supply, sanitation and solid waste management. She has conducted many studies on urban services and has also written papers on the subject. Her areas of interest include urban environmental issues and sustainable development. Prof. Raghupathi has professional experience of over 31 years. She has coordinated many research studies sponsored by the Government of India as well as by international donor agencies. She has written many research reports and papers for national and international publications. Prof. Raghupathi has a master's degree in Geography from the University of Delhi and subsequently received Post-graduate Diploma from the School of Planning in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She has done a short-term Diploma course at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She also pursued further training in the United States and in Sweden.