Dr. Rao has a PhD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur from 1978 until 2007. He also taught at the University of Southern California, California State University at Long Beach and at the Kansas State University, Manhattan. He was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Dr. Rao published extensively in the areas of microeconomic theory, industrial organization and econometrics.