S. Rao Chitikela, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng, BCEE, F.ASCE, an independent consultant and expert operating the RC-WEE Solutions (USA) and an adjunct professor/instructor at the Central State University (1890 land-grant institution), both in Ohio, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Chitikela has a 30-year work experience encompassing the government, industry, and academia. He has published and proven expertise on water/energy-infrastructure updating; drinking water quality; drinking water and wastewater processing, and effective disposal of solids; water-reuse; air and water modeling; fossil and renewable energy systems and energy auditing; air pollution control; and environmental (air/water/waste/soil) permitting, auditing, and compliance verification and enforcement.
He is a registered professional engineer in a few U.S. states and AB-Canada, and an AAEES board-certified environmental engineer in the water supply and Wastewater (currently, chair of the committee), Air Pollution Control, and Environmental Sustainability specialties.
Chitikela has successfully evaluated (from the classroom or training board to the field and vice versa) and applied the performance-assurance or value-engineering principles to municipal water-energy infrastructure updating, while accomplishing performance assurance infrastructure delivery at the municipal one water systems. He has brought added awareness on environmental and energy requirements, NetZero-energy, and positive-cashflow ideal(s) on the municipal water infrastructure, and written technical papers on municipal drinking water quality, direct potable reuse of regulated and treated municipal wastewater effluents, effective biogas recovery and CHP applications, conditioning and mechanical dewatering of municipal wastewater solids/biosolids, environmental compliance verification, ethics to professionals, and EHS101 or 1001 training requirements.
He has also provided expert support on industrial environmental permitting and compliance verification, and enforcement, and trained and mentored professionals on diverse topics – water/wastewater, energy, environmental, and ethics.
He is a member of National Society of Professional Engineers; American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists; American Bar Association; Water Environment Federation; International Water Association; American Chemical Society; American Water Works Association; and many other organizations. Chtikela is an active member on several professional committees. As a founding member of ASCE/EWRI’s Advancing Renewable Energy Technologies (ARET) Committee and spearheading as a past chair and one of the editors, he successfully supported the ASCE publication of Renewable Energy Technologies and Water Infrastructure.
He has been a peer reviewer of journals, books, and articles and presented at several invited talks and training sessions, as well as being a successful session moderator and science-judge. He has been a UN/UNEP facilitator of the Leadership Working Group of the Global Wastewater Initiative (GW²I) (since 2021).
Chitikela was honored with the Outstanding Team–Outstanding Employee Award by the Division of Air & Waste Management, DNREC, State of Delaware. He is listed in Who’s Who in Environmental Engineering & Science by AAEES.
He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in civil engineering from Andhra University (India), Nagpur University (VNIT, Nagpur, India), and the University of Delaware, respectively.
