E. Somanathan received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1995 and taught at Emory University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before joining the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, where he is Professor. His main research interest is in development economics, particularly environmental problems and political economy. In 2002 he received a Sandee grant to study awareness and the demand for environmental quality in connection with drinking water. He became a Sandee resource person in 2004. He is writing a book on environmental problems in India.

His web page is at: http://www.isid.ac.in/~som/