About

Dr. Smitha Rao is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. Her work at the intersection of environment, development, and social policy is informed by her interdisciplinary background in social work and human geography. Her research interests include extreme weather events and contextual vulnerability, improving adaptive capacities among communities to deal with climatic and other stressors, and the effects of air pollution on environmental health and access to clean energy. Dr. Rao has over a decade of macro-practice experience spanning academic and not-for-profit settings, including post-disaster community-based reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, campaign strategy and design for environmental organizations on climate change, toxin phase-out from industry, and sustainable agriculture promotion. Her current work focuses on social vulnerability in the context of disasters and disaster risk reduction, aiming to develop knowledge and inform policies that center underserved communities. Her interdisciplinary work addresses climate change implications for vulnerable groups, energy poverty, anti-oppressive praxis, and ecological justice.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Environmental health
• Computer Security
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Anthropology
• Demography
• Gender studies
• Economics
• Engineering
• Economic growth
• Business
• Waste management
• Geography
• Socioeconomics

Selected publications

• Affordability, Accessibility, and Awareness in the Adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas: A Case-Control Study in Rural India

  Sustainability · 2020 · 20 citations

  • Business
  • Environmental health
  • Economic growth

  Interventions in the clean cooking sector have focused on improved biomass stoves in a bid to address household air pollution (HAP) in low- and middle-income countries. These initiatives have not delivered adequate health and environmental benefits owing to the less than optimal performance of improved biomass stoves. There is an urgency to transition communities to cleaner cooking systems such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to reduce the prevalence of HAP. Adoption of LPG also has challenges. This case-control cross-sectional study with 510 households examines how affordability, accessibility, and awareness (3As) are associated with LPG adoption in rural poor households of Andhra Pradesh, a state of India. Using binomial logistic regression analyses, the study examines the association of 3As with LPG adoption, adjusting for demographic predictors. Results show disparities in LPG adoption owing to affordability, accessibility, and awareness. Household income is positively associated with LPG adoption. Easy availability of biomass deters households from adopting LPG. Concerns for LPG safety reduces likelihood of LPG adoption. On the other hand, attending awareness campaigns on clean cooking benefits is strongly associated with LPG adoption. Awareness drives, primarily targeted marketing campaigns, could help expand LPG coverage among poorer households. This paper offers insights into the determinants of clean fuel adoption with implications for resource-poor settings across the world to advance energy justice and address energy poverty.

  DOI

• Race and Ethnicity in the Social Work Grand Challenges

  Social Work · 2020 · 21 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Gender studies

  Race, ethnicity, and racism (RER) are interconnected with the critical problems tackled in the Grand Challenges for Social Work (GCSW). Yet, the extent to which the GCSW discuss the central role of RER is less clear. This article investigates how the GCSW integrate RER in their discourse. Using content analysis, authors examined all 21 concept papers that comprise the 12 initial GCSW to determine their attention to RER. Authors assessed whether each paper made any reference to race or ethnicity, whether race or ethnicity was considered as a primary theme, and whether racism was mentioned. Nine GCSW had at least one paper that mentioned race or ethnicity; seven had at least one paper that treated race and ethnicity as a major construct. Five GCSW contained at least one paper that discussed racism's impacts on their topical interests. None of the papers analyzed in the study defined or specified their conceptualization of racism. The GCSW are strategically positioned to widen and deepen social work's focus on RER, and the recent adoption of the 13th GCSW to "Eliminate racism" is an important first step. Authors encourage the social work field to embrace a more explicit, renewed, and continued commitment to eradicating systemic racism.

  DOI

• A natural disaster and intimate partner violence: Evidence over time

  Social Science & Medicine · 2020 · 107 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Demography
  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Fiona Doherty

  Atlantic Technological University

  6 shared

• Amar Dhand

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  5 shared

• Dale Dagar Maglalang

  New York University

  4 shared

• Margaret Lombe

  Boston University

  3 shared

• Praveen Kumar

  Rajasthan Technical University

  3 shared

• Marisa Sheldon

  The Ohio State University

  3 shared

• David T. Takeuchi

  3 shared

• Samantha Teixeira

  Boston College

  3 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Social Work

  Boston College

  2021

• M.S., Environment and Development

  King's College, London UK

  2011

• M.A., Social Work

  Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India

  2005

• B.A., Journalism

  University of Delhi, India

  2003

Similar researchers at Ohio State University

• Guo-Liang Wangh-115
• Brad J. Bushmanh-101
• Christopher Hillh-97
• David Bromwichh-93
• K. Luan Phanh-92