Rajesh Kumar Machakalai

Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department

Office:
Phone:

Email: rmachak@clemson.edu

Educational Background

PG Diploma in Environmental Law and Policy
National Law University, India 2022

M.Sc Environmental Sciences
Madurai Kamaraj University, India 2009

B.Sc Botany ( Spl.in Industrial Microbiology)
Madurai Kamaraj University, India 2007

Courses Taught

Environmental Geoscience
Environmental Impact Assessment

Profile

Rajesh Kumar Machakalai is a Graduate Research Assistant in Forest Resources at the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, Clemson University, USA. He holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from Madurai Kamaraj University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law and Policy from National Law University, India. With over a decade of research and applied sustainability experience, Rajesh has worked at leading institutions including the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), where he contributed to the Jal Jeevan Mission on sustainable rural water supply; the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru and IIT Madras, where he advanced projects aligned with SDG 6; and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), where he trained in ocean acidification and microplastics research. These roles strengthened his expertise in environmental monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and policy advocacy, while demonstrating his ability to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams.

Public service and community engagement are central to Rajesh’s career. He currently volunteers with Clemson Extension’s 4-H Program training youth and communities in sustainability, forestry, and natural resource management. In India, he promoted WASH awareness in rural schools through IIMB and led renewable energy and climate change programs for students at Madurai Kamaraj University. He also served as Theme Lead for Water Quality and volunteered at the Water Future Conference 2019, organized by Future Earth and IISc Bengaluru, contributing to discussions on sustainable water management and strategies to advance water-related SDGs.

Rajesh has enhanced his professional skills through training programs including Project Learning Tree (PLT) Training in the USA, SDG and data analysis training at the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) and UN ESCAP in Japan, water governance training at IHE Delft Institute of Water Education, hydrology and hydroinformatics programs with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and National Water Academy, India, geospatial technologies at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), and geochemistry and petrology training at the Geological Survey of India (GSI). He has been recognized with the Graduate Research Assistantship at Clemson, the Full Scholarship at the School of Modern Diplomacy (UNU-CRIS, Vienna), and the Jal Fellowship (District Water Leader Course, Rishihood University). Rajesh is also a member of professional bodies including the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, the Future Earth Research Network, and the Urban Climate Change Research Network.

Research Interests

Sustainable Forest Policy and Management I Environmental Social Science I Environmental Monitoring, Modeling, and Management I Geo-intelligence for Sustainable Development I Renewable Energy Policy and Impact Assessment I Water- Energy-Food nexus I Sustainable Development and National Security
Water Science, Policy and Governance
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

Extension and Outreach

4-H Extension activities @ Clemson University

Publications

https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=dOdqIZ8AAAAJ&hl=en