He means well, but ultimately the lectures felt very disorganized. However, the topic of life cycle assessment itself is, as it seems, a difficult and hand-wavy topic to teach. It's very approximate and requires a lot of different averages and assumptions that don't necessarily reflect real life. A lot of accounting, basically. Professor Rajagopal is really helpful on the homework in office hours, but lecture concepts during lecture were really confusing. He also would change his mind about logistical things like the midterm and final, which was frustrating (like scheduling a final when there was none on the registrar, or changing the allotted time we could take our midterm from 8AM-11:59PM to 8AM-10:15AM).

The class was structured well, with five homeworks at the beginning of the quarter that took about 2-3 hours (or less) each (one per week), and then a group project that the latter half of the quarter focused on. I was blessed with a good group, so this was pretty smooth, but the topic itself wasn't very interesting.

Overall, I wouldn't take this class again.

I despised this class, I would highly advise to avoid taking it with Professor Rajagopal. The content could have been interesting and useful, especially if you are considering going into environmental consulting or related fields. However, the lectures were all over the place. The Professor was flat-out bad at explaining the content and often lost his track of thought. The homeworks were hard and graded harshly, so it sucked not learning anything in the class lectures. I ended up having to go to as many TA office hours as I could to understand the homework. Professor Rajagopal was not approachable or accommodating, and he criticized me several times in lecture which was super uncomfortable. I would not recommend this class.

This course, Energy, Environment, and Development, was quite the undertaking. It was a challenging journey, filled with 17 dense readings, extensive lecture slides, and a deep dive into economic terms applied to environmental contexts, such as subsidies and taxes.

The grading structure is also quite rigorous, with the final exam accounting for 40% of the grade, the midterm 20%, homework assignments 35%, and class participation making up the remaining 5%. This distribution emphasizes the importance of consistent effort throughout the semester.

Despite its difficulty, I must admit, it was my favorite class. The knowledge I gained was invaluable and the topics were genuinely interesting. However, I do wish the course was structured in a way that allowed for a more in-depth exploration of each concept. We only managed to scratch the surface of some truly fascinating material.

Professor Deepak was exceptional. His passion for the subject was evident and it significantly enhanced the learning experience. I must also commend the teaching assistant, Sebastian, for his dedication and invaluable assistance during office hours.

In conclusion, while this course is demanding and could potentially impact your GPA, the learning experience makes it worthwhile. It's a fantastic class with a great professor, but be prepared for a rigorous academic journey.

This course, Energy, Environment, and Development, was quite the undertaking. It was a challenging journey, filled with 17 dense readings, extensive lecture slides, and a deep dive into economic terms applied to environmental contexts, such as subsidies and taxes.

The grading structure is also quite rigorous, with the final exam accounting for 40% of the grade, the midterm 20%, homework assignments 35%, and class participation making up the remaining 5%. This distribution emphasizes the importance of consistent effort throughout the semester.

Despite its difficulty, I must admit, it was my favorite class. The knowledge I gained was invaluable and the topics were genuinely interesting. However, I do wish the course was structured in a way that allowed for a more in-depth exploration of each concept. We only managed to scratch the surface of some truly fascinating material.

Professor Deepak was exceptional. His passion for the subject was evident and it significantly enhanced the learning experience. I must also commend the teaching assistant, Sebastian, for his dedication and invaluable assistance during office hours.

In conclusion, while this course is demanding and could potentially impact your GPA, the learning experience makes it worthwhile. It's a fantastic class with a great professor, but be prepared for a rigorous academic journey.

Professor Rajagopal provided a very good class in which the primary goal was to learn. Course material was broad but in depth enough to provide a solid understanding of topics covered.

Ther homeworks were well timed, and there was an essay at the end which could replace two homeworks. If you did this and all homeworks you could in effect drop your two lowest scores.

Exams were based around the homeworks and readings, and were very fair.

He was also very good about helping students who emailed him and setting up alternate hours to meet. Overall a very good class.

I would not recommend taking this course, topics were hard and not clearly explained. On multiple occasions, the professor would be corrected by the TAs or argue with the TAs about the correctness of his methods. The readings were really dense and the exams heavily relied on the long list of readings assigned. Readings were never discussed in class or discussion (there were no discussion sections). One of the homework assignments had an average of 60% if I recall correctly, and nothing was done to address this. When attempting to ask questions in class, students are often interrupted and not allowed to finish their questions.
Overall, the professor was helpful when you talked to him individually but this class is just not planned out well and very hard to study for.

One of the worst classes I have taken at UCLA. This is for my minor so if you are looking for an engaging environmental class, avoid at all costs. This class requires meticulous detail and tracing lifecycles back to coal production. The homework assignments are frustrating and take hours.