Ray Palmquist is a professor in the Department of Economics at North Carolina State University. He specializes in measuring the benefits of environmental improvements using hedonic techniques and travel cost methods, as well as doing work in the policy area. His research has dealt with the economics of air pollution, water pollution, the marine environment, recreation, forestry economics, noise, odor, hazardous wastes, and agricultural land values. He has also done considerable research in urban economics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1978 while he was working for the Washington State Department of Transportation. A year later he went NC State University. He held a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics until he became the Department Head for Economics between 1992 and 1997. He has served as the vice-president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. His publications have appeared in American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, and other journals and books. He has had a variety of grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, Sea Grant, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Transportation, and state agencies. He has also served as a consultant to public and private organizations.