Dr. Mehta specializes in science, technology, and society with a focus on environmental and health-risk issues. He is the founding Principal of Richardson College for the Environment and Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

Richardson College for the Environment is contained within the new science complex that the University of Winnipeg is constructing on Portage Avenue between Furby and Langside streets. The College exists to foster greater understanding of emerging issues facing our planet, including forest and urban ecology, the global north, water resources, the environment and health. Construction of the Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex is expected to be completed in 2010.

Prior to joining the senior administrative team at the University of Winnipeg, he was the Executive Director of the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta. Previously he was at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where he was Chair of the Sociology of the Biotechnology Program, Director of the Social Research Unit, and Professor of sociology.

He has a wealth of experience specializing on the intersection of science and society. He holds a BA in psychology, a Master of Environmental Studies, a Ph.D in sociology, and he did a post-doctoral fellowship in environmental policy. He is at the forefront of research in the evolving field of nanotechnology and the health and environmental risks that must be managed by these emerging technologies.

He is widely published, authoring or editing five books including: Biotechnology Unglued – Science, Society and Social Cohesion, and Risky Business: Nuclear Power and Public Protest in Canada and Nanotechnology – Risk, Ethics and Law (co-authored with Geoffrey Hunt.) He has won numerous awards such as: Chief Scientist Distinguished Lecturer for Outstanding Contributions in the field of science, technology, advancement of science, from Health Canada (2007), The Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2006), and Agriculture Genomics Award, Genome Canada (2003).