Bakshi, Bhavik

Biography

Bhavik Bakshi is the Richard M. Morrow Professor emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. He holds the Wrigley professorship at Arizona State University with joint appointments in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, School of Sustainability, and School of Complex Adaptive Systems.  His research is developing systematic methods to ensure that engineering solutions make positive contributions to sustainable development without causing unintended harm. He has published extensively and teaches regular and short courses across the world. His work has been recognized by several awards including the University Distinguished Scholar Award from OSU, Education Leadership in LCA award from the American Council for Life Cycle Assessment, research excellence and education awards from the Sustainable Engineering Forum of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Lawrence K. Cecil Award for environmental chemical engineering from the Environmental Division of AIChE, the CAREER award from the U.S. National Science Foundation, and several best paper awards from journals and conferences. He has served on task forces such as the United Nations Environment Program’s efforts toward sustainable development. He was also a founding member of the Faculty Advisory Board of OSU's Sustainability Institute.  He is a chemical engineer by training, with degrees from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Expertise

Professor Bakshi's research group is developing scientifically rigorous methods for assessing and designing technologies and manufacturing systems to ensure their positive contributions to sustainable development. Such solutions enhance human well-being, are socially desirable, and respect ecological limits for current and future generations. His research involves interaction across disciplines such as process systems engineering, systems ecology, environmental economics, energy policy, and applied statistics.  Specific areas of expertise include,

  • Sustainable product, process, value chain design
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Circular economy of plastics
  • Carbon-neutral chemicals and materials industry
  • Ecosystem services and nature-positive decisions

A more detailed research description is available on his group's website.

Professor Bakshi has developed courses and a textbook on Sustainable Engineering.  In addition to teaching regular courses on this and other topics at OSU, he also offers short courses across the world, including at institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.