Bhavik Bakshi

The chemicals and materials industry (CMI) is a major economic driver across the world, and its products are essential for our well-being. However, this industry is responsible for 30% of direct greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to ecological degradation with products such as plastics, artificial fertilizers, and more. CMI also contributes to land-use change and loss of biodiversity.

Bhavik Bakshi focuses his research on developing systematic methods to ensure that engineering solutions make positive contributions to sustainable development without causing unintended harm. In this talk, Bakshi will describe the advances toward reinventing the CMI to have net-zero emissions and enable ecological restoration. In addition, he will pose a systematic framework for designing a sustainable circular economy of CMI products as well as a research roadmap for reinventing the industry.