Engineering and Ecosystems

Bhavik Bakshi holds the Wrigley Professorship at Arizona State University with 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 enables an effective transformation toward sustainability. This research results in novel solutions that respect nature's limits, are socially just, and contribute to economic prosperity. Specific areas of research include life cycle assessment (LCA), product, process, and landscape design for sustainability and a circular economy.  In addition to many papers and invited talks, his contributions include a textbook on sustainable engineering, user-friendly software, and short courses taught worldwide. His work has been recognized by many awards, including the Education Leadership in LCA Award from the American Council for LCA, the Lawrence K. Cecil Award for environmental chemical engineering from the Environmental Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Research Excellence award and Education award from the Sustainable Engineering Forum of AIChE, the CAREER award from the U.S. National Science Foundation, and several best paper awards from journals and conferences. He is on the editorial boards of several multidisciplinary journals and has served on government committees such as task forces of the United Nations Environment Program. Prof. Bakshi received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai and his MS in Chemical Engineering Practice and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a minor in Technology and Environmental Policy through courses and research conducted at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. 

Part I. Introduction and Motivation.- Why should Engineering Account for Ecosystems?.- Ecosystem Goods and Services.- Part II. Engineering's Demand for Ecosystem Services.- Quantifying the Direct and Indirect Demand for Ecosystem Services.- Water Provisioning.- Biogeochemical Cycles: Modeling Interaction of Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles with Industrial Systems.- The Significance of Insect Pollinators: Opportunities and Challenges.- Biodiversity.- Part III. Nature's Capacity to Supply Ecosystem Services.- Tools for Quantifying the Supply of Ecosystem Services.- Designing with Nature: Incorporating Hydrological services in Engineering Projects.- Improved Air Quality and Other Services from Urban Trees and Forests.- Services from Agroecosystems and their Quantification.- Part IV. Including Nature in Engineering.- Challenges in Developing Synergies between Technological and Ecological Systems.- Making the Business Case for Nature-Based Solutions.- Greenprinting: Urban Planning for Ecosystem Services.- Wetlaculture: Solving Harmful Algal Blooms with a Sustainable Wetland/Agricultural Landscape.- Design of Agroecological Landscapes.- Integrated Design of Processes and Supply Chains with Wetlands.- Demand and Supply of Air Quality Regulation Ecosystem Service.- Designing Synergies between Homeorhetic Ecosystems and Homeostatic Manufacturing Systems.- Ecosystem Services in the Life Cycle of Biofuels.- Designing for Resilience and Sustainability: An Integrated Systems Approach.- Part V Socio-Economic Aspects of Accounting for Nature.- Environmental Markets.- Preventing Unintended Harm from Socio-Ecological Interactions.- Part VI Directions for the Future.- Outlook.