JB Joshi earned his B Chem Engg (1971) and M Chem Engg (1972) from the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), Mumbai. He completed his PhD degree (1977) under the guidance of MM Sharma. On the faculty of UICT since 1972, he is presently the Director of the Institute.

Academic and Research Achievements: Joshi has done outstanding work in the field of multiphase reactors, fluid mechanics, process intensification, etc. which are at the frontiers of research in Chemical Engineering. He has succeeded in developing design procedures for multiphase sparged and mechanically agitated reactors, which form heart of the chemical process industry. His success in this area is due to his conceptual breakthrough. A unique blend of theory, modelling, experiments and intuition has resulted in a rational basis for the design and scale-up of many commercial size reactors. He has been able to enhance the productivity and selectivity for a number of manufacturing processes including those competitively offered on the global basis. He has invented a large number of novel designs, which are far superior in performance and less expensive in capital and operating costs. The Chem Tech Journal (USA), through its editorial briefs, has recommended the use of his procedures for the industrial design five times, which is truly a unique achievement. Professor Joshi has, to his credit, more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has mentored more than 50 PhD and 50 Masters students.

Other Contributions: Professor Joshi has been on the Editorial Board / Advisory Boards of several international journals including Chemical Engineering Science, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, Reviews in Chemical Engineering and the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. He has designed small, medium and large-scale novel reactors and modern plants which are in successful commercial operation. He has also process-intensified a large number of operating plants.

Awards and Honours: Professor Joshi received INSA Medal for Young Scientists (1981), Herdillia Award (1989), SS Bhatnagar Prize (1991), VASVIK Award (1992), Dr KG Naik Gold Medal (1995), Chemtech Foundation Award (1997), Goyal Foundation Award (1998), Vishwakarma Medal of INSA (2000), Dr Anji Reddy Innovation Award (2005), Diamond Awards of UDCT (1994) and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (2007), the Syed Husain Zaheer Medal of INSA (2008) and JC Bose Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1991).