Chandni Joshi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Extended Campus at Paducah (UK Paducah) and then began a doctoral program at UK, successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation at UK Paducah. It was the first time a Ph.D. student had made their defense at the regional campus.
“I think this indicates the high level of research going on here across UK Paducah,” said Jeffrey Seay, PJC Board of Trustees Engineering Professor of Chemical Engineering and Joshi’s doctoral advisor. “Dr. Joshi is the first to make her Ph.D. defense here in Paducah, but she certainly won’t be the last. We have a couple more who will follow soon.”
Joshi’s project was titled “Assessment of a decentralized solution for waste plastic management in developing regions.” She took doctoral classes at UK’s Lexington campus, then conducted her research and wrote her dissertation in Paducah. Joshi is currently a project engineer at GEO Consultant Corporation in Paducah, as well as vice president of Engineers for Sustainable Energy Solutions, a non-profit organization founded and led by Seay.