When industrialization happened, nobody thought about where the waste would end up. In today’s world, designing for a Circular economy and adopting sustainable living methods could bring a noticeable change in solving environmental issues. Lakshmi's passion lies in working to bring about these changes while at the same time boosting awareness of the seriousness of these issues. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India. Before joining Pitt, she worked as a project associate at the Indian Institute of Technology, India on the modeling of multi-phase reactors for biomass pyrolysis.