Professor Bhattacharjee earned a B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1983 and his Ph.D. from Washington State University, Pullman, USA in 1988. He joined San Diego State University in 1991 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and was promoted to the position of Associate Professor in 1994 and Professor in 2000. Recipient of Faculty Friend Award, Outstanding Faculty Award, and Distinguished Faculty Award, Prof. Bhattacharjee offers thermal science related classes at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Prof. Bhattacharjee has been actively involved in research on microgravity combustion and radiation heat transfer. Several of his experiments on flame spread over solid fuels have been conducted aboard NASA's Sounding Rockets, Space Shuttles and Russia's Mir Space Station. Other research interests include fire detection, infra-red pyrometry and knowledge-based distributed intelligence. Recently Prof. Bhattacharjee and his collaborators from Gifu University, Japan, have been awarded a prestigious NASA grant for studying flame dynamics in the space environment. Author of numerous journal articles, Professor Bhattacharjee has received the Best Paper Award by JSME in 2000. Developing Java-based object-oriented design tool for thermal engineers is a hobby that has led to the development of TEST, The Expert System for Thermodynamics, regularly accessed by a large number of students, professionals and educators from around the world.
Professor Bhattacharjee is married and has three children, Robi, Sarah and Neil.