Professor Kale has over thirty years of experience in teaching and research in mechanical engineering with a specialisation in thermo-fluids. After obtaining a BTech degree from IIT Delhi in 1977, he earned MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1981 and 1984, respectively, all in Mechanical Engineering.

He began his career with Tata Consulting Engineers, Bangalore, where he served for three years.  Post-PhD, he was a Research Assistant Professor with the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of West Virginia University, Morgantown, the USA, for four years. As a faculty member at IIT Delhi since 1989, he has held several administrative positions, including Dean of Undergraduate Studies, and Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering. He has mentored IIT Mandi and IIT Ropar on various aspects.

He has taught thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, design, innovation and manufacturing, engineering drawing, and power generation technologies at the undergraduate level. He has taught experimental methods, fire dynamics and multi-phase flows at the post-graduate level. He has developed teaching laboratories that emphasise hands-on work, experimentation and design.

He has several publications on water spray-based evaporative cooling, pool fire dynamics and their suppression, burning of cloth panels, airflow through a non-air-conditioned bus with open windows, and flows through micro-channels. His current research interests are fluid mechanics, fire dynamics, combustion, vehicular emissions, and energy.

As the Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) at Ahmedabad University, Professor Kale will provide leadership in building the School and developing curricula and teaching-learning methods that emphasise "learning by doing". He will be promoting basic and applied research with emphasis on inter-disciplinary topics by engaging with faculty from SEAS and other Schools of the University. He will also be promoting technology development in collaboration with industry and entrepreneurs to impact society.