Dr. Arash Adel is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at Princeton University. He is the founder and director of ARG. ARG is an interdisciplinary laboratory that conducts research at the intersection of design, computation, and robotics; the research contributes to resilient, sustainable, and low-carbon construction outlooks and achievements. At the core of his comprehensive research is investigating human-robot collaborative processes, which tackle fundamental questions related to the future of the design and construction industries and their potential to have a broader impact on inclusive and equitable building culture. His research interests include human-robot collaboration, automated building assembly, additive manufacturing, construction robotics, computational design, extended reality, and STEM education.

Design of adaptive structural systems for building energy efficiency, design of large span complex curved structures for minimum material use, reclaimed material construction, circular economy

Improved batteries, energy storage; materials recycling and sustainability, water purification, catalysis, advanced manufacturing, light-matter interactions.

Dr. Atkinson’s research aims to use approaches from synthetic biology, protein engineering, biophysics and electrochemistry to understand and control how microbes and proteins transport electrons. The Atkinson Lab seeks to elucidate the critical role electron transport plays in energy and information processing in cells and microbial communities and to use this knowledge to engineer new biotechnologies that address societal challenges in sustainability, environmental monitoring & remediation, chemical synthesis, and resource recovery & extraction. Areas of current emphasis are the development and application of design rules for (i) how microorganisms use proteins to regulate electron transfer in metabolic networks, (ii) how electron flows shape the structure of microbial communities that impact geochemical cycles, and (iii) how living electronic materials can be built that couple the information processing and catalytic capabilities of biology with electrochemical devices.

Directed evolution of algae for biofuel production, specifically the fast, consistent and high-volume production of oils; reduction in need for external nutrients such as nitrogen for biofuel production

Application and development of technologies in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering; development of microorganisms for the production of advanced biofuels, commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, and bioplastics; biosensor and metabolic engineering for bioremediation

Glacial-interglacial climate change, photosynthesis and respiration in phytoplankton and plants

Optimal configurations for improved fuel cell operation (producing electricity from hydrogen); hydrogen production; efficient electrochemical pumps for hydrogen purification; gasification to produce fuels from organic materials

Improving membrane fuel cells that convert H2 and O2 or alcohols into electricity; exploring proton exchange polymer membranes; charge transfer processes and materials chemistry for alternate energy schemes including solar photochemistry and electrochemistry; electrochemical and semiconductor based photoelectrochemical conversion of CO2 to liquid fuels and syngas; water splitting for hydrogen production

Measurements and simulations of heat and water exchanges between buildings and the atmosphere; urban microclimatology and hydrology; boundary layer meteorology; environmental fluid mechanics and turbulence; wind energy forecasting and wind farm design, urban and agricultural photovoltaic applications.

Research examines the fundamental properties of interfacial water and their impact on geochemistry, mechanics, and mass fluxes in soils and sedimentary environments. Current projects focus on understanding how clay minerals control hydraulic permeability and the fate and transport of organic compounds.

Urban history; city planning and preservation planning

General energy studies; fission and fusion; climate change; battery technology; policy

Commodity and energy markets (e.g. oil, electricity, natural gas, coal); market mechanisms to control greenhouse gas emissions; game theoretic analyses of the energy/emissions markets with emphasis on the policy implications of their designs

The development of efficient and accurate quantum mechanics simulation techniques, including embedded correlated wave function and orbital-free density functional theories. Applications are focused on enabling discovery and design of materials and processes for producing chemicals, materials, and fuels from renewable energy, with a specific emphasis on carbon dioxide utilization and ammonia/hydrogen conversion.

Synthesis, discovery and characterization of new superconducting, thermoelectric, and semiconducting materials.

Ground-water hydrology; geological sequestration of CO2; simulation methods for multi-phase flow in porous media; ecohydrology; contaminant transport simulation

Design of power conversion and management systems to address technical challenges with large social impacts. High performance power conversion systems for a wide range of applications, including smart grid, renewable generation, energy storage, telecom, data centers, electric vehicles, and robotics.

Design and synthesis of earth abundant, particularly iron and cobalt, catalysts for chemical synthesis relevant to the pharmaceutical, fine, commodity and petrochemical industries. Reduction of N2 and CO2 compatible with renewable hydrogen and alternative energy sources.

Design, fabrication, and characterization of new nanostructured materials and devices for better performances, particularly high efficiency, in solar cells, LEDs, thermal-electric devices, photocathodes, photochemical convertors, chemical/bio sensors, and other energy conversion devices

Plasma physics and dynamics applied to space power and propulsion, plasma gasification for waste disposal, environmental acoustics

Characterizing and engineering plant-microbe interactions at plant-microbe interfaces.  We explore the mechanisms of interaction between non-model bacteria and living plants or lignocellulosic biomass. Then using this mechanistic understanding we engineer these bacteria, plants, and/or their interactions to develop new technologies for the bio-agriculture or bio-energy industries.

Fusion energy research, theoretical plasma physics, nuclear reactor physics, Astrophysical plasmas.

The economics and regulation of energy markets to account for environmental and reliability needs of society. Understand the incentives created under various regulatory schemes and the trade-offs inherent in policy decision-making.

Our group is passionate about addressing pressing needs in both human health and the health of the planet, and inspired by the integrated, hierarchical materials ubiquitously leveraged by the natural world. We aim to address these needs via synthetic systems that use a combination of molecular level polymer design, controlled local self-assembly, and structural integration and alignment via additive manufacturing to achieve functional, hierarchical materials featuring structural control from the molecular to the macroscopic.

We achieve this by working at the intersection of polymer synthesis, polymer characterization, polymer physics and self-assembly, and additive manufacturing.
Our specific research interests include: (1) investigating fundamental science linking polymer structure and function in new classes of stimuli-responsive and actuating elastomers and gels, (2) programming alignment and integration of functional polymers via additive manufacturing, linking local structure-directing processes with emergent properties and new applications, and (3) developing sustainable and degradable polymers and block copolymers.