Utilization of theory, simulation, and data science to characterize, understand, and guide the design of novel soft materials for health and sustainability applications; interests are motivated by the use of both natural and synthetic polymers in technologies like batteries, fuel cells, water treatment, tissue engineering, and drug-delivery

Questions at the intersection of psychology, economics, engineering, and policy that address the importance and role of descriptive/behavioral models of judgment and decision-making under risk and uncertainty and for decisions with long time horizons in environmental and energy-related decision making and policy. Psychologically appropriate ways to measure and model individual, group, or cultural differences in risk taking and time discounting across domains.

Energy efficient design of computing architectures and software systems; green computing; minimization of computer systems’ environmental impact; sustainable service and decommissioning of computer components; biodegradable computers.

Sustainable cements and related engineering systems including alkali-activated materials, blended Portland cements, carbonate-based cements and influence of additives on cement-based materials. Research focus includes thermodynamics and kinetics of cement phases, chemical durability (e.g., carbonation and sulfate), pore structure and permeability, and non-destructive measurements of sub-micron processes, with a focus on combining experiments and simulation techniques.

Environmental policy; conservation of biodiversity; effects of land-use change and climate change on biodiversity; impact of agriculture on biodiversity

Laser spectroscopic sensing for energy and environmental applications; environmental trace-gas sensor networks; active and passive remote atmospheric sensing

Financialization of commodity and energy markets; effects of financial market frictions; behavioral finance

Utilizing advanced imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy and in-situ techniques, in tandem with theoretical simulations, to study fundamentals of the structure-composition-processing-property-performance relations in complex materials such as nanostructured materials, biomaterials, organic/inorganic interfaces, block copolymers, catalysts, quasicrystals and functional nanomaterials.

Fundamental studies of the origin of superconductivity, particularly in high-temperature cuprate superconductors, to aid search for materials that exhibit superconductivity at higher temperatures; study of topological quantum states in materials  and their use for dissipation-less transport

Carbon capture; carbon dioxide absorption by oceans, coastal impact