Climate change science and policy, sea-level rise, adaptation, climate-driven migration

Interactions between the global biosphere and climate; carbon mitigation; effects of global vegetation on climate; large-scale measurement of natural and anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions

Molecular modeling of phase behavior and transport properties of aqueous electrolytes which are of fundamental importance in understanding the long-term fate of CO2 injected in underground rock formations for carbon capture and storage; computational studies of molten carbonate fuel cells, which can be used for simultaneous electricity production and CO2 purification; liquid metals as plasma-facing components for fusion energy systems

Paulino group’s contributions in the area of computational mechanics spans development of methodologies to characterize deformation and fracture behavior of existing and emerging materials and structural systems, topology optimization for large-scale and multiscale/multiphysics problems, and origami.

Wei Peng is assistant professor in the School of Public and International Affairs and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. She is a climate policy researcher and integrated assessment modeler of energy, air quality and health. Peng studies ways to better represent institutional and political factors in energy systems models to inform climate policies and decarbonization strategies that are realistically implementable and politically durable. She is also core faculty member of the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE).

Environmental water quality and industrial wastewater treatment. Geochemical reactions in energy resources engineering including geologic sequestration of CO2, hydrofracking, and geothermal energy production. Reactive flows in porous, permeable, and fractured media

Energy-efficiency in wireless networks; smart grid, Internet of Things, power system resilience

Hydrology and biogeochemistry, with applications to earth sciences, sustainable resource management, and intersections with energy and civil infrastructure

Models for the design and control of a broad range of problems in energy systems, emphasizing problems that involve decisions and uncertainty. A major focus has been the study of high penetrations of renewables, and the design and control of energy storage systems. We are also working on models for driverless fleets of electric vehicles, uncertainty models of wind, solar and electricity prices, and the economics of energy portfolios.

Experimental plasma physics, including study of stability, turbulence, transport, and self-organization in plasmas, for use in fusion energy

Detailed numerical models of coupled multi-phase compositional thermo-poromechanical effects including leaky wells and discrete fracture models to assess the safety of CO2 injection in deep brine aquifers

Research in my group, the Lightwave Communications Laboratory, is focused on investigating ultrafast optical techniques with application to communication networks and signal processing. My graduate students and I are working on several exciting and innovative research projects, which benefit from close collaborations with government and industrial research laboratories. A few examples of these projects are given below.

Physical (Optical) Layer Network Security:

Security in fiber optic networks is becoming of critical importance due to the nature and volume of the data that is transported. The optical layer of a network is itself vulnerable to attack by eavesdropping or jamming. My group is investigating several approaches using optical signal processing to counter these attacks, including optical steganography, all-optical encryption devices, anti-jamming techniques, and survivable network architectures.

Optical Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA):

Incoherent optical CDMA networks can offer several important system advantages that cannot be achieved with other multiplexing techniques such as TDM and WDM, including asynchronous access, soft blocking, privacy, scalability and variable quality of service. We are developing novel integrated technologies that will enable the realization of practical optical CDMA networks, which will be strong candidates for future broadband access networks.

Nonlinear Optical Signal Processing for Ultrafast Networks:

Based on nonlinear phenomena in semiconductor devices and nonlinear fibers, numerous optical signal processing functions can be achieved which can enhance the performance of ultrafast optical networks. We are studying novel devices and their applications, including optical thresholding, auto-correlation peak extraction, demultiplexing, physical layer security enhancement, and interferometric noise suppression

Optical Cancellation
of RF Interference:

Wireless communications systems often suffer from co-site interference, where the signal from a nearby transmission antenna interferes with simultaneously receiving a weak signal in a nearby frequency band. Multipath effects make this problem especially challenging. We are investigating optical and optoelectronic signal processing techniques to process RF signals from single antennas as well as phased arrays, enhancing their performance and enabling rapid reconfigurability.

The Photonic Neuron:

Using nonlinear optical and photonic materials, we have recently built a hybrid analog/digital signal processing device which performs all the functions of a physiological neuron, but one billion times fast. Our spiking neuron is faster and more efficient than a digital computer, and does not suffer from the noise accumulation of analog electronics. Using the photonic neuron, we are implementing sophisticated, ultrafast signal processing circuits and systems which emulate visual, auditory, and motor functions found in biological organisms.

With a high degree of interaction between government and industrial research laboratories, the Lightwave Communications Laboratory offers students an opportunity to be involved in the creation of technology for the next generation of optical signal processing, computing and communications systems. Please visit my lab website to find out more information about my group and our research, as well as to download a booklet containing some of our recent papers.

Novel methods for probing metabolism, metabolic flux and regulation in bacteria and yeast, application to metabolic engineering and bioenergy

Accelerated discovery of new materials and radiation-matter interactions expressed in an optimal control context. Theoretical and experimental analysis of control landscape topology to guide the latter control-based perspectives in the energy sciences

Yevgeny Raitses is an expert in experimental plasma physics. He has an extensive publication record with more than 200 publications on physics of plasma thrusters, plasma-surface interactions, plasma-based synthesis and processing of nanomaterials, cross-field discharges, and plasma diagnostics. Raitses earned a doctoral degree in aerospace from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 1997. He was elected an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronauts in 2009 and a fellow of the American Physical Society the following year. Among many honors, Raitses, along with PPPL physicist Igor Kaganovich, received PPPL’s Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development in 2019.

Anu Ramaswami is an interdisciplinary environmental engineer recognized as a pioneer and leader on the topic of sustainable urban infrastructure systems. Her work explores how seven key sectors – that provide water, energy, food, buildings, mobility, connectivity, waste management and green/public spaces – shape human and environmental wellbeing, from local to global scales. Ramaswami’s work integrates environmental science and engineering, industrial ecology, public health and public affairs, with a human-centered and systems focus.

Numerical modeling of Earth’s climate system; climate variations and change due to natural and human-influenced factors; past, present and future climates; Earth’s hydrological cycle; satellite remote sensing of climate; climate and air quality

Thin film electronics made from emerging semiconductors have the capacity to be pervasive within our daily lives. Notably, some thin film devices have established themselves quite successfully, such as the OLED for flat panel displays.

The goal of my research is to work on emerging device concepts and materials to help to realize the next generation of thin film electronic devices. Specifically, we try to understand and leverage the unique electronic and optical properties of thin film materials, and in particular semiconductors. This includes the use of molecular, perovskite, and chalcogenide (e.g. oxide) semiconductors, as well as nanostructured quantized matter for emerging applications in solar cells, light emitting devices, and transistors.

Studies that we conduct range from those on fundamental optical and electrical characterization to device physics and engineering to processing. Being interdisciplinary in nature, our work resides at the intersection of electrical engineering, materials science, physics, and chemistry, and we work with materials processed either in vacuum or via solution-phase. Our labs therefore consist of infrastructure for the preparation and testing of thin films and devices.

Synthesis, processing, and reprocessing/recycling of polymeric materials, as part of a larger research effort focused on microstructured and nanostructured polymers

Water-Energy Nexus; Environmental Biotechnology; Water Resource Recovery; Carbon Capture and Utilization; Microbial Electrochemistry; Water and Wastewater Treatment; Environmental Remediation; Water Desalination; Membranes

Climate and ocean modeling; carbon cycle; impacts on marine ecosystems; climate-carbon interactions.

Software-defined networking, including techniques for improving the energy efficiency of information technology infrastructure

Our group’s research combines quantum-chemical calculations, high-throughput computing, and machine learning to accelerate the discovery of novel materials that can address global challenges in energy and sustainability.

As quantum-chemical engineers, we specifically focus on the computationally guided design of atomically programmable materials with novel electronic properties for applications in catalysis, chemical separations, and energy storage technologies. We have a complementary interest in understanding the stability and synthesizability of novel materials to guide experiments and to increase the impact of virtual screening studies. On the more fundamental side, we regularly develop and contribute to new computational tools that enable more actionable recommendations to be made in materials discovery campaigns.

Members of our group leverage recent advances in data science, atomistic computational methods, materials chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and solid-state physics to automate the exploration of materials space. To realize the full potential of our materials discovery platforms, our group is highly collaborative; we work alongside both theorists and experimentalists across disciplinary boundaries as well as with tech companies in the areas of deep learning and high-performance computing.

Control of plasmas in nuclear fusion; modeling of fluid flows from a dynamical systems point of view