Larson’s research intersects engineering, environmental science, economics, and public policy. His energy systems modeling and analyses aim at identifying sustainable, engineering-based solutions to major energy-related problems. His work assesses resource, economic, and environmental implications of prospective technology developments and helps inform public and private decision-making in the U.S. and elsewhere. He has published extensively on the design and analysis of advanced biomass and fossil fuel conversion technologies with CO2 capture and storage. He was part of the Princeton team contributing to the National Research Council report, America’s Energy Future: Technology and Transformation (2009). He was a Co-Convening Lead Author of the fossil energy chapter of the major international study, The Global Energy Assessment (2012). He co-led Princeton’s Net-Zero America project (2021), and he is active in the global Rapid Switch initiative established by the Andlinger Center. Larson is an Affiliated Faculty member with the High Meadows Environmental Institute and the Center for Policy Research on Energy and Environment in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.

Fundamentals of combustion, with applications in propulsion, energy and environmental issues; combustion of fuel droplets and sprays; incineration of hazardous wastes; chemistry of flame-generated pollutants; formulation of high-performance propulsion fuels

Deep-learning based anomaly detection. Security of critical infrastructures and cyber-physical systems, including the powergrid. Security of processors, computers, controllers, smartphones, cloud computing, and IOT networks. Side-channel and covert channel attacks.

Ocean turbulence and mixing; understanding small-scale turbulent mixing processes through high-resolution numerical simulations combined with theoretical analysis; deriving new physically-based parameterizations to help improve climate simulations

Design/control of new kinds of sustainable and adaptive environmental sensing and observation systems (special focus on marine environments/ocean)

Ecosystem and biosphere-level maintenance of macroscopic patterns and processes; evolution of diversification; mathematical modeling; evolution and ecology of dispersal; strain structure in influenza; public goods problems and environmental economics

Design of new intersections between land and water in urban environments in response to rising sea levels; new building forms and organizations based integrated systems and energy flows.

Natural hazards and risk assessment, stochastic modeling, wind engineering, coastal engineering, climate change impact and adaptation, and built environment and sustainability; the study of tropical cyclones and associated weather extremes (e.g., strong winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge), how they change with climate, and how their impact on the natural and built environment can be mitigated

Protein engineering and synthetic biology with applications in natural product biosynthesis. Chemical basis of microbial communication and bioremediation, especially for metals in the environment.

Thin-film photovoltaics, including polymer and molecular solar cells, hybrid perovskite solar cells and transparent solar cells, printable conductive inks, processing-structure-function relationships of electrically-active plastics, macro-scale energy systems analysis of biomass-derived liquid transportation fuels.