Affiliated Faculty

My research focuses on interfacial nanoscience and leverages basic science to advance carbon mineralization processes in confined environments. I work on both in situ (geological) and ex situ (industrial) CO2 sequestration. My research on carbon capture and utilization processes is funded by the Department of Energy's Early Career Program, National Science Foundation, and Aramco (the largest oil and gas company in the world).

The central aim of the Ardo Group research program is to understand and control spatiotemporal mechanisms and dynamics of non-equilibrium processes relevant to desalination, solar fuels devices, CO2 capture, photovoltaics, electrolyzers, fuel cells, electric heat pumps, and atmospheric water harvesting. Guided by results from numerical simulations and processes that occur in Nature, members of the Ardo Group design and fabricate kinetically asymmetric systems using chemical synthesis and molecular-level engineering of molecule–material structures. Specific tailoring of the mechanisms imparted by these asymmetries allows us to control photo-induced charge separation in solar energy conversion schemes, current rectification using electrochemical ratchets and ionic diodes made from ice or ion-exchange membranes, selective and rapid catalysis of reactions involving proton transfer such as for CO2 capture, and local temperature using photonic and heat-transfer processes. Results from each study increase fundamental knowledge of the transport and transfer phenomena (ion, electron, photon, energy, heat) that dictate the function and effectiveness of sustainable clean water and renewable energy technologies. The Ardo Group is well-suited for students and postdoctoral scholars with various backgrounds and expertise, spanning the disciplines of chemistry, applied physics, chemical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biophysics.

- Building academic and research programs in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering. - General motivation; decarbonizing economy through electrochemical processes. - Specific research projects in materials design and news technologies for electrochemical energy conversion. - Contributions in electrocatalysis (mostly heterogenous) and bio-electrocatalysis (mostly enzymatic). - Applications in fuel cells, electrolyzers and bio-electrochemical systems. - Innovations in fuel cells catalysts design: PGM (commercialized by Cabot Corp.); PGM-free (commercialized by Pajarito Powder LLC). - Interest in bridging electrochemically active (nano)materials design and integration of electrochemical processes at hierarchy of scale.

Exchange of scalar (such as carbon dioxide, heat, or trace gases), momentum, and energy between the atmosphere and the elements of the ecosystem such as land, vegetation and water is controlled by turbulence or multi-scale organized eddy motions. The Boundary Layers and Turbulence (BLT) lab led by Prof. Banerjee uses a range of novel theoretical, numerical, and experimental tools to identify the governing laws of such interactions across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Research topics include: atmospheric boundary layer dynamics, turbulent fluid dynamics, land/water/vegetation - atmosphere interaction, wildfires, vegetation dynamics, carbon and water cycles, hydrology, wetlands, and terrestrial aquatic interfaces.

Wendell Brase co-chairs UC President Janet Napolitano’s Global Climate Leadership Council and leads an award-winning sustainability program in his role as Vice Chancellor for Administrative and Business Services at the University of California, Irvine.

His primary research focus since joining UC Irvine has been high-temperature electrochemical dynamics and integrated energy systems research that includes fuel cells, gas turbines,electrolyzers, and solar and wind power. Brouwer is a highly recognized researcher in the area of alternative energy and is expected to make strong contributions to UCI's stature in the field of energy and the environment and to make leading research and teaching contributions to MAE and to the Environment Institute.

My research objectives for the past 30 years have been to better understand food practices in arid lands and the tropics. These would constitute the majority of food systems that have not been captured by the corporate food industry that is destroying the planet. I focus on gender (female farming vs male farming, family systems, and the effects of imported industrial foods, upon food production and consumption. Recently I have become interested in the problem of racism within the US empire and its effects upon local foods, including loss of land. I am also planning to write about the problem of militarism and its damage on views as to what a man should be and the concomitant increase of misogyny in the large part of the world that is affected by the US Empire. I have conducted field research in Yucatan, with the Gikuyu people of Kenya, the pastoral Maasai people of Kenya, the Dine (AKA Navajo people of the US Southwest, and in four Micronesian societies (Palau, Yap, Kosrae, and the Marshall Islands. I identify myself as having partial Native Californian ancestry, and 50% Yankee ancestry. Ihave lived most of my life in the LA area, as did my mother, most of her parents, and her great grandparents. In addition to anthropology, I have a strong background in economics (BA MIT), Cognitive psychology, linguistics, measurement models and multivariate statistics)

Anthropogenic emissions and their chemical transformation during atmospheric transport drive critical issues surrounding air quality and climate change. Dr. Carlton conducts atmospheric modeling, organizes and leads field and laboratory studies to investigate these topics with the ultimate goal of informing policymakers so society can develop effective strategies that protect human health, ecosystems, agricultural economies and security. Her favorite science involves formation of secondary organic aerosol through cloud processing and aerosol water chemistry.

Our research is aimed at understanding the complex interactions of human and natural systems in order to assess the causes and magnitude of damages and disruptions now and in the future, and to identify possible solutions.

My research is centred around the mapping, modelling and valuing of ecosystem services and prioritizing areas for conservation action. I am particularly interested in the impact of climate change on ecosystem services. Also, recently, I have been working on restoration as a solution to land degradation and climate mitigation action. In my lab, we measured restoration success based on ecosystem services and put a monetary value on ecosystem services.

Major research interests are in the area of stochastic modeling of surface hydrologic and geomorphologic processes. Current areas of research include modeling and estimation of space-time rainfall from spaceborne sensors, seasonal precipitation forecasting using observations and climate models, stochastic theories of transport on the Earth's surface, river network dynamics and hydrologic response. All these research topics have the common thread of exploring space-time statistical signatures over a range of scales and relating them to the underlying physical processes. Modeling is pursued using minimal complexity models that explore re-normalization and patterns.

I investigate biosphere-atmosphere interactions on scales of individual cells to the whole earth system to improve predictions of biogeochemical fluxes, atmospheric composition, air pollution, climate and ecosystem health. This is being accomplished through multidisciplinary field, laboratory and modeling studies of the processes controlling these interactions. I am especially interested in the role of reactive gases in the Earth System.

Climate change communication; Understanding how to engage diverse audiences on the issue of climate change and climate sensitive health impacts, support various climate policy, behavior change to reduce carbon footprint, and prepare various communities for climate related change, and identify effective communication strategies.

Dr. Sunny Jiang's research focuses on microbial ecology, microbiological water quality, engineered and natural water treatment technologies.

Solutions-driven ocean research at the interface of public health and ecosystem function, ranging from nanoscale processes to globally patterns. Specific research focus: (1) Infectious Disease Ecology, (2) Metagenomics and Transcriptomics, (3) Big Data, (4) Ecosystem Services, (5) Civil and Environmental Engineering, (6) Satellite Remote Sensing, (7) Global Change Biology, (8) Policy and Communication.

Our research is to study extreme light-matter interaction, advanced nano-physics/optical materials, and ultrafast/quantum/bio-photonics at the nanometer scale (e.g. in plasmonic, metasurface, zero-index/2D material, optical fiber platforms), as well as advancing next generation optical imaging, energy, bio/optical sensing, medical, and communication applications.

I work on atmospheric and climate dynamics, atmosphere and ocean interactions, and atmosphere and sea-ice interactions. I use a combination of observations and a hierarchy of numerical models to study dynamical processes in the atmosphere, and climate variability. Much of my research is focused on understanding processes that can lead to extended predictive skill of atmospheric phenomena, including extreme events, by considering the slower components of the Earth system, not only surface processes (such as ocean, sea ice and snow) but also stratospheric circulations that through stratosphere-troposphere coupling can improve predictive skill on seasonal time scales.

Our institut conducts theoretical and experimental research related to the behavior and the interaction between solid, particulate and fluidic (gas/liquid) substances or material systems, as they appear in the production of high-performance, high-value materials and products, in technical applications and processing plants, and in nature.

I work on modern and contemporary art, theory, and criticism, with special interests in environmental history, the history of photography, and media studies, and am the author of "Ecologies, Environments, and Energy Systems in Art of the 1960s and 1970s" (MIT Press, 2014), and the forthcoming "Second Site" (Princeton University Press, 2021).

Political Ecology of Brazil-China Relations My current book project is a critical global ethnography of Chinese investments in Brazilian agribusiness. This long-term research project focuses on the formidable role of Brazil and China in restructuring global agroindustrial production, investments, and trade—which drive geopolitical and economic transformations of critical importance for climate change and global environmental governance. Environmental Justice in the Amazon I am member of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN-SDSN) Science Panel for the Amazon. We are co-authoring an interdisciplinary report analyzing changes to landscapes and livelihoods driven by commercial agriculture, timber and mineral extraction, and infrastructure construction, which addresses major drivers of climate change and the cultivation of environmental justice in a global biodiversity hotspot. Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Supply Chains in the US I am Co-PI of an interdisciplinary research project examining disruptions to food supply chains in California, Florida, and the Midwest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team has been awarded $1 million from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (USDA) to undertake this project from 2020 to 2022. We are adapting surveys originally developed for climate change-induced disruptions of agricultural production by incorporating greater attention to issues of gender, race, social equity and resilience along the entire food supply chain

The overall objective of my research is to develop mathematical models able to predict the rates at which carbon dioxide is exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean. My research combines dynamical circulation models, satellite data, and hydrographic measurements to infer the circulation of the ocean and the biogeochemical transformation rates that occur in it.

The primary interest of our research group is to understand the interaction between ice and climate, in particular, to determine how the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland will respond to climate change in the coming century and how they will affect global sea level and regional sea level.

Professor Santagata is an educational researcher, studying math and science teaching and learning in and out of school. She is a leading scholar in the use of video technologies to study learning interactions and to foster teacher professional competence. She works in partnership with schools and local non-profit educational agencies to solve persistent problems of practice, particularly those affecting educational settings that serve marginalized youth. Her collaborations include a long-lasting partnership with the Crystal Cove Conservancy to develop and study programs that support K-12 students' systems thinking and their interest in science learning and STEM careers.

Solingen studies the reciprocal influence between international political economy and international security, globalization and its discontents, global supply chains, transnational diffusion, nuclear proliferation, international institutions, and science and technology, among other topics. She received the 2018 William and Katherine Estes Award from the National Academy of Sciences recognizing basic research on issues relating to nuclear weapons; the 2019 Distinguished Scholar award in International Security from the International Studies Association; and the 2020 Susan Strange Professorship at the London School of Economics. She is a former President of the International Studies Association. In the context of this initiative, she will be especially interested in international collaboration on global problems of climate change and environmental degradation.

My research focuses on the study of people’s transactions with their social and physical environments—especially how they influence personal and public health. My research, classroom teaching, and graduate mentorship at UCI span the fields of social ecology, environmental psychology, urban planning, epidemiology, and public health. Some of my current work is in the ‘science of team science’ and investigates factors that affect the collaborative success of transdisciplinary research and training programs. Other research focuses on the health and behavioral impacts of environmental stressors like traffic congestion, crowding, and information overload; applications of environmental design research to urban planning; and the environmental psychology of the Internet, especially the ways that qualities of virtual life affect people’s behavior and well-being.

Studies the fields of ICT for sustainability, human-computer interaction, and computer-supported learning.

Heads the Software Design and Collaboration Laboratory, which focuses on understanding and advancing the role of design, coordination, and education in software development. Research bridges into the educational realm by developing and critically evaluating new approaches to teaching software engineering, particularly for those topics that traditionally are difficult to address in the classroom.

My research involves spatio-temporal analyses of health data for examining the contributions of known risk factors and environmental exposures to the underlying geographic pattern of disease risk. I work extensively with reconstructing historic environmental exposures using GIS and have an extensive knowledge of groundwater modeling, spatial statistics, and on persistent environmental contaminants including tetrachloroethylene (PCE, a dry-cleaning solvent), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, a perfluorinated compound (PFC) involved in the manufacturing of Teflon), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, a common class of flame retardants). The current focus of my research is the spatio-temporal analysis of birth defects and infant morbidity in relation to air pollution using generalized additive models (GAM) in a geographic framework

Xin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCI. He is an expert on studying structure-property relationships for a range of battery and catalyst materials. His in-depth diagnostic work has helped enable the development of several lithium-ion battery materials and fuel-cell catalysts, including 3D doped high-Ni cobalt-free cathodes, a disordered rock salt anode for fast-charging batteries, and single-atom catalysts that enabling ambient ammonia electrosynthesis. Xin holds a strong track record of leading multidisciplinary studies in the battery and fuel-cell field. Other than his energy materials-related research, he maintains a strong track record in developing machine learning-enabled 3-D, atomic-resolution, and in situ spectroscopic and imaging tools to probe the structural, chemical, and bonding changes of materials.

Renewable energy, fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries, X-ray imaging techniques, multi-scale modeling, transport phenomena.