Our work is at the interface between chemistry, solid-state physics, and material science, and targets new materials for energy applications. We develop predictive relationships between the chemical structure of a material and the resulting properties, thereby guiding our search for new energy materials. Further insight into our experimental results is obtained through close collaborations with computational groups.

Our current focus is on electron and phonon transport in thermoelectric materials. Here, we investigate how the electron and phonon band structure and scattering sources control transport. Beyond thermoelectric materials, this fascination with transport in the solid state has application to other energy systems such as fuel cells, photovoltaics and batteries.

We encourage the involvement of undergraduates in this research, as demonstrated by the eight papers undergraduates have co-authored since 2005.