Research Interests Our research efforts are directed towards the development and design of sustainable low-CO­2 foot-print materials for infrastructure construction applications. These efforts are three-fold encompassing:

1. strategies to utilize natural and waste materials in concrete by inferring optimal chemical combination’s and compatibilities of constituent materials using thermodynamic calculations and experimental evaluations,
2. the formulation and-or utilization of application specific organic and inorganic chemicals to improve the properties, durability performance and service-life of concrete structures and
3. developing CO2-insensitive concretes for use in carbon sequestration and fixation applications.

To this end, our research group develops fundamental constituent chemistry-microstructure-engineering performance descriptors of cementitious materials to correlate and unify the fundamental variables that describe the overall response of the material. These efforts are directed towards the addressing the practical needs of the wider construction community and developing “new concretes” for the next generation of infrastructure construction applications. The overall theme of research aims to rationalize the use of natural resources in construction, promote environmental protection and to advance the cause of ecological responsibility in the concrete construction industry. Research Projects

• Low-Clinker Factor Cements and Concretes
• Carbon Fixation and Sequestration in Cementitious Materials
• Organic Polymer Additions for Property Modifications
• Blast and Fire Resistant Infrastructure Materials
• Mitigation of Deleterious Phenomena Caused by Salt Crystallization

• Sustainable infrastructure can’t rely on concrete City Monitor | City Monitor, March 2023
• An Arizona Plant Will Pull CO2 from the Air and Trap it in Concrete | Yahoo News, March 2023
• The World’s Largest 3D-Printed Neighborhood Is Here | Bloomberg, March 2023
• Inside the $20 Million Prize That’s Saving the World | Wired, February 2023
• How Seawater Might Soak Up More Carbon | Nautilus, February 2023
• Concrete.ai releases beta version of tool reducing cost and carbon intensity of concrete construction | Architect’s Newspaper, October 2022
• Can We Trick the Ocean into Swallowing More CO2? | Deutsche Welle, September 2022
• Carbon Sucks! | The Week on Earth podcast, September 2022
• It Works Like a Dish Sponge’: a New Way to Capture Carbon from the Oceans | Eco-Business, July 2022
• Concrete.ai Developers Prepare for Software Platform Commercialization | Concrete Products, July 2022
• Climate-friendly Cement? California Takes on a High-carbon Industry | CalMatters, June 2022
• Can a Start-Up Make Sustainable Construction the Next Frontier in Eco-Business? | The New York Times, June 2022
• Carbon-Removal Tech Grabs Elon Musk’s Check: Millions poured into XPrize effort to pull CO2 out of the sky | IEEE Spectrum, May 2022
• How It’s Made: CarbonBuilt’s Climate-Friendly Recipe for Low-Carbon Concrete | Chan Zuckerberg Initative, April 2022
• UCLA research project proposes removal of carbon dioxide from the ocean to help fight climate change | KABC, February 2022
• Carbon removal technology - Eyewitness News at 4:30am - February 25, 2022 | KABC (7) LA (16:50 - 19:50), February 2022
• How to Weaponize Our Dying Oceans Against Climate Change | Daily Beast, February 2022
• Carbon-Removal Tech Grabs Elon Musk’s Check | IEEE Spectrum, October 2021
• Nut shells fuel cement kilns as Calif. imposes climate law | E&E News, October 2021
• CarbonBuilt Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding for Its Eco-Friendly Concrete | Los Angeles Business Journal, October 2021
• Taking a Hard Look at Concrete’s Carbon Footprint | Industry Week, October 2021
• One if by sea, two if by sky: the search for affordable CO2 capture technology | Biofuels Digest, August 2021
• Could Cities of the Future be Made of Carbon? | The Carbonic, August 2021
• Concrete A I(nnovation) | Concrete Products, August 2021
• Concrete makers face heavy lift on climate pledges | Reuters, July 2021
• Artificial intelligence drives mix design performance, CO2 profiles | Concrete Products, June 2021
• Cloud spraying and hurricane slaying: how ocean geoengineering became the frontier of the climate crisis | The Guardian, June 2021
• Petrifying Climate Change | Hakai Magazine, June 2021
• Briefs / Indian, American- and Asian/ Remembering Satyajith Ray/ Book Matters | Khabar, June 2021
• Is This Concrete’s Breakthrough Moment? | New York, May 2021
• Companies Cut Concrete's Heavy Carbon Footprint | VOA News, April 2021
• X-Prize Winners Use CO2 Emissions to Make Concrete | Scientific American, April 2021
• Carbon XPrize winners announced | Gillette News Record, April 2021
• UCLA Engineering Team Wins $7.5M Prize For Developing Eco-Friendly Concrete That Absorbs Carbon Dioxide | CBS Los Angeles, April 2021
• Carbon XPRIZE, An Early Catalyst Of CCUS In Wyoming, Comes To A Close | Wyoming Public Media, April 2021
• A Big Step Towards Decarbonization - The Carbon XPRIZE | Forbes, April 2021
• XPRIZE announces grand prize winners in carbon capture contest | KPVI, April 2021
• Startups Cutting Emissions From Concrete Win $20 Million Xprize | Bloomberg News, April 2021
• They won an XPrize for carbon capture. The real test is next | E&E News, April 2021
• Team Led by UCLA Professor Wins $7.5M Engineering Prize | KFI AM 640, April 2021
• Startup Creates Concrete That Reduces Carbon Emissions | Los Angeles Business Journal, April 2020
• Using Dirt to Clean Up Construction | Eos, September 2020
• UCLA team nabs $2.9M grant to turn CO2 into concrete | Construction Dive, July 2020
• These Companies are Turning CO2 into Concrete.. Could it be the Solution to Construction’s Emissions Problem? | This is Construction, June 2020
• Capture Carbon in Concrete Made With CO2 | IEEE Spectrum, February 2020
• Scientists developing eco-friendly concrete | Tri-Valley Dispatch, February 2020
• Turning carbon into concrete could win UCLA team a climate victory — and $7.5 million | Los Angeles Times, January 2020
• UCLA engineers received $1.5 million grant to make environmentally friendly concrete | UCLA Samueli, August 2019
• Greenhouse gases are wreaking havoc on the planet. What if they could be used for good? | Los Angeles Times, September, 2018

Ph.D., (2009), Purdue University M.S.C.E, (2007), Purdue University B.S.C.E, (2006), Purdue University

• The Bryant Mather ‘Best Paper Award’ (Concrete Materials Section): The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science and Engineering, (2006, 2008)
• The Fred Burggraf Award for ‘Best Paper by a Young Researcher’ – The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science and Engineering, (2007)
• William L. Dolch Graduate Scholarship for Outstanding Research in Materials Science – The School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, (2007)