Mohamed’s research centers on optimizing renewable energy to hydrogen integration to enhance the reliability and sustainability of future energy systems. Because offshore wind and solar generation fluctuate with environmental conditions rather than operator control, converting surplus electricity into clean hydrogen is becoming increasingly critical for maintaining grid stability. To address this challenge, Mohamed is developing an advanced optimization model that couples renewable power, electrolyzers, grid electricity, and hydrogen storage within a unified techno-economic framework. Using the state-of-the-art Gurobi solver, the model assesses how dynamic power inputs, efficiency variation, and real-time market conditions shape hydrogen production and system profitability. This work advances high performance power to hydrogen strategies that strengthen renewable integration and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon energy economy.

Masa’s research looks at how surface hydroxyl groups influence hydrogen spillover and movement on Au/TiO₂ catalysts. Working with Dr. Lars Grabow, she uses atomistic modeling to study how hydrogen and deuterium travel across the metal–oxide interface and how different surface chemistries change that behavior. Through background research, kinetic modeling, and data analysis, she aims to better understand the factors that control hydrogen adsorption and diffusion on these surfaces. This project is helping her strengthen her computational skills and build a clearer picture of hydrogen behavior at the atomic level.

Natalia’s project aims to quantify the environmental, thermal, and social benefits of the University of Houston’s tree canopy. Building on a recent UH Energy Hackathon project, she seeks to heat-map the university’s campus to better understand spatial temperature variation. This analysis will allow her to measure canopy cover, hydrology benefits, stormwater retention, and energy savings. Through this research, she aims to identify cost-effective strategies for expanding canopy coverage to mitigate the urban heat island effect and enhance campus efficiency, sustainability, and comfort through the strategic planting and maintenance of trees.

 Ella demonstrates the role of landscape architecture and urban design in envisioning sustainable future energy landscapes. Her research investigates alternative nature-based practices and strategies for carbon management in the Texan Gulf Coast, expanding beyond engineered and geo-engineered carbon capture and storage systems to explore more sustainable landscape-based approaches for long-term carbon sequestration and storage. Through the analysis of past and current carbon-related practices, her work identifies sites of friction between potentially harmful activities and socio-ecological systems and addresses conflicts for future scenarios, revealing opportunities for sustainable carbon management. By demonstrating the potential of nature-based solutions, her work aims to show how ecological practices can complement and potentially replace purely technological strategies—positioning ecological design and landscape architecture as active agents in the energy transition.

Due to geopolitical stresses on rare earth materials, energy storage methods have become increasingly expensive and environmentally detrimental, with lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. Due to this and Elijah's interest in energy storage, Elijah plans to research hydrogen production via electrolysis; specifically, by researching and developing methods that use seawater and low-cost electrolyzers (catalysts, anodes, and cathodes) to generate hydrogen. When powered by renewable energy sources, this process can serve as a reliable way to store excess clean energy for later use in fuel cells or combustion. Using Shuo Chen's current and past research, Elijah's goal is to identify and evaluate strategies that make electrolysis a more accessible and clean method of hydrogen production.

 Katie’s research combines computational chemistry with in-lab research to synthesize novel sodium-ion battery materials, addressing the growing need for environmentally friendly and low-cost energy storage solutions. In this research, she focuses on honeycomb-layered sodium-transition metal oxides as cathode materials, which are particularly promising due to their high capacity and good cycling stability. To make the process of synthesizing and testing these materials more efficient, she uses the Vienna Ab Initio Stimulation Package (VASP) to determine whether a compound is viable as a battery material prior to beginning synthesis. By using this technique, she hopes to contribute to creating a more sustainable future for energy storage.

 Patrick's research tests the capabilities and functionality of solar power integrated canopy structures built using decomishioned wind turbine blades as a structure support. The main focus of Patrick's research will be to create a definitive outlook on the built solar structures temperature decreasing properties, the energy it can produce, and usefulness to population centers. Such structures built in parks and along sidewalks will allow for greater population usage of areas often deemed too hot to use. Additionally, they will provide relief to visitors and tourists in the metropolitan area of Houston while decreasing the urban heat island effect. Patrick aims to utilize decomished wind turbine blades, as the repurposing of wastes produced by renewable energy sources is the next step to the continued use of renewable energy. By analyzing the benefits of decomished wind turbine blades in the solar intregrated structures Patrick can further their use in other areas of engineering.

 Offshore platforms are essential to global energy production, supporting both traditional oil and gas extraction and the growing offshore wind industry. These platforms rely on stable foundations, yet nearly 30% of their failures are linked to anchorage or foundation problems. While structural health monitoring is well established for the upper platform, the foundation itself is rarely monitored. Abiral’s research targets this gap by developing a stress-based monitoring system to detect early anchorage debonding in offshore foundations. Using piezoceramic (PZT) sensors, he plans to examine stress-wave behavior to identify deterioration at the anchorage–concrete interface. Building on this model, he aims to engineer a monitoring device that can be retrofitted onto in-service offshore platforms as well as integrated into new projects, improving the safety and long-term reliability of offshore energy infrastructure.

 Industrial byproducts, such as coal combustion residuals (CCR) or concrete waste (from construction and demolition), could severely contaminate the water and soil if not properly disposed of. Khue’s current research explores the feasibility of replacing a portion of cement used in non-structural concrete (e.g., gravity blocks and traffic separation barriers) with recycled CCR and concrete fines. This in turn decreases the demand for cement production, which is also a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Moreover, the CO2 generated by cement production can be utilized to further enhance this concrete through the process of carbonation. By recycling industrial byproducts to capture and reduce CO2 emissions, Khue's research aims to contribute to the efforts of protecting the environment and mitigating climate change.

 Riya’s research investigates how large language models can improve recognition of worker capabilities during the clean energy transition. As energy systems move toward lower-carbon technologies, many workers possess expertise that is not fully recognized by job titles or occupational labels. She seeks to analyze whether LLMs can reveal competencies that traditional systems overlook by comparing model-generated skill inferences with employer requirements and training materials. This work evaluates the feasibility of AI-supported career transitions and how these tools enhance workforce understanding. The results will strengthen talent recognition, support mobility pathways, and reduce the risk of skilled workers being overlooked as the energy landscape evolves.

 Rafia’s research focuses on using silicon-based soil amendments to enhance natural carbon capture and storage in agricultural systems around the Gulf Coast. By comparing mineralized and non-mineralized silicon formulations, her project aims to determine which treatments maximize carbon sequestration through plant growth and mineral carbonation. She will also investigate how environmental weathering conditions—such as pH, soil moisture, and heat—affect the rate of CO₂ capture in soil. Finally, she will use the seed encapsulation approach to evaluate whether silicon-coated seeds improve early plant development, photosynthetic activity, and carbon fixation. The goal of this project is to advance scalable, nature-based carbon capture and storage strategies for sustainable agriculture.

 Tiffany has a high interest in environmental justice and renewable energy availability.  She will first be conducting a literature review to gain a better, more well-rounded, understanding of how renewable energy generation and availability can vary. She will then perform statistical analyses with national and local energy datasets to explore which form of extreme weather (heatwaves, freezes, hurricanes, and floods) in Houston shows the most inconsistency of energy availability in Houston from both solar and wind sources. Based on the conclusion of the project, the findings will contribute to efforts toward understanding and mitigating renewable energy availability in Houston and beyond. 

 Angel's research focuses on improving the efficiency of wave energy converters by optimizing the U-tank system and the turbines used to harvest energy from wave motion. Angel is currently designing a clear, functional U-tank model as well as various turbines with differing geometries to better understand how shape, pitch, and flow behavior impact energy capture. Later stages of the research will involve testing the various turbine designs using the U-tank model to identify configurations that maximize electrical output. Through his research, Angel hopes to contribute to advancing renewable ocean energy technologies while developing strong skills in designing, prototyping, and experimental testing.

 OLEDs are a powerful technology in modern electronic displays. Despite their ubiquity, consumer OLEDs, especially those that emit blue light, are inefficient and unstable. This inefficiency is largely due to the emissive material within the OLED devices, which is a class of iridium-centered coordination complexes. William's project will explore new classes of iridium coordination compounds through unique three-component addition reactions. These reactions will form new metalloheterocyclic structures at iridium, which have the potential to improve energy efficiency in the emissive material. 

 Francisca’s research focuses on developing an electrically driven approach for direct air carbon capture (DAC), using joule heating to meet the regeneration temperatures of the sorbent materials. In this project, electric heat is directly delivered to the sorbent material, enabling high energy efficiency and faster temperature swing cycles. Furthermore, this technology has an ease to pair with renewable energy resources, presenting a carbon-neutral alternative for releasing the captured CO2. Currently, she focuses on material design strategies and reactor configurations that provide fast thermal cycling, enhanced heat transfer, and scalable electrification. This work aims to advance DAC technologies that can operate sustainably using renewable electricity, contributing to efficient and decarbonized carbon-removal systems.

 Sean's research focuses on applying synthetic biology techniques to design microorganisms that can convert wasteful atmospheric hydrocarbons into biofuels and other valuable chemicals, improving the efficiency by which fossil fuels are recovered, processed, and utilized. Specifically, his work centers on designing regulatory protein-based biosensors in E. coli. In doing this, his work will further the knowledge surrounding microbial system engineering in the context of environmental health.

 Diego's research examines how systematic and algorithmic investment strategies interact with energy market dynamics and the broader energy transition. As algorithmic and trend-following strategies have grown in prominence, understanding their influence on price formation, volatility, and market structure has become increasingly important. Diego aims to analyze how these strategies respond to and potentially amplify energy market signals during periods of policy uncertainty, supply shocks, and structural shifts. By exploring these dynamics, Diego's work seeks to inform market participants and regulators about the evolving relationship between financial innovation and energy commodity markets.

Komathi seeks to examine the reactivity and properties of a heterobimetallic catalyst, marking a novel exploration into organometallic catalysis. While traditional bimetallic systems typically utilize two identical metals, her work centers on synthesizing and characterizing a catalyst containing two different metals: zinc and lithium. By preparing the heterobimetallic complex and analyzing its performance in catalyzing the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone to produce poly(ε-caprolactone), a biodegradable polymer, she hopes to take advantage of the cooperativity unique to a heterobimetallic system. Through studying the catalyst’s structure, selectivity, and composition, her research aims to evaluate the industrial potential of the heterobimetallic catalyst in enabling energy-efficient processes and advancing the development of sustainable polymers.

 Jaswand's research surrounds investigating passive cooling as a critical, low-energy alternative to mechanical systems, focusing on its adoption barriers in Houston. Herresearch will analyze the global applicability of these techniques, which are informed by her background in hot-arid climates, to Houston's specific social, economic, and technical context. The goal is to determine how architecture can modestly use energy while shaping user habits, ultimately informing future policy and design to guide the city toward a less energy-intensive, post-oil identity and embed these principles into Jaswand's own work.

 Ariel’s project focuses on strengthening sustainability of Houston’s power distribution networks, a challenge deeply connected to civil engineering. Rapid urban growth and Gulf Coast weather risks demand innovative infrastructure solutions. The study explores three strategies: conservation (efficient appliances, lighting, behavioral changes), redundancy (backup systems, microgrids, distributed generation), and hardening infrastructure (underground lines, upgrades, vegetation management). The research approach is based on data collection, GIS mapping, vulnerability analysis, and scenario modeling—to evaluate resilience. Expected outcomes include improved reliability, minimized disruptions in power outages, and policy recommendations. The project highlights civil engineering’s vital role in designing sustainable, adaptable urban energy systems.