For environmental-effects research related to energy technologies and their use, focusing on the impacts of climate and atmospheric changes on the physiology, growth, and biogeochemical cycles of North American forest ecosystems.
For pioneering research and development of new materials for advanced energy technologies, including materials for (a) the storage of nuclear waste, (b) the solid-state generation of electrical power directly from heat, and (c) the lossless transport of electricity.
For his role in conceiving, designing, and implementing novel geocomputational methods to help solve a wide variety of national and global problems in energy, the environment, and national security.
For pioneering studies of the functionality of mesoporous oxides and carbons for real-world applications, ionic liquids for chemical separation and materials synthesis, and catalysis by nanomaterials.
For basic studies in the fracture of and toughening mechanisms in ceramics and ceramic composites, in the establishment of the relationships between microstructure and composition and mechanical behavior, and in the development of advanced ceramic materials.
For contributions to advanced control systems for nuclear reactor, including development of control-system and plant protection technologies that permit automated start-up and operation; and to analysis techniques that have led to better understanding of reactor dynamics.
For contributions to understanding plasma turbulence and the nonlinear properties of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, especially their role in explaining the behavior of magnetically confined plasmas, and for development of new magnetic confinement concepts that overcome these limitations.