Five bodies of work, one method: problem, approach, evidence.
Each case study follows the same structure — the problem as it actually stood, the approach taken, and what the work showed. Industry-facing work is described by domain only, keeping to non-confidential public information.
Electronic-cigarette aerosols as a system.
Doctoral research, University of Miami · 2022–2025.
The problem
Public debate about vaping ran on broad claims while the actual exposure science — what is emitted, in what form, and how much reaches the lung — remained thin.
The approach
Characterize single puffs at high time resolution: particle counts and size distributions, gas emissions, total metals and their oxidation states, then estimate respiratory deposition and test firsthand and secondhand toxicity at the air–liquid interface.
What it showed
Large ultrafine-particle populations whose emissions and toxicity track device operating conditions — evidence that moved the conversation from claims to measurements. The dissertation tied the physical, chemical and toxicological picture together.
A criterion of shear stability for concentrated emulsions.
Research at the Flow Process and Rheology Centre, Cape Town · 2012–2018.
The problem
Highly concentrated emulsions can fail unpredictably under process shear, and stability limits were described empirically rather than predictively.
The approach
Combine bulk rheology with droplet-scale observation to relate microstructure to flow behavior, then express the result as a practical stability criterion engineers can apply.
What it showed
A shear-stability criterion for highly concentrated emulsions, published in the Journal of Rheology, plus a review of formation, stabilization and chemical demulsification of crude oil-in-water emulsions.
Iron nanomaterials from acid mine drainage.
Sustainable materials research, University of Toledo · published in ACS Omega, 2022.
The problem
Acid mine drainage is a persistent waste stream and water contamination source; treating one problem should not create another.
The approach
Use the drainage itself as the iron source, stabilize and reduce it with a rooibos tea extract, and apply the resulting nanomaterial as a Fenton-like catalyst for dye removal in water.
What it showed
A working waste-to-material route: an environmental liability becomes the feedstock for a treatment technology — circularity demonstrated at laboratory scale.
Inverse oxide/metal catalysts for CO₂-to-methanol.
Catalysis review research, University of Toledo · published in Energy & Fuels, 2022.
The problem
CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol could reuse carbon emissions, but catalyst selectivity depends on interfacial structure that conventional metal-supported designs probe only indirectly.
The approach
Systematically review inverse oxide/metal architectures — where the oxide sits on the metal — and analyze how interfacial structure governs activity and selectivity.
What it showed
A major review organizing how these inverted interfaces change methanol synthesis — a reference map for catalyst design rather than a single new material.
Critical-material recovery from unconventional sources.
Research experience with Phoenix Tailings; process engineering at Freeport-McMoRan · 2025–.
The problem
Critical-material supply and tailings footprints are two sides of one problem: value sits in waste streams that conventional flowsheets were never designed to recover.
The approach
Research zero-waste extraction routes for rare-earth metals with a clean-tech startup, then carry the resource-recovery lens into industrial process engineering.
What it showed
In progress. Public descriptions stay at the level of engineering domains — tailings reprocessing, safety, environmental performance and critical-mineral recovery — until non-confidential results can be shared.