Water represents the most studied and most utilized material on Earth, and as such, core aspects of its material behavior are wonderfully well characterized. However, the behavior of water outside of conventional enforced temperature - enforced pressure thermodynamic conditions is largely underexplored, and the rich solution space available to water with the incorporation of 1 to n additional components provides a nigh-infinite thermodynamic landscape that can exist in many dimensions and can host all manner of interesting multiphase equilibria, which to date have proven difficult to characterize.

In the Public Thermo Lab, we seek to use new experimental and computational techniques to explore these long-explored spaces within the aqueous thermodynamics landscape. We’re interested in how high-dimensional multiphase equilibria (imagine 4-phase equilibria in a ternary system for example) develop with pressure, temperature, and concentration; how aqueous phase change kinetics develop and differ in multiphase environments; how alternative thermodynamic boundaries like isochoric conditions (i.e. confined conditions), electromagnetic fields, etc. affect metastable supercooling and vitrification; etc, etc, etc!

Innovation in core water thermodynamics drives innovation in the many fields that rely on the study of water, and we have particular interest in applications in the planetary sciences (studying the icy interstellar oceans that represent some of the most promising candidates to host life); cryobiology (innovation in low-temperature biopreservation for medical and conservation purposes requires a much better understanding of solution thermodynamics at low-temperature); and the agricultural sciences (the global food storage chain is one big water thermo problem!). If any of these interest you, get in touch!