My research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary, and aim to (1) understand the structure, composition, elasticity and dynamics of planetary interiors (2) explore the volatile phases (H, C, N, S) inside planetary bodies, (3) study the strength, texture and deformation of silicates, oxides and metal alloys at high pressure and (4) investigate the spectroscopy, thermal conductivity and electronic structure of materials under extreme environments.

To reach these goals, I use the diamond-anvil cell (DAC) high pressure apparatus to study materials (silicates, oxides, metals and volatiles) under extreme P-T conditions that span the entire depth range of terrestrial planetary interiors. Much of my work examines sample sizes in the range of 10-100 micrometer and therefore I utilize synchrotron facilities at Advanced Photon Source (APS in Chicago), National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS II in Brookhaven, New York), SOLEIL synchrotron (France) and SPring-8 (Japan) to study structure, deformation, elasticity and X-ray spectroscopy of materials. In addition, I measure spectroscopic behaviors of materials at ambient and high pressure-temperature conditions using a custom-built micro-Raman system at Western U and IR at NSLS II.