His research interests are in heterogeneous catalysis, materials characterization and nanomaterials synthesis. His research group has pioneered the development of electron microscopy tools for the study of catalysts. By developing model catalysts for this work, his group has shown that the metal and oxide surfaces and interfaces in catalytic materials can be studied at near atomic resolution. His current work involves the synthesis of biorenewable chemicals, fundamental studies of catalyst sintering, alcohol reforming into H2 and synthesis of novel nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts.